I'm not against using obscure hacks, and there's always going to be a debate about the point at which you even classify something as an obscure hack. The discovery of a new, better way of doing things will start life as an obscure hack and eventually find its way into mainstream use. What I am against, is using obscure hacks without explaining what you're doing in your code. At some point Joe Rookie is going to inherit my code and is going to waste an awful lot of time working out why I'd ever order by @@spid if I haven't commented. I don't know where the line should be drawn regarding what to comment and what not to, but personally, I've always appreciated inheriting code where the original author went to a bit of effort.