>> Of course, as you have stated so clearly, not everyone finds this useful, or enjoyable, but then (I hope) no-one is actually forced to read it either. I just hope you won't let the presence of our column affect your decision to purchase and continue to support any magazine in which it may appear

I subscribe to FPA and FT and who writes in them and how they write does not affect my decision to subscribe. I try to look at your column, but do that some months more than others based on the subject, how much time I have, other committments, etc.

I understand the premise of the article and that you can learn from what not to do, but sometimes these "what not to do" ideas are ones that most programmers - if they thought of them - would throw out, also (as you do in the column before getting to the solution you decided upon).

Part of this may be my own impatience. I have so much going on, I just want to get to the solution to an issue. If I have something come up that I've not had to do before and I know that someone has written about it, I'll consult the article. I may find that their solution is what I consider a good one or it may be that I see problems with it (and that could be based on sylistic differences, differences in the problem being solved, or maybe I just think there's a better way). However, the "guru level" of the author makes no difference to me . . . I may think an fairly unknown writer has done something good and a "guru" has turned out something poor.

Anyway, as I said, although I'm not fond of the style, I do appreciate your willingness to contribute your time, effort, and knowledge to the community.