Originally posted by: Frodolives
It's an occasional annoyance, and just part of the usual pub scene. It's better if they start a private lobby with friends, then turn it public, but for various reasons the punks would rather kick a stranger.
This rarely happens to me, because as soon as I hear any hint of kicking, or "someone needs to quit" etc. I know there are rude kids present, and leave immediately. I also don't like to see a stacked clan, but as long as they aren't jerks about it I don't much mind taking them on with strangers.
Here's a tip, not entirely unrelated. You run into a percentage of decent, friendly gamers in random games, but sometimes you can lose track of their names or the server fails unexpectedly before you took enough notice, and you think "I should have added those guys." So take a screenshot (f5) upon starting, and now and then through a game as players drop/join.
I don't add tons of Steam friends, but I have added a number of friendly and skilled players that play frequently, so I get invited to games fairly often, and usually have someone I can ask if I feel like tackling an expert campaign, etc. Some of them I wouldn't have successfully searched if I hadn't taken a screenshot. I also have a quick launch shortcut to my L4D screens.