Metreon you talk so much that you don't seem to 'hear' a thing. Just like rabbiting, duelling or any number of other things, o-sniping is a tactical mistake in CTF. It comes down to one simple fact: You could be doing a lot more, instead of wasting your and everyone else's time and valuable resources (yes, in an 8-person team you are a valuable resource). We are a community here and we are trying to build this game up. If you are a part of this community and you believe in the game you will try to understand teamwork better and help us to educate new people about the best ways to play the game. Instead you are helping to break it down. Please decide where you stand.
Jokes aside:
Frankly, it's a matter of opinion. I've done this and heard all the arguments for and against since this game has been around. I do listen. And I do play as part of a team. If I'm in a game where it's unnecessary or redundant as a tactic because of good offense on the part of my team, or another good o-sniper or chase sniper doing that work, then I don't do it. You've been in games where timely sniping of a capper robbed the other team of a cap, so don't pretend that it's a useless tactic. It CAN be useless, but the way in which I and some others apply it is not.
If I nail a capper before he gets to base, or at his base, then I buy time for one of my team's grabbers to grab the enemy flag before they can make a cap. I make the life of my team's chasers easier, by either killing or softening the capper and damaging/distracting defenders who get in their way. Yes, I could do the same in a Raider and hit them directly, but there is a certain advantage to doing this from afar- it means it takes them time to get to me and kill me, and that is time my team can exploit. I do what I do as part of a team, and a few people who have been on teams with me will agree on this point (provided they don't fear getting flamed for coming to my defense by certain parts of this community- I'll address that later.)
In any case, if I feel it's the best contribution I can make (as opposed to being another chaser, or another defender, or another capper- niches I can and have filled if I needed to) then that is what I will do. I consider the time I buy my team in the above scenarios a valuable resource.)
We can argue all year on whether it's a useful tactic or not. There are some people who agree with me that it is useful as a last chance position against enemy cappers or as a diversionary or covering tactic. There are some who agree with you and say it is at best, only an irritation that has little value beyond that. And there are some who simply play the game and don't care. And there are those who, for whatever reason, simply hate it (perhaps more because of its effectiveness in a CTF game than any perceived lack therof.)
Let's put the effectiveness argument aside, and look at your community argument.
For starts, comparing osniping to rabbiting and duelling is an unfair and out-of-context comparison. Rabbiting is almost never a useful tactic and engaging in a personal duel during a CTF (or any team) game is a completely different category. These are different animals and thus irrelevant to the discussion at hand.
(Kudos to the devs for introducing duel servers. )
I hardly think doing what I do breaks down any community. We are not the Borg. We don't have to agree on everything, but saying I am helping to break this game down is outright over the line. On top of being a blatant exaggeration, it is statements like that do a lot more damage to the relationship between community members. This is a game. The main purpose of a game is to have fun. Few things detract from fun (let alone scare away new players) like other, usually veteran players who take it exceedingly seriously to the point of accusing others of "breaking down" the entire game. You are only a part of the community, and so are those who agree with you, and so am I and those who agree with me, and so are those who are just here to cap flags, fly, and shoot. Don't presume yourself to be the voice of the whole.
A community should be accepting, tolerant, and welcoming, and spewing rhetoric like that will cause far more damage to it than any amount of o-sniping. This is a fine community that I enjoy being part of, and things like that are why I no longer play certain other games whose communities became domnated by a small cults of people who thought it was their way or the highway, and discouraged other people and newbies with that rhetoric. I am really saddened that this scholarly debate has come to this.
To borrow some fitting GWAR lyrics:
Freedom to all the people
Brave, true and strong
Freedom to all the people
Unless I think your wrong!
You asked me to decide where I stand.
I stand for sitting down, loading up Legions, and having fun, because I love this game and I love this community. Let's respect our differences, have civil talks, hop on the servers and shoot the crap out of each other.
And most of all, have fun.
In any case, I am done with this thread. I made all my arguments and my points, and taking this further would be administering further beating to an already-wrecked dead horse. It's time for beer.