I see your point David, but i must ask would you really advise someone to deposit $1k and play 50nl right at the beginning, and what do you think what percentage of players that would follow your path would have the same outcome as you did, i think that it is a low percentage, most of them would lost thousands of bucks and eventually would go broke or lost interest... I absolutely see the point of skipping the micros to avoid getting some bad habits that you can get while playing 2, 4NL (i didnt played any above that), there was a great tread while ago when there was stated and explained the same principle you have but at the stakes lower than you stated and if i can afford i would deposit at least 100 bucks now and i would only and exclusively play cash and i know that i would get a lot better that way then now when i wait to get $20 from FR to have some buyins at 2nl...
ON the other hand im afraid that would lost a lot money if i were deposited last november when i started to play poker, i already lost every possible free money there is online, that would have happened with my money, i really couldn't afford to lost (this might sound funny to you) $50+ last year because in rough times every buck counts, i started to play poker back then juts to earn something from nothing, now year later when i think that im atleast break even i totally realize that deposit and play
real money is a better option for me to really progress as a player, but i strongly believe that if i did it back then it would be a huge mistake...