What has amazed me about the explosion of genealogy interest especially in the past 10 years is how many of our seniors have started from scratch on the computer in order to do their family trees. One lady on Islay started the computer at age 89. I personally have given lessons to 2 people in their 80s and a couple of youngsters in their 70s. For every person who has tackled the daunting task of learning the computer from scratch in order to do their genealogy, I yell BRAVO!! I know it might be frustrating for some who have oodles of experience when someone asks what seems to you to be a dumb question, especially an off topic question. Personally I think the only dumb question is the one not asked. What sets the Islay list apart from most other gen lists is that we become friends. We help one another even if we are not related to the specific family another person is researching. It seems natural to ask friends off topic questions. We all come from varied backgrounds with differing levels of education and experience. A little kindness and patience doesn't cost us a thing. In fairness, I agree that off topic threads can sometimes get out of hand. Personally, in future, I will try to be more consistent to answer off list when answering off topic questions that aren't genealogically or Islay related. Of course, there's still that magic button....if an off topic thread really irks you, then just "delete". Cheerio Sue