'A wordless, negative vote. I'm not sure what to think.'
think 'oh darn, i got trolled successfully'

'My sense of this board over the last few days is that there is a hierarchy, and a canon. .... Rebels are known for getting a great deal of negative feedback, and the language tends to be angrier, especially from the acolytes. (Rebels could further be classified into constructive and contrarian, but I digress.)'
there's a social structure to the board, sure, though you might cite examples of your observations, because to me they appear to be somewhat imagined. also, you should consider how it is that you know a post is ignored, as an unreplied-to post is merely an unanswered one (not everything warrants a response).
'As a new person, I think I'm firmly in the "clueless" category, with "neutral" tendencies. I am not an acolyte because I don't know the elders well enough to trust them implicitly; nor do I know the canon (Daniel's book) well enough to phrase my questions to use it's language.'
hopefully, your acolytes dont trust the elders implicitly, but only where they have shared experiences, and hopefully they are also willing to deviate from the elders when their experience diverges? (otherwise they'd never make any new discoveries). i hope your constructive rebels can find their places in this community.. and i hope your clueless are learning!