>Wow, talk about a blast from the past! I actually recall that thread.
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>John was doing one of the things that John did best - asked the questions that no one thought to ask (and asked questions that others didn't want to hear....and made points that others just had knee-jerk reactions to, simply because it was JVP).
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>That thread is more an example of specific members of this community having difficulty in accepting John's points.
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>So...I see nothing wrong with John's message/question....

His question would have better been asked in a new and separate thread. It did nothing at all to further the knowledge that the original poster was looking for. All it did was, as David said, hijack the thread for his own purposes.

>
>
>Here's a little story, and this is very relevant....a few years ago....I had a difficult career decision to make. I was about to pick 'A' over 'B'...and happened to mention it to John. I thought my reasons for picking 'A' were correct, sane, etc.
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>Well, John picked me apart over the phone and was pretty harsh about it - he thought I was making a big mistake by picking 'A' over 'B', and that my thought process was flawed. (And he really had no knowledge of details, other than the details I was giving him).
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>He brought up factors I hadn't thought about,and basically accused me of using very flawed reasoning (and said some other things as well). At first I was a bit ticked at him for a few days...but thought about it further, and decided to go with 'B'. No one forced me, I simply thought about it again and realized John might have some points. I also knew that to go with 'B', I'd have to re-invent myself in some ways.
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>And he was right. In the course of about 9 months, the major things he saw wound up coming true. And so I'm grateful that he "hijacked" my thought process.
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>I don't 'worshop' John...he has a nasty temper, and like ALL of us, has many faults. But I deeply respect him.
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>It's for reasons like this that I'm deeply ashamed of (and have no respect for) those who have gone out of their way to 'thank' Michel for keeping John out.


Well, you were talking to him about your decision. In effect you solicited his opinion. If you'd asked him for the time, and he delivered a lecture on which type of watch is better than some other type of watch, while never actually giving you the time, you might have appreciated it less. I don't see your story and the thread issue as being all that similar.

I would have had no issues with John starting his own thread(s) - in the case in point, a thread titled 'Is VFP losing it's audience' would not have been out of line. I felt that hijacking the original poster's thread the way he did added nothing worthwhile to the original poster's question, and in fact only served to derail replies to the original question.

I imagine others see it as you do, as a legitimate use of the original thread, but I'm afraid I'd have to disagree.