Read the Rules
Please, inform the newbie: what about someone obviously drifting the thing, with irrelevant remarks, probably just for fun? (perhaps from boredom, sitting home with nothing to do)
A key point of a forum surely is to canvas views from different perspectives - it is up to the reader to form his or her on judgement having weighed up any pearls of wisdom cast into the pot. Volume of posts does not guarantee a solution or that a particular recommendation will suit all. Take something as simple as dealing with cold and wet handy wandies during winter sailing. Many learned and experienced sailers post glowing reports about a particular brand of sailing gloves. I find them hopeless - after a few hours they freeze my hands and once they get wet they take forever to dry onboard my little ship. I gave mine a trial on a 28 hour solo passage to windward in a January gale earlier this year -gave up with them quickly to stop hands falling off and a fortnight later they were still wet inside. The only thing that works for me is to acknowledge that hands will be wet but they can be warm so I use neoprene divers gloves - the 2mm ones allow very good dexterity and are far superior in arduous conditons. That is not to rubbish the strong recommendations of others - but I think a "minority report" is worth reading for other experiences.
One of the benefits of experience is of course that with sufficient application you can repeat your mistakes more perfectly the next time.
Robin
Pleiades of Birdham
MXWQ5
Nigel didnt always help his own case!