To be honest, while I don't fully understand his point of view (and he definitely seems to be a little towards the wild-eyed shrieking variety of person), I'm also not sure I fully agree with MB's perspective, on several levels.
For starters, not everyone wants to be seen as a "deal" guy, or someone who's involved with that kind of thing. I personally fall on the oposite ends of the spectrum. On the bus yesterday, heard a guy talking to his girlfriend about Mass Effect - me: "btw, that's on sale for FAR on newegg.com." But not everyone is like that.
More importantly, the fact that someone does something they don't want others to know about is not necessarily cowardice. Even if it's nothing wrong, there are lots of things that we choose not to share with others. And if it is something that's wrong, well - we all do things that are wrong, on various levels, and we're hopefully working on it.
Again, not saying I agree with the OP (does that term apply when referring to someone in the middle of the comments on a post from Dan? Well, you know what I mean), but not sure where the vehemence on your side is coming from.
What I plan on answering him (if I ever get around to it) is quite simple: everyone is entitled to their likes and dislikes, and furthermore, you can keep them private if you wish. But... let's say you make a living selling cigarettes in your basement, but publicly you vehemently condemn them and those that smoke them, carrying on and on about the dangers of smoking... does that not make you a world-class hypocrite?
The Internet (and to a lesser extent, DansDeals/churning) is something that has its lovers and its haters. If you wish to abstain from it, or partake quietly without making a fuss, that's fine. But secretly making a living off of it while publicly deriding it as "phooey, shmutzig Internet" or "bittul zman", or better yet "it doesn't
pas for me to bee seen condoning its existence in public" - THAT is unacceptable to me. To put on your "tzaddik face" in public, and to actively say "this is why I want a webinar - so I can continue hiding"... OH EM EFF GEE. You have some nerve.
And another thing: IMO, it's a personal insult to Dan, and a slap in his face. Imagine I went to an artist and said "I really enjoy your paintings, I have tons of them at home! But when polite company comes by, I make sure to hide all the paintings, because I don't think it "
pas"es for them to see that I like your work" - how do you think that artist would feel?! If I then said to him "so I'd like to have more paintings delivered to me concealed in a hollow broomstick, because I'm embarrassed for my neighbors to know I follow you" - do you think he's worthy of having the artist provide such a service?! Personally, if I were the artist, I would shove said broomstick "where the sun don't shine"...