It was less than an hour (I hope at least, didnt check) and my hope is that others will read this and find themselves in it. No post here is ever only for the person that is addressed.

About these thread you also mentioned I used to participate in the count to 21 million and similar threads. I still see no problem with them as long as you post there rarely and not most of the time. I used to mod a small forum for a while and we a section literally called "spam" where threads like these would get moved to. I think its somewhat part of forum culture, but it should not annoy those that are looking for discussions. After all its why we have forums, isnt it?