As someone who got sucked in on the whole 'freebies' thread, and felt quite aggrieved with the things that MachineClaw was suggesting/intimating, I thought I should weigh in with my opinion here, post-'April Fools!' revelation. It was a joke. Admittedly, I'm not sure I found it particularly funny, but neither did I see it as mean-spirited, or an attempt to use April Fool's as an excuse for what had previously been a serious post. The fact that Anton backs up MachineClaw on their plans to try and get 100 posts within 24 hours of the thread starting adds further credence to the fact this was preplanned. Looking back over the post, MachineClaw never actually attacked anyone. Peoplew jumped to the conclusion that he was targeting specific individuals - I think I might have been the first to mention Acadia's name in her defence, but I could be wrong - but all he did was talk about the general trend of people posting links to freebie sites. In retrospect, some of his comments were designed to inflame debate and were simply ridiculous. 'Poser has never been about content' is a prime example of this. But the post was not about freebies being unwanted, or that freebie-makers should quit or go home. The only thing stated in that direction was that 'several commercial merchants have said that freebies harm their possible income', or words to that effect. I'm not defending MachineClaw and Antont's choice of joke, necessarily, or saying that this was the funniest thing I've read this year. But I do think we should recognise that this was an attempt, however misguided, at a geniune April Fool's prank, rathyer than a backing down of a serious attack. And april Fool's has always been mean, if you're the victim of the hoax/joke. jonthecelt