Most likely a very newb question, so apologies beforehand. When I was making a curved beam by railing a square profile, I noticed that the surfaces oc the resulting solid did not appear to follow the lines. Is this a problem? I seem to be able to manipulate the solid with boolean operations still, but it certainly looks weird.

it may be the min mesh size setting. a finer mesh should improve that.

It's just artefacts display for speedy process!
Absolutly no effect on the geometry of objects!

You can change that / Options / View Meshing Parameter/ Mesh Angles - Add details to inflections
but display will be slow down in case of big - numerous objects!

The mesh angle setting is a trade-off between the precision of the view, speed, and memory...
The "not following edge" is a display artifact.

The mesh angle can be changed in Options>View. So maybe try, for example 4 or 5, instead of 10.
The view should look better, but be aware that too low a mesh setting may have other detrimental side effects for the users experience,
depending upon users computer system...

Be aware that the new "guard rail" "protection/..." may cause the number to revert to 10 upon re-loading MoI.
Guard rail can be avoided, see Burr's and Michael's posts here:

https://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=9942.12

- Brian

The above comments are this amateur users understanding, subject to change.

Excellent! I suspected as much. Cheers for the instant feedback all!