Fair enough, it's an honest question. And accept that I'm not at all being nasty, I'm just proposing something that might have made the discussion better. You are correct that it prompted a lot of good advice.
Where I see the lie is by your last post that I reacted to, you say you are completely conversant with trailer lighting, have built many trailers and wired them and were perfectly capable of solving any problems; that you actually needed no advice. Conversely, in your first post you said that a beep on a continuity tester proved good ground; it does not and you knew that at the time--plus in the later post you disclosed that the problem was...a bad ground. You said in the initial post that you have got lights to work in the past by driving enough that ground was established through the trailer ball and socket; you also then by the later post know full well that that is not a proper or reliable ground.
The last part of the original post of driving 5 or 6 miles implied that you then went out on the road towing a trailer that you knew had no lights. To a professional driver that one stands out like a sore thumb; who would do that?
So the lie is in presenting yourself first as someone relatively clueless with trailer lights, and then disclosing that you were actually completely experienced with them. Can you see that someone thousands of miles away has to see one of those two as a lie? The lie is not in anything technical about the wiring or trouble-shooting; it was in the way you presented your ability. Next time I see a posting like your original one, what will my reaction be?--probably to ignore it because the last time I was had; the poster in the end didn't need any of my advice at all.
I understand what you were trying to do, but you must be aware that these forums can be volatile places; even following this discussion a few people started jousting with each other. But people will react according to what they perceive your ability to be, and you misled them in the first post if the later one is honest. I'll accept the later one; you know what you're doing.
I should offer what I'd have done in trying to achieve your intended goal--like presenting the same scenario as a friend having the problem you outline, and ask what advice people would give to him. At least state up front what the goal is rather than presenting yourself as something you are not if you are way more knowledgeable than you presented yourself as being.
