Jgnat:
You said "Praise is not sinful" Someone must have said that "Praise is sinful". I certainly didn't. Someone must have said "accepting praise is sinful" . I didn't.
I often speak out about threads devoted to praising individuals. It would be more discreet to send a personal E-Mail to do that. Otherwise you are reinforcing status which leads to alienation for those who are never mentioned.
The insult of public praise is that it detracts from the intrinsic motivation and satisfaction of a mature person. Praise works somewhat on kids but adults resent the potential control that emerges from praise.
Proplog, my opinion of YOUR scholarship is permanently tarnished by your premature prediction of the end of the world. A couple years back, I believe. Even less honorable, in my opinion, you chose to disappear from the board for several months rather than take your "error" on the chin.
Oooh that really hurts. And that of course is your intent. I am not real concerned about your opinion of my scholarship. I don't claim to be a scholar or an expert in anything.
I remain convinced that there is something imature about these "praise" threads. And I will continue to express that opinion when I am inclined. I will leave it to the scholars here to google around with the concepts of "praise and control" "value of praise" "harm of praise"