My best experience is also that of the global friendships made possible here. Nowhere else have I ever encountered anybody who cared an owl's hoot that the formation of slippery is the result of an obscure grammatical choice made by our great-great-great-great-great-great-etc grandparents. But even better, here the discussions can ramble on about language, or even off onto some tangent, with an exquisite blend of academia, humor, bawdiness and philosophy. Not to mention food, engineering, and rocks. This is the best salon on the net.