Ahh! I wanted to be the first one to answer something like this! Well said. If we took away everything that anybody found "dangerous" I'd rather just crawl into a dark cave and die. In all honest, it amazes me that we can legally pump gasoline into our vehicles, drive around thousands of other vehicles with tanks of the stuff (at high-speed, no less!) and then park tanks of this stuff in our attached garages. And we don't even give it a second thought. But boy... if a battery catches on fire, watch out!
Your overall point is valid, but when items like gasoline, flammable alcohol, or fireworks FIRST came on the market, there was a strong promotion and awareness of their danger. Same with cars, matches, power tools, and electric sockets. People as a norm knew up front to use some level of appropriate caution.
Given your stature here, I continue to be amazed at such comments given that the bulk of the warning threads/posts are because so many people were not told about any dangers from Lithium batteries. It came as a total shock when people started having their laptops spontaneously exploding and burning out of control. Likewise, as more hot metal fire incidents occurred on aircraft, it was a big surprise to airline companies and government regulators. The laptop Lithium Ion issue alone has led to tens (possibly hundreds ?) of millions of recalled battery packs at great expense to everyone involved.
Again, the point of all these threads mostly comes from people still learning that when their electronics batteries were switched from alkaline, NiMH, NiCad, LA to various types of Lithium batteries, they had no idea anything could go wrong. People were in a habit of leaving NiCad & NiMH "parked" in their charger bays, so it was good to go when you picked it up. 98% of the users don't even know how to properly charge and condition Nickel rechargeable cells, but then they carry forward the same battery habits to a whole new Lithium type of cell.
When AW and others started selling unprotected Li-Ions, and before that with primary a123 lithium cells (including made by surefire), there were not any warnings given to alert the consumer that they need to learn a whole new way to properly use and care for these cells. The problem increased dramatically as cheap Chinese batteries with poor quality control began flooding the market. I would guess that the majority of people still buy the cheapest brands, mix different primary cell brands, and have no idea about checking for congruity of voltages in a multi-cell (perhaps direct drive, unregulated) application.
There are threads all over this and other forums where people using Lithium batteries had no idea what could go wrong if poor quality or abuse of cells occurred. People NEVER had any awareness with their NiMH or NiCAD batteries that extended charging could lead to explosive 2,000°F fires with extremely toxic fumes, because that was a new issue only related to Lithium batteries.
There are tons of new members joining CPF regularly, and that make posts now illustrating that they don't yet understand that Lithium cells have unique concerns. I would bet that most have no idea that these lithium battery fires are virtually unable to be extinguised with conventional fire suppressant methods, nor that the traditional fire-fighting method of dousing with water makes these lithium fires worse.
It was only a few years ago that AW (and others) added adequate warnings to their sales threads, as more and more Lithium fires were documented. There were unsafe lithium ion chargers that were being promoted and sold at CPF (and still are sold elsewhere) that do not have termination of charging at 4.2V, and people (like me) just assumed these were safe. They were not.
Once it is clear that the mainstream public is knowledgeable of certain Lithium chemistry batteries having unique risks and dangers, then fine....these threads can drop away. Until that time, these threads continue to serve an important public education, and IMHO, should not be ridiculed.