Yeah, there are some real good experts on various subjects here on HN. One thing i would recommend is to contact anybody directly if needed (through their email ids in their profile or otherwise) with any questions you might have. That way you can have a longer discussion and/or learn more on specific subjects. Most people are willing to help generously when approached in a knowledge-seeking manner. I always look at HN threads/discussion as merely giving me an idea of different concepts/subjects and ask for pointers to more knowledge either books/papers or experts. Hopefully i also do the same with my comments thus helping the overall s/n ratio of this site.