mav said sharing a kind of global conversation

I agree with mav and Avy that more internationally diverse board would be wonderful! The worldwide dialogue going on here is one big reason I'm so fond of this site!

nancyk said, just by observing and soaking up the knowledge

I second her agreement with Dr. Bill that the towering intellects featured here can be quite intimidating at first (it took me a couple of months of peeking in before I summoned the courage to post a question to start a thread, and I'll never forget the run that my first thread, "Neanderthal," gave me!...phewwww!!).
And, I must say, the idea that we might have an audience of, oh, say 250,000 popping in for a non-registered look can be mighty intimidating in itself!...so I'm going to file that in the back of my mind, lest I freeze up my posting with perfectionism and over-analysis! Nobody's watching.....are they?