I think the true folly here is entering into an argument on HBT. There is a reason why many of us choose this forum as our home base. The attitude is much different 'round these parts.
And HomeBrewTalk is just as DIY and scientific, at the same time, as this place, if not more so.
My beef is definitely not with HBT. 90% of the people that post there are great.
My problem, which carries over to real life and work as well, is not with someone having a strong opinion on something. I'm an engineer working in Nuclear so opinions backed up with technical expertise are valued. My real problem is someone telling another person that there is this way, my way, of doing it for the best results. Add in misconstrued or misunderstood scientific articles and technical information to back up opinions and my head starts to hurt.
This is especially true for something subjective like taste.
It's like telling a guitar player, "You can make good sound with a Fender Twin Reverb, but if you want to make the best sound, you need a Marshall Superlead full stack."
Both are equally valid tools in the hands of their users. The difference is in preference and comfort using that tool.
Good points. Taste is subjective...who knows, y'alls beer might suck, mine might suck. I don't know. What's it matter? I have people in my homebrew club who've brewed for a long time, and pontificate all the time about this and that, "this is how I do it" like it's the best possible way...and sh!t, I'm guilty of this too, but I can still tell they've a long ways to come in their beer quality...as well as I do. A lot of the stuff I pontificate to my club that I do is stuff I learned from this site...and I know, sadly, none of them really read this site or any other homebrew forums, as far as I know. But, that's neither here nor there...or anywhere.
Another thing I always find amusing is when people say, "I do [insert whatever method, etc here] and my beer turns out great!" This person might think Shock Top is the greatest beer in the world for all I know, or thinks Amber Bock is an actual bock... ya just can't trust these people until you've had their beer.
On a slightly different note, why is aerating with pure O2 more of a big deal on a commercial scale and not so much on a homebrew scale? What difference would batch size have to do with it? Maybe you should tell commercial breweries to get a really big mix stir and aerate that way.