I only recently looked into trying to find an online community of Hellenic polytheists... I'm truly shocked at how much of this part of the internet just consists of people arguing with Greek people.

I'm Greek-American, so while I've inherited some of the culture, I know that I'm coming at it from a very American perspective and that Greeks have a much deeper understanding of the language, culture, and history that comes into the practice of the religion. I defer to them.

Does this make me a folkist? A gatekeeper? Bigoted? I am welcomed by everyone I have spoken with. But if I want to do this correctly I need to listen and learn from them, and so do my peers with no Greek background.

This isn't a form of gatekeeping or bigotry... Culture and history and religion are something that you can't learn completely from a book, not really. We will make mistakes, use Greek culture in ways that hurt Greeks, accidentally offend someone, and that's why we must listen.

A religion does not spring out of thin air.

This thread has gone on too long but I want to add an example: westerners are welcome to wear kimono, but that does not mean that there are not inoffensive or inappropriate ways to wear them. You--and I--are welcome here, but please remember that Greece still exists.