This person was clearly annoyed, but they weren't really rude.
And you're missing that they have a point (perhaps understandably, though you could have logged out to check, and surely remember the 'You are not logged in' notice from this or other forums - they're almost all based on the same few systems...). You cant access users' profiles unless you're logged in. You can't access links to uploaded, rather than inline, images. Sometimes these images contain the substantive information in a post - e.g. a diagram or graph.
The OP may not realise that the profiles don't normally contain much of use. They may also not realise that there may be legitimate reasons for requiring registration, with a valid email address, before allowing access to uploaded images - I'd guess to prevent hotlinking, or other excess bandwidth uses, but I don't really know. I'm going to assume the site is big enough to not need to be collecting email addresses for dubious marketing purposes, but again, a non-techy person unfamiliar with the net (as someone who's been smoking for 40 years may well be) might well not know that.
So, sorry if this comes off as rude. I just think you should probably remember that a lot of people who end up here may be at the end of their tether - stressed, sick, and desperate. You should probably assume good faith if you want to represent the e-smoking community in good light, and if you don't, why are you replying to threads in the beginners section in the first place..?
. hats off for your dedication. my lesser angel had another response for the OP. could have did it in about 6 words.
