I understand all you have written, and I don't contest it. I clearly remember several fans going crazy because he messed up the chronological order of certain events in TGS. I recall you being one of them (though I apologize if I am incorrect). I find it a little disingenuous to be accused of being obsessive and spewing hyperbole, when I'm merely having the same reaction to my pet subject that many of you did when errors of plot reared their heads.

In any case, I don't think I was being dramatic at all. I did not write anything about 'a 20yr history'... that was another poster. I wrote that his post was frustrating to read because it was - he second guessed himself constantly when faced with minimal objections. I understand your point about him having a disclaimer about making mistakes, but then what is the point of the interview? It may be an act of goodwill but it's really pointless if he can't get much right. This is evidenced by the fact that almost nothing useful came from this interview despite it being labelled as 'interesting' on the board. There is one other post referring to his allusion to scenes from different times (as in about four other WoT books), but other than that, a very underwhelming contribution to our collective knowledge of the series.

I actually don't follow Brandon's interviews closely at all. I was surprised at how many there were when I looked. I merely looked at this one because it was on our board. He gets asked about strength in most interviews and he usually says he doesn't know. I don't know why people are suddenly so interested in strength (it's possible they've latched onto his willingness to give answers), but despite this he still hasn't gone to research a recurrent question so that he can answer it - though his reasons are his own, I fully understand this is the least important thing in his life.

I love the OP more than most other aspects in the book but I pay a lot of attention to plot too. I used to post constantly about it in times gone by. I really don't care at all if we never find out about the true strengths of everyone - I just can't stand wrong answers, for whatever reason : crowd pleasing, indifference etc... they're all equally irritating. I'm certainly not holding out for the Encyclopedia. I really don't have much time for a fleshed out BWB that I purchased a decade ago, and in any case, I'll eat my hat if there is a page with the strengths of the characters. Like many WoT readers, I want to see how the story ends. I read TGS once and I can't even remember when last I referenced the books prior to that. I'm reading other literature as I'm sure you are too.