cfenton:I couldn't agree more. That was my point too: before I took my fundies I had the same misconception.
No, you still don't quite get it. That is okay, you sound like you eventually will. The reason many of us that have been diving with this system long before the DIR name existed or was the new fad just answer with strict, this is how it is, is because for 99.99999% of people that truly is exactly how it should be done. The vast majority of people that say, I have to do X because Y does not work for me, are just making excuses to compensate for something they are doing wrong rather than learning how to put the whole system together. That is also why we consider the term "personal preference" a bad word and I gave boom a hard time about it. It is synonomous with an excuse for not bothering to learn how to put everything together properly.