>Not putting down his knowledge - but the ratio of technical vs rethoric posts at least in some threads was very small. Too much bickering and soap opera might sour the reading expirience
>
>Thomas, that's been a myth for years - sure, John could be ascerbic and rude, but even when doing so he was often still making some kind of technical point.

Kevin,

I guess here we just disagree - from my POV it often started from a valid technical point and then the ego part grew more as thread size increased. There were sometimes technical points added, but it often became a (well executed) ritual dance of "mine is better than yours". Yes, the ritual was partially spiced with technical points as well, but also delivered with rhetoric twists. And from my POV there should be an implicit "new" added to technical argument: always beating the same horse (dead or alive) is not the thing I personally want to read here - repeating the same argument over and over does not change the real situation (be it true or false) under discussion. It might change attitude/beliefs, but through a "marketing" approach instead of a "thinking" one. I might watch a commercial if somebody tells me it is nicely done, but I will skip most of them, especially if I have seen them already. I often read the first or second post and then guessed how the chances of "new" arguments being raised was and on my need for witty entertainment.

regards

thomas