speaking as a newbie, I personally skip reading threads where it's like "is this better than that" without any general reasons behind asking the question. I like discovering how stuff works and how to do stuff over just "what to buy" type threads. LIke the sealed/ported misconception thread - wow! Any other historical threads like this, where people discuss something on a general basis and not have to bring up brand X and brand Y, etc?
Then again I'm a newbie. Generally when I'm new to a forum I'll just lay low for a while, but on this forum, it's hard to! I look and see I have like 80 posts and I know within those 80, that less than 10 have to do with me helping someone out - and I'm like...I ask too many questions! But the help you guys provide is highly valued in my mind; especially from you guys with thousands of posts!
I hope to look back, say a year from now, and reflect on my newbish questions and laugh and call myself a dumbass!