A big welcome to the Sphere, J.B.
You don't have to divulge your first name, of course, but it's nice to know whether a member is male or female, if nothing else. But then, with all the gender options there are these days... (OK, let's not go there... it's not important!
)
You raise an interesting question. I always use the ''Quick reply to this message'' box, but then, my screen is different from that of the members, I've come to realise. (Don't be fooled by ''Administrator"; it's Alex Pepple who owns and runs this site; I just assist with the day-to-day running of it, from across The Pond too, but the hi-tech stuff is all down to Alex!)
As you can see, we're a friendly bunch, and members like Roger and Mark will come to the aid of new members, and so will I. The best advice I can give is to just explore the site and get a feel for how things work; you'll soon get the hang of it I'm sure. The Mods are also on hand to help, so feel free to PM any of us if you have any further problems.
Jayne