I have just got my n900 and think its great, would like to try the palm pre also.
I have to agree and disagree with you regarding the community, I think they have done a great job providing apps and support for the n900 and although Nokia support seems poor it is much better than the support for n8x0 was!
And yes sometimes users can be snooty at times and unwelcoming to other members for no good reason. I find this very annoying, it seems like some of the swarm of new n900 users are to blame.