Same for me too! I remember posting my first thread. I cut and pasted all the html, ads and all. Needlesss to say, it was a mess and most freepers couldn't read the thread.
I stayed away from FR for days after that. Fortunately for me, Freepers were kind about it.
As it stands it is almost impossible to "fit in" without lurking for a number of months then screwing your courage to the sticking place before offering yourself for sacrifice at the discretion of the FReeper's mood that day. And I say this as someone who LOVES this site!
A bit of a leash and training for noobies plus a little (maybe just a tiny bit) of restraint on the part of us with more experience (I only have one year here) might make things a little easier for good conservatives to get up to speed and discourage trolls and idiots from bothering us so much.