In the years I have been playing WoW, I had only like 1 person make fun of my spec, this was in BC before I did anything other than PvP, and at that time my spec DID suck- it was a hybrid BM spec that pulled talents from MM and Surv that I thought would help me in PvP. I was still learning my class, and it was my first MMO, so yeh, I was noobish. After that, I respecced into a MM/Surv spec that worked well in PvP, and fell in love with it.
After the xpack hit and I started leveling Sui to 80, I realized that I was out of practice since I shelved my main to level my new Deathknight to 80 (he was too fun and cute/badass, but shame on me), and I felt like I was dying constantly- was at one point so frustrated I wanted to stop playing her altogether which hurt. A few guildies coerced me to respec back to BM because the PvP spec wouldn't quite cut it, and I relearned the class- as a side bonus was able to tame that pretty cat I liked but couldn't get prior- my buddy Loque.
After the xpack hit, the guild began to grow to a nice size, and we began to raid. I learned more about my class, and the right way to spec for raiding. I researched and tested stuff out, and realized that with the knowledge of the class, the years playing it, and new tricks and tips, as well as tweaking my UI, and getting my addons set up to maximize my DPS, that I could still pull some good numbers in my nerfed spec. I was top DPS in mostly everything I did. I had been complimented on my DPS and never spoken down to by harder core raiders, or any of that. As a complete shock, I have actually had people ask me questions about certain things, sometimes advice. I still avoided joining raids with hardcore guilds because I thought they would moan that I run a sub-optimal spec. Never happened. My server isn't a good one for progression, it's quite abysmal, but people piss and moan about anything. I was #1 and #2 DPS in VoA 25 the last few times I did it, and that was with harder core raiders in the group- so you could imagine why my guild thought I was nuts for being hesitant for joining a pug 25 ICC (my guild is a 10 man) without anyone else from the guild as a security blanket (lol). I explained to them the flak BM hunters get on the Hunter forums, and had to try to make them see the stigma the spec holds, that even the best BM players can't shake. I also told them that no one has belittled me for running BM, shockingly, so I couldn't warrant my fear of pugging 25s with non casual raiders. A few guildies who used to be in hardcore raid guilds said they had BM hunters who raided with them, and just couldn't understand where I was coming from. Was I being too hard and critical on myself?
Well. The day after we had that conversation in guild chat, I came across a level 23 Druid in Heirloom gear in Thunderbluff while I waited for one of my officers to come make bolts out of some cloth for me. I saw he was inspecting me, and received a whisper from him stating that I would do much more DPS as Survival. All I could do was laugh. Right now, in my gear, I find my DPS is on par/above/or occasionally just under Survival hunters in similar gear. When I told him this he cursed me off, said yeh right, and called me a noob. Guess no one notified him that MM (which is my off spec) is the only spec that pulls a significant amount of DPS over BM at my gear level. I didn't even explain to him that MM is currently the top DPS spec. He called me a noob a few more times, and told me to get a life. Then he logged. I wanted to reach through my laptop and strangle him. If he wants to belittle me on my spec, he should find all the people I out-DPS and lecture them.
I always prided myself on the fact that I could play a spec I enjoy, with the pets I enjoy, and do damn good. Lol... maybe he was one of the hunters I out-dpsed in one of the VoAs recently
Just like in retail, I can't shake the anger off like I should when someone tries to get under my skin. A customer told me I need to work on getting 'Alligator Skin' to let crap just roll off my back. You'd think after over 12 years of being/managing in retail I'd have it already, but especially when I can't say what I want to, I just boil inside.
How many of you BM hunters catch crap for your spec? I know we have some successful BM raiders on here, so I know I'm not the only one who knows how to play the spec. How do you handle people? Ignore them? I'd love to hear your stories and experiences regarding specs, raiding, and other players/servers.
". And I was, I was beating he and an MM hunter, or on some fights staying right up there with them. Then when the Stinky fight rolled around, he said, "The BM hunter should put up Aspect of the Wild". Like I'm so useless for being BM that I should be the one to sacrifice my DPS for the raid (which I do in my guild and don't mind, but it was just the way he said it). But, when everyone but me and a couple dps, and the tank and one healer were left standing, he whispered, "Now no one can say anything about your spec". Yeah, ya think? BM is NOT the trash spec people make it out to be. I don't know why some people are so blind that they'll keep knocking it even when it's outperforming other "better" specs. I have since switched to a SV dual-spec, but only because I was getting bored with doing BM for five years and wanted to play with something else. But I wouldn't think twice about going back into a raid as BM. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I couldn't ignore the nagging. I wasn't mean in my reply, but I made it a point to prove that I could do just as well or better than the other two better-geared hunters. But no, I can't really let something like that go ignored. But I don't feel the need to be nasty in my reply, either. I'll let my skills do the talking. 
