Tom - and that's a shame, I think - and it's the reason I used the language I did, i.e. that for all sorts of reasons (including the prevalence of rankings/lists), most folks no longer seem to realize that they are "judging" courses instead of "evaluating" them -- in other words, that they are comparing courses instead of experiencing them.
As you might know, the first time I play one of your courses will be, well, the first time. But I actually consider myself lucky -- because when I finally get to, say, Streamsong Blue, I will be playing the Blue without any other points of reference or comparison, and so will actually be able to experience it (and, of secondary importance, evaluate it) instead of judging it.
One of the hidden drawbacks of a site like gca.com is that it necessarily encourages judgements instead of evaluations, comparisons (either explicit or not) instead of experiences; it's just plain harder to write and express oneself well without using comparisons and common points of reference, and, ironically, the better travelled a golfer is, the more likely he will be to judge instead of evaluate.
You and the other architects here need to pay attention to these comparisons, of course, because in a practical and real-world sense, they will affect the bottom line as much as anything else. But I think it is important to remember that the views shared here are 'skewed' towards judgements instead of evaluations, and often don't tell the real story of how a course will experienced by most golfers.