[Manichean]

Originally Posted by bigpallooka

[...] I do however have to take exception to your premise. The difference between ridicule and criticism is entirely in the eyes of the receiver (and I can be very sensitive ) which has been quite adequately demonstrated in this thread.[...]

I disagree. Although I have to say that my background is from what has been called "geek culture" and academia and, as such, my experience might differ. That being said, ridicule would be "You're an idiot for not knowing $subject" or "You're stupid for getting $fact wrong", whereas criticism would be along the lines of "You got $fact wrong, it should be $correct_fact". I'll admit there's a difference between constructive criticism, which is a Good Thing, and destructive criticism, which I personally consider to be A Slightly Less Good Thing Still, criticism, together with admitting your mistakes, is the way you learn.
I mentioned my experience background above. That's because I wanted to note that, again in my experience, you can have extremely heated discussions and criticisms of various subjects with people without ever ridiculing them. Criticism can appear quite harshly at times, especially if one has just about any aspect of something subjected to criticism, one might feel unfairly dealt with. But in those cases it pays to remember that the people offering criticism try to help you become better.

The matter of contribution is another altogether. Having read your excellent Regex tutorial I am even more determined not to hang myself out to dry by attempting something I am not currently equipped to do.

Thanks for the compliment. Since you mentioned it, I'd like to use the tutorial as an example. I don't know if you've read it in the manual or in it's thread. If it's the former, I urge you to have a quick read through the thread, and you'll notice that I got quite a large amount of critique and suggestions. It may surprise you, but in hindsight, at the point of starting the tutorial, I didn't understand regular expressions very much. After finishing it, I feel confident in using them, although I often still learn new things about them. That's largely due to the criticism I got in the thread (thanks again, you guys!).

My meagre offerings of advice have always been followed by more detailed and more accurate posts. I will be sure however to couch any of my own requests in the most respectful terms to make sure I don't offend the very people most like to consider it's merits.[...]

You'll almost always find that there is someone who knows more about any particular subject than you yourself do. That won't change unless you become a Wizard yourself... That doesn't mean that you shouldn't contribute to that subject. Again, use the improvements others offer as a source of learning, and as for the ridicule part, see the above.