Except, sometimes I do get confused. I mean, there are well-meaning people on here who either fail to make themselves clear, or who deem it necessary to overload their prose with with a superfluity of recherche verbiage which has the effect of obscuring the point they're trying to make.

I think it's because so many folk on here parade their academic qualfications and impressive CVs in a way that makes others feel they have to fancify their stuff to make the cut.

To put it another way, your writing, Alison, is always crystal clear, as is that of others like Lisa or the Penguin, so anyone cracking on to be confused by what you put is full of the proverbial. But there are some who, either through attempts to 'fit 'in', or lack of grasp of the Queens' English, do sometimes mess things up and need a gentle prod.

Then there are the philosophical/ ideological/ technical types who while writing articles for general consumption will nevertheless sometimes drift into the vocabulary and style they use among their colleagues. At which point a Bear of Very Little Brain like me needs to step and say "Do you want to rephrase that bit of gobbledigook into something a sane person can understand?".

So sometimes the confused person is not a Troll. they might be like me, and I'm more of a Balrog!