I think there is a vast difference between heated differences of opinion and bullying. Bullying is an extremely strong word that implies a systematic destruction of a posters confidence, ie being followed around the boards and constantly criticised or consistent nasty PM's/posts aimed directly at one poster.
Any instances of bullying on ST.com are taken extremely seriously and action is taken to deal with the situation - in short, we don't and won't tolerate it from anybody, old or new.
Differences of opinion are more tricky - this is a forum and it is unreasonable to believe that all of us will always agree with what other posters say. Freedom of speech and the right to express our opinions is one we all take seriously and that is what any forum is about (within reason obviously).
No forum is a utopia, there will be disagreements, harsh words and arguments and if you can't live with that then I think people need to question whether they should be involved with forums at all. ST is certainly no different to any other in this respect! Although I would say that the atmosphere and welcome here is far better than many other forums in my experience.
I hope we as a forum are welcoming to new members and by no means should any new poster feel that they have to fall in line with others or be afraid to voice their opinions. I do think Argey has a point though - please do take the time to introduce yourself and get to know people a little, it takes time to find your feet in any group, in real life or online
Finally, tackling people in threads always leads to an argument. It is far, far better to contact one of admin/mods for help. On the top right of any post you will see a small triangle with a
! symbol, this is the report post function and if you press this and write a note in the box it will come to Graham, Sazza and myself and we can take any appropriate action that's needed.