I'm fairly new to Stack Exchange, so I'm not clear what the etiquette would be in this situation. I've been trying to help on a question which felt like it was starting to degenerate into an edit/compile loop.
Errors trying to send email via Apex class
this is the kind of thing that works well on the developerforce boards, but it doesn't seem very useful in the stack exchange format, as a lot of information is buried in the comments.
In this particular case, the question was tidied up and @metadaddy advised me to create an answer, but I'm curious as to what I should do going forward. It didn't feel like I was answering the question, more providing a series of reactive tips.