Hi Tina,
This can be a very loud and passionate community. This is because many people are invested in the BattleTech Intellectual Property and may or may not agree with the decisions that PGI makes regarding the implementation into a real time multiplayer online game.
You will find many divergent opinions that are sometimes very strongly expressed. However, if you wish to gain the support of the community the greatest commodity you have is honesty. If you are straight with the community, explain the reasons why decisions were made up front (whether folks agree with them or not) then you are far more likely to meet with respect and support than complaint and derision ... but it is a difficult path to follow.
Certainly when the game was managed by IGP there was often a very restricted flow of information and the discussions on the forums became quite toxic at times. When PGI took over management in September there was a change and discussions became more open and frequent. However, this flow of communication has been quite dormant since the new year and once again discussions are getting less polite at times.
As an example of a thread where a PGI employee took the time to keep in touch with the community ... there is this link.
http://mwomercs.com/...courtesy-phone/
Karl did an absolutely fantastic job of periodically keeping in touch with the community and answering some of the many questions that folks have. It really gave the impression that PGI was listening. On the other hand, Karl hasn't been able to post since the new year either for whatever reasons.
Finally, in your role as community manager, I would urge you not to ignore these forums in favour of twitter or other social media as some of the folks at PGI seem to prefer. Social media is an import avenue of contact with the people who might be interested in MWO but many of those most committed to the game can be found on these forums ... and these forums are one of the few places that new players will look to find information and feedback on the game.
P.S. Finally, depending on your past experience with the franchise and MWOI, I'd also strongly suggest that you get someone at PGI to play a couple of games of BattleTech with you as well as spending at least an hour a day for the first while actually playing MWO in a variety of mechs.