If Web 2.0 has an asshole, Ben Metcalfe is it: I think I'm going to have to agree with that, the guy just won't back down from an argument, he still thinks he was right to tell everyone about those feeds and encourage their use just because they were in JSON or RSS. The things is, his girlfriend Sophia is really nice, I had a good long chat with her. Why she's moving to the states with the blue haired fool I don't know :)

Ian Betteridge:

Yes, Ben is remarkably naive for his age. A shame really, as he's quite a smart boy. 

dotBen:

Hi Thom/Jessica - just thought you would like to know that Sofia (with an f) is my wife, not girlfriend. Yup, she is lovely and she even married the 'blue haired fool'.

I'm not even going to make a specific comment about your post - in the hope that I can someway prove I can back down. ok? :)

I hope you enjoyed BarCamp + can come to the next one -- or even why not organise one in Liverpool?

Finally - just so you know, I've got yellow hair at the moment. I'm about to dye it purple (I think), however. 

Jessica:

Hey Ben. I meant 'blue haired fool' in a friendly/endearing way, yellow's good too, I've had mine bright blonde for a bit, and blood red.

I don't really want to join in on the argument you were having with Betteridge and Coates and so on, what you did reminded me of me, I've gotten into trouble at work at least twice for sort of "hacking". I didn't think I was doing anything wrong at the time, just testing some SQL Injection or some funny JS exploit, ended up getting caught out :-/

The point is that I knew it was wrong and learnt something from it (obviously not enough if i got caught twice!). The issue I had was that you were arguing an indefensible position with the idea that you were right to do what you did, but I think you've come round to that side too, so it's ok.

Hope you and Sofia are settling in alright in the states. BarCampLondon was great, thanks for organising it, and I am planning a Liverpool one, maybe if you're back in the country then you could make it! :)