I enjoyed the SA preventer thread, too. Being a lightweight, I have no experience with preventers that would help after all that. The thread did weave back and forth from inshore to offshore and back. Natural behavior for a forum thread, eh?
I did notice that some of the posters appeared to have based their opinion on a few broken booms, not considering that a better preventer design might have prevented broken booms and mainsail brakes and other gear or recovery ills. One of the reasons that it is valid and valuable to post experiences, even single good or bad or extreme experiences that you've had -- you add a data point. And when all the data points are taken over an entire thread or topic, you might get useful information.
Obn certainly sent the SA thread over on its ear. But, in the end, his first post generated a great deal more participation, and enhanced the entertainment value and the knowledge transfer.
Thanks again everybody.