I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. You're one of the most experienced LDers around, I always find your posts informative. I did leave a lot of stuff out of my first post, which must have been confusing. I'm neither a beginner lucid dreamer, nor a competent old hand - most of my lucid dreaming experiences have been random DILD entries, with my first being far and away my best. Your take on the darkness is probably right, both in cause and in not trying to change it. My first LD was very stable, but later efforts have sometimes faded out just because I've tried standing up. I've not got enough experience to understand why some dreams are stable, whilst others are fragile and difficult to maintain, so it's always useful to here from experienced LDers.

My WILD attempts continue to be hit or miss.