Thanks to the joys of a few beers I've decided to covertly return and take a look at this thread - a dirty, conniving little sneak I must be.
Compelled to resume my participance in this forum, I suppose - for reasons of my own.
I apologize for the brash and irrational departure and posts made - whatever the effects may have been from them; good or bad. I still can't agree that getting ripped across an electronic rack is the most effective or considerate method to decide some simple, principled arguments.
Too infrequently are there people who will simply state, outright, that something is crap - and encourage others to help fix this. I feel that this guy did precisely that. The insults certainly got attention, and they're often justified. Moreso when the gravity of potential consequences is taken into consideration - what do the friggin' victims scream?
Most problems that arise here and on similar forums and newsgroups - they are security-based. Here, at least, it's just words and a little worry. Usually.
In the real world, the arguments end up moot after someone figures these things out themselves, and then it's a problem of:
"Well...all my stuff got taken, and the insurance company doesn't want to pay out; the police say they're on it but doubt they'll find the culprit...what now? I've got a business to run!"
What I saw was someone stating "Hey, what's the point of all this - learn to pick it, to rip it off the object you want into, or get something that can just cut it! No one trying this stuff will bother with that!"
Maybe he's a bitter locksmith who's tired of fixing this stuff and seeing distraught people, or a criminal who revels in this assorted crap and seeks to gloat - but one word - just one word - should not define an entire argument. That's where it fails.
Motives don't change the facts, for chrissakes. If someone wants to call you a jerk, that is entirely independent of the problem regarding your tool shed and the master lock on it.
I deal in the things that deserve arguing, generally. If I am to be attacked on other matters requiring similar credentials and so forth, do it on an fair basis. The day detractors of mine can run a Heidelberg is the day I give some assaults equal merit.
Chrispy - you blew your argument assuming I was self-righteous; were I still going after that label, I'd be out robbing people senseless and feeling egotistical and getting my nice documentary on the A&E channel about just how cool I was until I got caught. Self-righteousness assumes I have some agenda to pursue - this is the internet; at most I try to lend some credibility to statements I make. Getting money, making it, and the difference between pride about a job and holding a position - huge, huge problems. Think about it.
Been around the block in ways that could trump a lot of things, and I just don't want to discuss it. That doesn't sound too arrogant to me.
I'm not going to fight over just how qualified I am to make judgements and statements and have opinions - as I do not feel I have any to begin with.
Apologies, again, for raising a little too much Cain...