About making pizza. . .

Reading up on stones vs. screens and cornmeal vs. parchment paper has left
me confused. Those who like screens seem to swear by them and hate stones.
The opposite also seems to be true--stone people don't seem to like screens.
And I suppose it's an either/or thing. I don't guess somebody would use
both. It reminds me of the MS-Windows vs. Macintosh loyalty thing. I'd like
an unbiased explanation about the pros and cons of each.

Today I bought a stone and a long-handled wooded paddle (peel) and had the
same disaster I've been reading about all over the Internet: the dough stuck
to the peel while the topping and cheese slid off onto the 400 degree stone
and oven floor. Ouch! What a mess. Thank God for self-cleaning ovens,
though the smoky house wasn't fun. I sure hope my brand new stone isn't
ruined (I did not have the stone in the oven during the self-clean). Some
Internet sites say that corn meal is not good enough for beginners and
parchment paper, directly on the stone, is better for newbies. Others say
to use semolina.

With time and experience, I'm sure I'll develop my own opinions, but I'd
like to toss this to the group for some feedback.

Thanks!

Rich