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More to the point, why, then, do they post about said directives here and expect others to not bat an eye and just say "oh sure - what a great idea"? And if that's all they wanted, why even bother posting here in the first place?

Maybe that's not what they're saying. Maybe they're really saying "Help! I have to do X. It sux, but that's what I have to do, given my company's market position, business plan, annual goals, management structure and lots of other junk I cannot/won't share."

Consider: I often teach computer security. We show and tell participants how insecure regular passwords really are (but that they still have uses). One demo we do shows how to break 89% of passwords on a Windows server in about 12 minutes. We then show strong, workable, practical, affordable alternatives.

Then the participants say, for example, "DoD rule xxxx says we have to have passwords, how do we do it well?" They don't have a choice. I suspect that is the case for some of these posters, too. That's why they come to this group of experts to help them out of their predicament. As an employee saying "no, the USD25,000 you spent on the consultant was wasted, I know better." is just not an option -- at least if one wants to keep a job.

Sure, saying "no" can be good at the right times. I've done it a lot, too. Like Robert, I've found that it can help bring in clients. But you have to do it at the right time and in the right situations. A constant "No, I won't use PowerPoint under any circumstances." attitude is probably not a good idea...

What some call making a living, others call selling out. Neither can change or control the other, so cest la vie.

I cannot begin to imagine the wide variety of reasons people have for taking the time to respond to questions posed on this forum -- it was my naive hope that everyone had the same desire: to prevent others from following the same cart-before-the-horse paths that so many continue to take even in the face of information that proves that tactic makes absolutely no sense. Alas, that is obviously not the case.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LoveLearning,