Tom - you're lucky - new to the internet and you've stumbled on the best site around. I didn't interpret any of the messages as criticism. I remember though, when I first started usung the internet about six months ago, mudcat cafe was the first place I found (I think it's got something to do with being interested in folk music).
What got me really confused were the little 'typo's' which can add subtle (or not so subtle) meanings to the words that people post. For example :-) is a smiley face on it's side and *BG* = big grin....
Anyway, there have been plenty of discussions about it here's one
Cheers,
Catrin