i just got back from a week's vacation ... i'm a little
surprised to see this type of thread here, but that's OK

i too have been lucky enough to recieve some of your help
as well

i don't care about getting voted down if it means i get
to solve my problem. (experience is nice and all but
it's the programming what puts food on my table)

perhaps we'd be better off if you reduced it to
'running with scissors: lookup the scalar .. operator'
or something where you at least give a hint of what the problem is

you could even shamlessly plug your books in every post you make

"you can find out more about that on page 324 of my book"

even being an intelligent pointer can take up a lot of time
but i find them to be some of the most helpful posts