>I really dislike this guilt by association stuff. Who among us doesn't have acquaintances who have behaved badly? And we know probably 1% as many people as Barack Obama. Take my college friends alone, I couldn't get a driver's license if they were under the microscope, LOL.

Yep... imagine having "frequented the same forum as the notorious Dragon for years" in your former file (ex file, that is).

But I don't see this fascination with associatedness (now a word!) as going away tomorrow. It'll stay for at least a generation or two. Look at Walmart - nobody's employed there, they're all just socializing, there are no workers, only associates. The true Organization of Associated Labor, as envisioned by Edvard Kardelj and a few of his, ahem, associates.