150 Driver.......after 42 years in the job I still realise every day is a school day....sadly there are folk around that think they know everything and are unwilling to listen to other views.
I hover on this forum at times and try my best to give my views as I see it from over the ATC fence, after all it's you GA guys that keep me in my job so I applaud you for continuing to speak to ATC when ever you can.
Going back to your original post you say you were operating IFR in VMC conditions, from that am I correct in guessing that was because you had filed an IFR flight plan......if so I would be interested in hearing your thinking on that when operating mainly in class G airspace.