I am new to fighting games with street fighter IV being the first fighting game I've ever seriously played.  I went into street fighter assuming that the community would be the same ass holes and scumbags that seem to blight halo and gears of war.  Those people who never seem to shut up, talking trash at every opportunity. 

However I was amazed at the sportsmanship and friendliness of the street fighter IV community.  I'm a scrub and as such I get my as handed to me 75% of the time.  However most of the time after I get my ass kicked my opponent sends me a message saying "gg keep up the practice"  or they will send me a message with tips on how to play.   I have only ever had one player drop during a match.  I must say Street Fighter IV has one of the best communities that I have ever been a part of.

Yeah Halo and GEoW attracts the military macho rejects of life. Glad you've come on over to SFIV, maybe try a dab at HD Remix.

Hate to break it to ya, but there are a lot of fuck faces that play SFIV. Wait until you become more proficient, the hate mail will be flying your way. If you play a shoto, expect more then normal.

Online gaming, where assholes can hide in anonymity. I've never played sf4 online but I am sure there are plenty of douche bags. 

Yeah Street Fighter is pretty full of hate, I generally found the FPS community surprisingly heart-warming in comparison.

What? People are actually nice to you when you suck? I guess I don't suck enough. Damn you HD Remix and the experience you gave me!

Dude, go to Shoryuken (home of the hardcore SF IV pros) and you'll be surprised.  That place is full of people who'll call you a scrub for being a user who signed up in 2009 and for asking a question that you should know.  The only place where you could feel "safe" there for askingquestions when you're new is the ''noob'' threads where people are generally really helpful.  But even there they'll pound on you if you asked something you could have found with a little searching around the thread.

I guess the reason people are nice to me is that I usually find someone who is way better than me and then play them about ten times all using fei long.  After ten matches people understand that I am trying to learn a new character and they tend to be respectful.

" Yeah Street Fighter is pretty full of hate, I generally found the FPS community surprisingly heart-warming in comparison. "

Youre probably not a scrub buddy, just a new player :)

" I guess the reason people are nice to me is that I usually find someone who is way better than me and then play them about ten times all using fei long.  After ten matches people understand that I am trying to learn a new character and they tend to be respectful. "

I play on Ps3 and find a lot of rage quitters.  I don't know how many times I make it to a final battle in championship mode and my status resets on account of the other player disconnecting.  I wish they would fix that. 

I just played SF2 HF on XBLA again today...
I suck at fighting games, I couldn't get past Honda and I rage quit.

If you want to make enemies in Street Fighter, simply play a character that has a command grab, then learn to reliably tick into it. 

Shoryuken is a great place once you understand how the place runs. If you're an ass-hat like everyone else, AND contribute a lot of stuff to your character forum, people are sure to warm up to you. Works for me. My advice is to lurk on SRK if you're easily offended.
 
As for the SF4 community being all ggs, it's exactly the opposite. 90% of the people I fight online leave me d-bag messages afterward, to which I respond "lol u mad?" At least when I played Halo regularly people would talk trash during the game, it's funnier that way. No one likes to talk mess with no other teammates to hide behind. Scurred.

Asshat is comin' back!
 
But yeah I agree with you, though I main Chun Li and win most of my matches... I don't really receive much hate mail if any, but when I play Zangief or the Shotos. Watch out. At least I never touch Sagat I can only imagine what those users get in terms of e-h8.

Sportsmanship is more commonplace in Player Matches, I've found. In Ranked Matches you get a lot more assholes who want to hang onto their precious Battle Points and resort to annoying tactics rather than a good game.