all valid points :p thanks for taking the time to respond!

and as for this person:

"One of the few reasons why people mask their ping is because some assholes think they lag the goddam server and they keep saying shit to them"

im merely stating my concern for the well-being of the server. obviously you did not name me as one of those "assholes [that] think they lag the...server", but i cant help but think you are labeling me in a round-about way. "lagging the server" was never mentioned in my post. in fact, i have never even experienced lag that wasnt my own. plus, when i see these ping-maskers i dont say anything to/about them because, as we ALL know, arguing while playing cs gets no one anywhere. now lets leave that type of thing for the flame threads.