"I have now had the 4th new poster pm/email me rather than commenting on their threads commenting that it is because of you."
Hmmm... That quote would worry me... but NR seems to be made up mostly of pro or nearly pro photographers (like myself) who use this gear we all love to talk about to earn all or part of our income. This makes our passion about it is probably a little bit more personal than the average club/hobbyist, as issues about it all, directly affect our house payments, car, relationships etc. If we happen to be self employed (as many photographers are), we tend to be even more vocal and direct about these things. Self employment is not for the shrinking violet and you need a thicker skin just to survive. Thank goodness I am a staffer with an assigned role and don't have to go out and sell myself to get each and every assignment! Only some are plum roles and handed out on a 'sale' basis, but that is another matter/thread entirely!!!
"bjrichus, I hope you did not take this the wrong way, however, if it was offensive to you, I want you to know that it was meant in jest."
Casper - I have had some sharp remarks aimed at me on here too, but I also know how hard it is to convey humor using just text, so my view is not to worry too much about it. If others want to take you to task over it, then that is up to them.
"...referring to bjs wife as a female is a comment on his using a GECKO as his picture and not meant to cause any hurt, and honestly I find the GECKO is cute even though you may think my comment is not."
Man! My wife is more amused that I use one of the Geico songs (the one called "The Worst Ring Tone In The World" that has them singing: "ring-a-de-ding-ding-a-dong") as the ring tone on my cell phone for her when she calls me. First time I told her about it, I was scared that she might have been offended, but if she was, she still hasn't exacted her revenge, so perhaps she is just waiting for the right moment to say she wants that new super expensive Canon dSLR... Now *THAT* would upset me.
Enough... can we get back more towards Nikon photography please?