what’s so sad about this is that because Joseph has some possibly valid complaints about yichusdik’s view of gedolim (I don’t keep track of these things so I have no comment on it), he and those who will join the tackle pile will totally negate the valid points that were made. This happens all the time in this forum. If someone says ANYTHING that is inappropriate, instead of addressing it and still being mature and honest enough to hear a valid point, we just throw the whole person in the blender.
It is not ad hominen to mention the history of a poster who begins controversy and then fights hard on it. Just as attitudes towards gedolim are rehashed and reminded in order to give context to comments, so is posting history.
in this case Joseph did not present an honest fight. He waffled. He is harshly accusing someone of disagreeing with a point that he paraphrased out of context, he is taking a comment a gadol made in a context and stating it as a stand alone fact. He does have a history of cut and pasting from other sites and other threads and enjoys specializing in controversial topics that can be damaging to some people’s spirituality when posted in such forums without background or face to face time. if you are lucky enough to force him in a corner he just up and disappears. Remembering this when you get engaged in these ‘discussions’ is crucial as people get hurt and damage happens.