Kirby wrote:I don't understand how a stone that is not in any real danger is weak, I guess. This is what is getting me with the whole "don't contact a weak stone" bit, I think.
You are stronger than me so I'm not sure I should try to jump in, but: one of the most useful strategies in Go is to take profit while attacking a weak group. It doesn't mean that the weak group was "in any real danger" of dying, but the fact that your opponent had to spend time and energy making it safe (even though making it safe was not difficult) while you did useful things is very valuable. Just because you can't reasonably hope to kill it doesn't mean that you can't profit from attacking it.