Some people take growing far more seriously than others and sometimes some can be down right rude when they see someone who does not take growing equally seriously and especially if and when they attempt to advise someone of what is better and the person does not agree with them. I am not saying that is what happened in your case but that does often times happen.
　
Some believe if you are going to grow then do it right or don’t do it at all and if you are going to grow and not do it right don’t bother to tell them all about it because they don’t want to read all about your ghetto grow, as they may see it as being.
　
Another factor is the more experienced someone is the more they will tend to point out flaws in someone else’s setup and how they do things. They are not always rude in how they do it, though some are, but they will tell you if something is sub-par. If you then disagree with them that may offend some of them and they may reply with a sharp tongue.
　
When it comes to grow lighting HID lighting by far produces more grams of herb per watt of electricity used than CFL’s or other present commonly used grow lighting. The highest quality LED’s if used in sufficient numbers and if used correctly can beat anything but most growers purchase lower grade LED’s in part because of their lower prices and in part because few know what is high grade and what is low grade and they fall for advertising copy and because even the lower priced LED's are not really inexpensive they purchase to few of them to get good results so most would say that LED’s suck when the failure is really the cause of the buyer/grower and not the LED's.
　
So since HID lighting produces more grams per watt, to some it only makes sense to use HID lighting. You won’t find books written by famous professional growers that tell you to use CFL’s. They say use HID’s. You don’t see threads from cash croppers with major grows with hundreds of CFL’s strung all over and around their plants like lights on a Christmas tree and instead you see HID’s hanging overhead and often times on light movers. Mention CFL's to growers like that and a typical response might be when you get out of Jr. High School and actually learn a few things, or one I like, wait before you buy your lighting, keep flipping burgers until you can save up enough for a real light and then give growing a shot.
　
While they may be rude in how they say it anyone telling you to scrap CFL’s or other types of florescent lighting is trying to help you, trying to instruct you so you will have better results. Now some fail to take into consideration how while they may be growing in a 15ft. X 15ft. room, or whatever, the CFL grower they are telling have their head being pinched off by their own sphincter may be growing in a small cabinet or a PC case or a small closet and while the heat issues that would arise using HID’s could be overcome it likely would not be simple and not practical for the CFL user to do and maybe they just cannot afford to make the needed changes, or for that fact even afford HID lighting. The cheap price and ready availability of CFL's make them very popular. Some people just cannot not or will not shell out what it costs to purchase a decent to high quality HIG light setup but they can hit WalMart or Lowes each time they shop and pick up another CFL or two and slowly over time increase their lighting capability and to them that is the only route they can take if they want to grow or it seems like the most acceptable way to do it in their opinion.
　
So to many experienced growers and real hardcore growers they see anyone using CFL’s as being inexperienced, ignorant and in some cases not really being capable to grow herb due to budgetary constraints, or a combination of some or all of those, and they more or less look down on them for one or some or all of those reasons.
　
I have grown for 37 years and I would not use CFL’s if you not only gave them to me but also paid me to use them. I know very experienced growers who if someone asks them a question and then tosses in that they use CFL’s or are going to use CFL's the experienced grower will not bother to respond. Some I know will respond but if the person asking the questions replies with something like, but I know a guy that uses CFL’s and he says they work great for him, the experienced grower will not respond and will likely never again respond to them because they way they see it is the person came to them for help and advice then reused to accept the help and follow the advice and instead wants to do what some guy the experienced grower will see as being as ignorant as the one who asked the question and the experienced grower will not waste their time trying to help someone who refuses to be helped, or at least that is how they see it as being.
　
Some grow sites have a higher percentage of experienced growers than others and you are more likely to get the sort of responses you referred to at a site that has a higher percentage of truly experienced growers than you will on other sites, like this one for example. I was a member of the now defunct original Cannabis World and that place was overflowing with very experienced growers, including a handful of very talented professional breeders. If someone mentioned CFL’s the experienced growers, for the most part, were normally polite with their responses but basically the person asking the CFL question was told get to an education in growing and laughed off the site, but again normally done in a polite way instead of a rude way.
　
Here it is like the Ellis Island of growers. It is like every day a new boatload of new growers shows up and almost every single day the exact same very basic questions are asked, sometimes several times in a single day, and then followed by a string of the exact same less than intelligent questions that almost always seem to follow the first questions and so on and so on.
What makes it worse is after the last batch of noobs finishes their first grow and the next crop of noobs shows up the previous group talks like they are Greenman or Jorge fucking Cervantes or or someone and they pass on to the latest batch of noobs all the inaccurate or partially accurate information they were handed down plus the absurd things they came up with on their own that they think are good. It is like a perpetual motion machine, a never ending cycle of the blind leading the blind.
Here it is accepted while on some sites they will just tell you to piss off, especially if you ask their advice and then will not heed their advice. They won’t waste their time on you and they see you as being nothing more than an annoyance cluttering up the forums and a waste of bandwidth and they will not at all be shy about telling you so.
　
When it comes to you purchasing an HPS grow light (High Pressure Sodium), unless it will cause heat issues that you cannot deal with for whatever reason it would be a very smart thing to do, as long as you purchase the correct light for your setup.
But you will not want to grow only with an HPS. As I am sure you know an HPS puts off a light spectrum that is best suited for the flowering stage of a plants life. Using one for the vegetative stage will cause plants to have wider nodal spacing and you will not get as thick and as lush of growth. For the vegetative period a MH (Metal Halide) is a far better option since it puts off a light spectrum that is what plants need for vegetative growth and the results will be tighter nodal spacing and thicker lusher growth.
　
So what is needed is to purchase an HPS and also a MH conversion bulb so you can give your plants the lighting they need the most during each stage of growth or purchase a switchable ballast that will let you use both MH and HPS bulbs for the different stages of growth or buy multiple lights, one MH and one HPS, and switch them out using the correct/best one for each growth period.
Good luck! Happy growing!
oh and to brick top, thanks for that clarification on the whole situation, kudos...Ilegal smile i know you know how to grow with cfls good, thanks for the support keep on growing strong!!!
Aaaayy men!!!!! Brother ,,,, cfl's rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!