May I ask for some slack to be cut here for a particular reason? I work with older folks (the person who started this thread admits to being a grandmother, that's at least 34 years old in my neck of the woods!), and many of them make the honest mistake of applying face-to-face ettiquite standards to online
Sorry, I didn't mean to be condescending. I do teach a number of older first time computer users, and they tend to come from a more genteel background that regards the informality of the Internet as a little jarring to get used to at first. I guess the ones who don't need my help don't ask me. Besides, I said most, certainly not all, and folks like you who have been online a long time, well, I tip my hat to you. Back in the old IRC days, I have been told that the Internet was more of a "gentlemen's club" (no slight intended to the ladies), where people were polite and helpful to newcomers. Letting the whippersnappers in didn't help things much.
By the way, one man's whippersnapper is another person's old codger, I'm 48, and never touched a mouse until after my 40th birthday.