Board Thread:Help!/@comment-4139960-20130708231515/@comment-26975268-20130709003012

Yeah, I read that conversation too. Might have actually been me, can't remember.

Anyway, I personality try to write with the article "the":
 * The steward was blah blah blah

Because
 * A steward was blah blah blah

sounds like I'm talking about the job in general.

The whole point of the lead is to ensure that the reader knows exactly what the article's about — and we don't want to confuse 'em like that.