Well, that was ten years ago ST. I may have found that post. I don't think that this Ken (or Joe) were responding to my post but to the one above. I've not changed my opinion on the backstay and the pig tail. The reason is that a few years ago I tried a cascading boom vang. Heading to dock when the main sail was down, I applied too much force to the vang. The boom was attached to the pigtail & the pigtail clip wasn't seated properly & it failed, the boom hit my wife in the head while she was operating the tiller and outboard. She was ok... but we actually went to emergency and she was given an MRI because she could have had a concussion. This was my worst mistake so far (knock on wood) in our boat and since then I've removed that stronger vang setup. We do take our sailing seriously and try to be safe aboard but that was a mistake that won't happen again.
As a side note, that discussion was also about a topping lift. I don't have one. I use a boom Kicker and it's been great for about 8-10 years now.