I'm a reluctant SO user, truth be known. I've had 30 years programming experience, the last 20 of which have been almost exclusively C++. I prefer to spend my idle time anywhere than on internet forums, so I only come here when I have unusual or perplexing questions. But that leads to a low reputation, and perhaps people assume that means I'm a novice, or don't understand the basics. The reality is I usually find myself asking questions from a viewpoint of "this doesn't make sense - something is missing - there is this factor and that factor and another factor... and yet those are the trees, and I can't see the forest for them." And then I roll my eyes in despair when people give me answers about trees, and wonder whether SO is worth the pain of trying to pose questions about forests.