i sympathize with your criticism, because i wanted to use imgur earlier and couldnt.. which was an inconvenience.

i imagine you are pretty firm in your belief that they are missing the point, and any attempt to debate the issue with you will be futile.. but i think perhaps i could illustrate a point you may have overlooked:

the taking down of certain sites in protest serves as a simulation of what may be in effect if the sopa bill is passed.. therefore, taking a radical step such as taking a whole site offline might serve to prove a stronger point to casual browsers of the internet than if there were merely a message on the site that brings up sopa. the user is 'punished' as you point out, not being able to access the site, but that punishment will be permanently in place by the government if nothing is done to stop the bill. you mention 'not within the users control' .. but the point of the blackout is to bring awareness to users in a very radical way of what is happening and for users to call their congressman which IS something that is within their control. you are perfectly within your right to protest the protest, but i think your outrage should be redirected at the legislation behind sopa, IMO. btw i really dont even give a fuck about any of the sopa shit, and i think 'pipa' and 'sopa' would make really good porn stage names for a couple of cute twin girls.