Personally I think this is a worthwhile discussion, and don't let the naysayers bother you (there are plenty of them on Pinside). On the other hand the initial post could have been a little less of a lecture (sorry, but that's how it came across--even I wasn't sure where you were coming from). A better approach would have been: Here's my philosophy, what do you think? Then we could have a discussion.

As someone who was actually a field service engineer (not just a made up title, all the FSE's at my company had engineering degrees) I can assure you that having to redesign products in the field was not at all uncommon. There are many times when the guy out there where the rubber meets the road has a lot more insight than the engineers. I'm not saying that is the case with pinball, but the difference between a repair, a mod and a hack in relation to pinball is worth discussing.

Also kudos to mrjamma for his response. I'm tired of listening to operators, who clearly don't know a thing about electro-mechanical repair, justifying hacks because all that matters was getting the game up and running. To be honest I've done a few hacks in my life on medical equipment, but I came back as soon as possible and properly repaired the device. That's an important distinction.

That sounds like a great party game.