The second one is… if experienced designers are so experienced then they should be experienced enough to encourage young designers, not put them off. This is a well established and quite tight knit online community, almost to the point of being a bit clicky and negative. I think maybe those who have been successful in the world of design are now slightly blinkered from how difficult it can be for a new or young designer. Young designers should be encouraged especially by those who are now very rarely feeling the struggle. I don’t think that there’s a necessity to just learn one way… from experienced designers. We can all learn from each other. I’d rather learn from pre-school kids in some cases.
But yeah if it’s just self marketing for the sake of self marketing, a follow me on facebook kind of thing then that’s not too good. But then we’re all self marketing even if we aren’t completely conscious of it.