Yup 'fishing' is pretty close. The consensus of opinion here is that you are genuine so I'll tell you what I thought.

I was thinking that you knew this crazy gang here and were trying to get some ribald responses to your remarks about 'bases'.

However, for once, everyone has been kind to you. So welcome aboard and have fun, we're an irreverent lot, but you'll be fine as long as you don't ask for a definition of 'folk'.

Cheers,

Bert.