A beginner's question (for a change)

[froument@xxxxxxx (Max Froumentin)]

Hello folks,

This is my first mailto harp-l. I subscribed about four months ago and
I've been lurking and reading the archive since. Thanks to you all, my
playing is getting much better now. but I still haven't found all the
answers to my questions. And it is not possible to find the books
mentionned in harp-l here in France. So I will start by asking why do
some (most?) of you seem to prefer cross-harp to first position. I
guess something must balance the missing notes but I haven't found
what.

Max.

PS. if what I just said is completely stupid or rude, consider it as an 
    improper use of English :-)