hi alun, perhaps a partial cause of the fluff up was that the project was revealed rather late in its process. my eye is drawn to There can also be a concern that if we approach a community of problem-solvers too early or in the wrong way, we risk inviting ‘solutioneering’. my experience is that you can have the solutioneering early or late; your choice; but you will have it. but if you choose late, you can find yourself in a state of siege on something to which you may have over-committed. the fun thing about a community of engineers is that there will be solutioneering. maybe it is a feature or maybe it is a bug. but it is a process which is pretty much bound to happen. and it will take a month or two and probably converge on a few local minima; or maybe it's maxima depending on your point of view :). my personal experience is that, if i reveal early and am open, i usually learn a lot. at my age and stage, i am not afraid of appearing st00pid; everybody already knows i am. there are some folk in the community who have a wealth of experience in diverse circumstances. and their advice is free! :) randy