I've said pretty forthrightly that I believe he's just a troll, and I stand by that.

I want to say publicly that after initial disbelief (motivated by the #1 Geek Social Fallacy), I have updated towards Richard's judgement of the situation. If you read carefully the comments, they are optimized for drawing attention to their author and prolonging the debate infinitely.

I have made the mistake of feeding the troll, thereby decreasing the quality of this website. It's even more embarassing to realize that it is a mistake most readers avoided. I have learned my lesson, and hopefully it will make me stronger in future internet debates.