So, that's the tinfoil hat topic of the day? [insert yawn emoticon here]

I don't "always take Bitmain's side". I do, however, always approach the topic from the direction of both an informed consumer and a practical adult looking at a business grade piece of equipment.  

There's an inherent irony when viewing the complaints of the new firmware that alienates 1% of users and the complaints of the firmware that was designed to server 1% of users. That's the part where I "side with Bitmain"; it seems that people want to cry about something (simultaneously crying "you should cater to the 1% like me" and "you shouldn't cater to the 1% that might want remote control").

And I'm guessing you advise all Windows users that Microsoft can control their computers at will, too? After all, phone-home telemetry is phone-home telemetry. 

Any takers on laying bets as to the next Bitmain conspiracy that the tinfoil hat brigade will come up with? 

I read that and mentally see some old white guy talking about using the "interweb thing" to access "The Facebook and The Twitter". 
IRC is a big world with lots of non-connected servers; I could be on IRC, give you my nick, and it would take you at least 6 months to find me.   

Yes, Vista was a recode (for the most part, anyway).

No one in the software industry ever does that. As a parallel example, there are unused telemetry remnants from Vista in Windows 10.

What I'm saying is that, much like all software that doesn't get a complete overhaul recode, old code still remains. For the delusional conspiracy-theorists that believe in this drivel of Bitmain shutting down rigs without your consent, and you're a responsible computer component owner, then you're not still using "root" as your password and no one else can access your equipment and you needn't worry anyway.

Do you buy your tinfoil hats or do you make them yourself?  

It's not an "issue". At the time that it was initially done, it was to be a service available to let you remotely monitor and control all of your rigs from 1 central location (and was part of the selling point of S7s for some people). Multiple desktop apps were created that allowed you to do the same thing, so Bitmain abandoned the idea but never removed the code. Years later, new ill-informed donkeys arrive on the crypto scene, discover the remnant code, and claim there's something nefarious about it.  

FFS, the S7s still even have a tab for it (even though it was never publicly activated).

Because adults know that minerlink stuff was added to firmware way back in 2015, abandoned, and that there's not much removed from the successive S7/S9 fw, just added to it.

For me, it's about helping test the new pool code.  And the "bonus" BTC doesn't hurt a bit. 

I'm in the same boat, since sever thunderstorms have hit here and I had to shut down my alt rigs (but I did manage to get them updated 1st ), I'm going to add a ~12hr 500TH rental as soon as my alt sales all transfer.

It seems you have a misunderstanding of what you read, or you read too much speculation.
The process of finding a single share is reduce, and thus the speed of finding that share. While it does, in theory, "use ~20% less power", that is per share. An ASIC produces a share and goes on to the next one. It's not an overall reduction in consumption of power, just a reduction in the power required to produce a single share (thus yielding more overall shares per amount of energy consumed).

As fanatic26 said, no one has implemented it, yet, on the main network; however, if they did and you joined their pool, you would still consume the same power per 24 hour period that you currently do (it would just be a more efficient usage of your power).

Much like everything else in the crypto space.

Someone hoping to get lucky with a spare change funded rental, no doubt.  
I've added my altcoin rigs for a couple/few hours (whilst I update the fw on a few of them)....

Still chugging along....

I got 2 "Deluxe 4K" Packages about a month ago and I love them. They were perfect for getting my over-powered APW3+s off of my S7-LNs and freeing them up for my newest batch of S9s.   

True, but when they are all Ford dealerships, buying from the same supplier who is sponsoring the sale, and the object is to sell Fords, it doesn't matter because they were all Fords bought and sold through the same supplier. The analogy falls a little flat, but surely you can see the point, no?

Right. While I admit that CURE is the "staying reason" for folding, what I mean is that if Joe Blow could fold on team "Cure4Diabetes" and get paid CURE for doing so, then it's likely he would be folding for team "Cure4Diabetes" and not team "Curecoin". The stats are basically "padded" in the favor of team "Curecoin", as being on the team is the only way to get CURE in return for folding.

It's kind of like multiple car dealers having a sale on the same day and the guy handing out $5 bills bragging because he had the most visitors. 

I've used it a few times for purchase related transactions, but it's gotten popular enough that sometimes you have to try a few times over an extended period (as they only take so many per hour).

Last batch of "13.5" that we have are all running at ~13.6TH/s with ~0.0001% HW error rate (and all running as the manufacturer intended them to). Now mind you, that is in a controlled environment, not a garage or bedroom.