When I first had a computer linked to the internet and asked my daughter what to do with it she signed me up to Mudcat (hence the daft username).
One of my first questions was about easy music for another daughter learning the fife and I was staggered when someone offered to post me a booklet all the way from America.
So my first impression was helpfulness.
I've since learnt to be wary of threads once they get long since they often get argumentative and repetitive.

One thing would be helpful, the top of the page looks almost the same if you are a member or logged out (so I've recently been posting as 'guest' without realising it). If the top were different for guests it might be easier to signpost the essential info for novices. Even when I did realise I had to search around to find where to log in - as it's not something I often need.