Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

What is it with newbies - asking (me) their dumb questions by PM all the time ? 

Are you all scared to death of posting in the public forum, because:

1) You don't want to look like a dumb newbie and risk being ridiculed ?

2) You think that I've got all the time in the world to reply to you privately (by PM) ?

3) You think that no-one else has ever encountered this problem, so wouldn't be interested ?

Please note the sub-title of this forum section:

There is also this very under-utilized thread in the 7Axx General Discussion Area:

Tell you what, if I had a quid for every newbie's PM I'd replied to, I'd be a lot richer. 

Thing is, after I've shared my pearls of wisdom / opinions with them privately, many never come back and post on the forum.

You can guarantee that 6 months or a year later, someone else will come along and ask the same 'dumb newbie' question.

And of course, with the shortcomings of Webs forum software, I can't search on my PM's nor forward previous PM replies. 

So from now on, when any newbie (or established forum member) asks me a question by PM, that I think warrants it ....

The standard answer will be: Please post your question on the forum, so that other members may get the benefit.