harry potter - Ravenclaw House - is it really a good place for eccentric people?

The Ravenclaw House's motto is:

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasue." (Rowena Ravenclaw)

And from their welcome letter, it seems Ravenclaws associate eccentric behaviour with creativity and intellectual giftedness:

"...Another cool thing about Ravenclaw is that our people are the most individual – some might even call them eccentrics. But geniuses are often out of step with ordinary folk, and unlike some other houses we could mention, we think you’ve got the right to wear what you like, believe what you want, and say what you feel. We aren’t put off by people who march to a different tune; on the contrary, we value them!"

But it seems that Luna Lovegood, who is definitely an original, and her behaviour is often described as highly eccentric, gained the nickname "Loony" and felt out of place in her house, even saying to Harry she really loved the DA meetings:

"I enjoyed the meetings, too. It was like having friends." (HBP)

Indicating she felt pretty isolated in Hogwarts. And it seems she wasn't just friendless, but was also pranked, as in fellow students hiding her stuff, including her shoes. (I am assuming those were Ravenclaws, as who else had access to the Ravenclaw dorms where her belongings were?) It's not a very nice joke in Scotland where the mildest winter in the 1990s had an 5.15 °C (41.27 °F) average temperature.

Myrtle, a muggleborn Ravenclaw student was also treated badly and felt out of place in Hogwarts.

And the Slytherin acceptance letter states:

"...we Slytherins look after our own – which is more than you can say for Ravenclaw. Apart from being the biggest bunch of swots you ever met, Ravenclaws are famous for clambering over each other to get good marks, whereas we Slytherins are brothers."

Even though the welcome letters are far from being objective, they do give insight how the students preceive the Houses.

So all this got me thinking how accommodating Ravenclaw house is towards quirky people? Maybe instead being the best, it's the worst place they can be?

Answer

I think you may be slightly mis-reading the welcome letter (never mind buying into pro-Ravenclaw propaganda :)

The letter doesn't quite say Ravenclaw is absolutely "accommodating towards ALL quirky people".

It merely assets that (1) "some ... are eccentrics" and "we think you’ve got the right to wear what you like, believe what you want, and say what you feel" "unlike other houses". This means they are

1. 
   
   

   ... better at it than lockstep jocks at Gryffindor... but it does not necessarily mean they are all THAT perfect in absolute.

   
   


2. 
   

   ... that there are more people there that are accommodating.

   
   

   But every house has its share of jerks - do you seriously think Quirrell was Mr Nice? Or Mr. Creepy Ollivander? Or "you are irrelevant because you have No Inner Eye" Trelawney?

   
   


3. 
   

   ...That they may not accept absolutely everyone. But Luna was really really really weird even for an eccentric wunderkid - if you recall, even friendly, accepting Hermione was put off by her.

   
   

   For that matter, most of them probably thought she wasn't all that smart because of her belief in weird stuff. She didn't go out of her way to advertize her Ravenclaw-ness.

   
   



4. 
   

   As one of the commenters pointed out, in reality, having a bunch of uber-geeks together is hardly a likely ground for peace and universal harmony.

   
   

   Ravenclaw type people can frequently run from merely "not suffering fools gladly" abrupt personality, all the way to socially malajusted geniuses on Aspergers/Autism spectrum. Friendly Hufflepuffs they are NOT.