When I read new postings from new members who are trying to learn the ins and outs of coal burning my heart goes out to them. There is so much information on here. Solid advice that is universal, along with various view points and personal experiences of issues that people agree to disagree on.
Trying to sort the major topics that you have to know and understand first can be a bit overwhelming. I was wondering has a list of specific posts has been created for someone who never burned coal before? I know I would have found something like this helpful to quickly show me the basics and give me a framework of reference to build upon. As I said in topic title, it is scary to “know you don't know, what you don't know”. You look at that fire and know its HOTTER than anything you have seen before... and its sitting in your house!
If we keep having winters like this, I expect that there will be more and more people introducing themselves here and and trying to figure out how to use coal. I realize that creating this “intro to coal burning” posting list would take some effort by the ones that are guardians of knowledge here
and I am humbly suggesting this with the hope that new member could be quickly pointed in the right direction and lean the basics to burning safely.
And thats a great idea by the way!
He was arguing for the benefits of burning coal against people that claimed it was dirty and dusty and ruined the environment to his credit. 
I looked at 7k posts and thought OMG its Freetown Fred's Brother!