Thank you, Kevin.
For those of you not here very long, this has been an ongoing problem I have been remiss in addressing fully. To those of you who have been here a long time or left the forum as a result, I apologize. To those of you who are relatively new and think this is coming out of left field, I assure you it isn't. I have quietly taken measures in the past, but the message has not been received, and apparently only served to reinforce the unwanted behavior. To those of you who find the behavior charming or think maybe I'm throwing the baby out with the bath water, sorry, but you are in for disappointment.
What threads such as this one typically devolve into is unnecessary debate, circular logic, snarky comments, bad feelings, and, most likely, a new thread started presenting the refuted misinformation couched as a helpful and informative essay. Or worse, they cause an exodus of valued contributors to the forum. It's all a distraction and counterproductive to the mission of this website and forum.
Neither the forum members nor I need anyone here constantly pushing their own contrarian agenda. The information presented on the website and disseminated via the forum discussion needs to be as consistent as possible, and consistent with that generally held as reliable and accepted by the vintage cast iron cookware collecting community. We're here to help the new collector and user of cast iron, not to confuse them with off-the-wall opinions, old wives' tales, romantic notions, and half truths stated as unequivocal facts every time the opportunity presents itself. You're free to believe what you want, but proselytizing it here is just not welcome.
As of today, this distracting sideshow is over.