As found and noted by Herr Gruber:

Astute observation from Kottke:

Other times, it’s not so fun running a visible site. Some people are determined to deliberately misunderstand much of what they encounter in life. Sometimes I have a hard time realizing that that’s their problem, not mine.

The ability to deliberately misunderstand what someone is trying to say is an extremely useful skill. I picked it up in Cupertino, probably largely from Dave, but like him, I do not use it for evil. It has two productive uses:

1. Humor. People can write some mighty dumb things if you read them other than the way they intended. This is an endless source of free amusement, ranging from the mildly funny:

   Cataloging Photos and Storing Them on the Computer

   Why would you go to all the trouble of cataloging your photos just to pile them on top of your computer?

   Defiant Psystar back selling Leopard computers

   And for just $100 extra, you can get one made out of rhinosceros hide!

   To more evident howlers:

   "Caution: this door is alarmed!"

   WTF would make a door frightened?

   "This door must remain closed at all times!

   …then why is it a door? The normal word for "door that must never open" is wall.

   Cosby daughter hooks up with "Madea" comedy (Reuters)

   If one of Bill Cosby's daughters was hooking up with an entire movie, don't you think that's kind of burying the lede?

2. Prevention. If you can see these jokes coming in what you write, it makes you a little less likely to write such ambiguous phrases. For example, even if you're aware of the increasingly popular blog showing really really bad uses of Photoshop, and think that the exposure is good for Adobe, you would not write:

   Photoshop Disasters Good for Adobe

   You would more likely write

   "Photoshop Disasters" Blog Good for Adobe

   Or, even better:

   Blog Showing Photoshop Excesses is Good for Adobe

   Yes, it's longer, but it's also clearer. Trying to get people to read the article based on a misleading headline is generally a bad idea, especially if the misinterpreted version is largely the opposite of what you're trying to say.

So, yeah, deliberately misinterpreting others' remarks or writing for evil is a bad thing, but having the skill and using it to amuse yourself or to clarify your own writing is not such a bad thing.