>Daniel...
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>Please give me an instance where the use of surrogate PK's hurts you...
>
>There is a big difference between considering alternatives and choosing to always use surrogate keys. I for one always have an eye out for FEASIBLE alternatives. Choosing to not use surrogate PK's is an immutable rule for me. It is like the naming conventions I use or the way I handle RI, or the way I handle parent/child relationships. I have a few rules that I ALWAYS use.
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>Of course, if I encounter a situation where an immutable rule does not apply, I guess it ceases to be an immutable rule. And, this has happened before. That cannot be said for surrogate PK's.
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>One thing to keep in mind in answering the question above. You can't answer it from the perspective of the benefit that a natural PK gives you. You have to answer it from the perspective of how the use of surrogates directly hurts your app or design...
>
>
>< JVP >

-- From my original comment --
I do disagree on one point though - I think you'll find that this isn't a community, rather a small clique of self-appointed experts who tolerate outsiders looking in, as long as they don't express opinions at variance with their own. The "inner sanctum" do not have to give explanations for their opinions, they are holy truths.

The whole group has the air of a fanatical religious sect, blindly worshipping Foxpro, with a small group of high priests, whose proclaimations must be accepted as god-given truths & questioning those words is tantamount to blasphemy.
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I have watched this thread with a great deal of interest, as I was, at least in part, responsible for it straying from it's original question.

All it has done is reinforce my view that there are a group of self appointed experts who have the view that they are right & anybody else, especially those from outside the small inner clique, are wrong.

What you appear to be saying above is that you have a few rules which work for you & that you always use, and because of that everyone else should use those rules.

There appears to be a great deal of antagonism against anyone who has an opposing view. I have seen a lot of statements saying if you don't do things my way you will have a lot of problems later - why, where's your evidence - just because you did something differently once & ran into trouble doesn't mean that everyone will.

Always using surrogate PKs seems (to me) just seems a variation on the the blind worship of Foxpro I originally mentioned.