>Let's go further with that analogy...let's say you get invited over for a free dinner...and it turns out to be an Amway party...do you suck it up and smile and thank the host graciously for all they have done (and all the crap they tried to sell you)? After all, it was free! If such a thing wouldn't bother you, then great -- we have different personalities when it comes to things like this I guess.

What a crappy analogy. If you get invited to an Amway party, the host invited you in hopes of making money off of you. The help given here is given for free, with no expectation of profit in any form.

While I think that the best response to a question about non-standard practices is a warning followed by info on how to continue if you so choose, I think that a warning is better than nothing. Yes, sometimes non-standard practices are justified, but the majority of the time, the programmer is doing it that way because he doesn't know how to do it any other way.

Bottom line- the advice one gets here is free. One can take it for what its worth, or thank the giver, but biting the hand that feeds just makes one look like a jerk.