Backpacking FAQ

I have been asked a number of times, mostly by people that I don't backpack with, to provide information on lightweight backpacking as well as what I use and why. I have been meaning to post about it since it is hard to provide a full explanation and it would be nice to have a way to refer people to the information. So, I have written some rather lengthy posts answering a few major questions that I have been asked. I have backdated the posts so that they don't overcrowd the other posts on the blog (If Blogger had the feature set of most other blogging packages this type of game would not be necessary).

The Questions:

Why do you enjoy backpacking?
What is it that you use and why?
How can you tell if someone is good at backpacking or not?