Welcome lksbigone.
You bring up a good question (I suppose) and I think I know what you're trying to say.... when there are so many "naturally large"men represented here, do those who "enhanced" their endowments (through various enlargement procedures and techniques) REALLY and TRULY belong here as representing "large"?
I have completed over two and one half years of "natural enlargement" without surgery. Fortunately for me, I have had very favorable results (increases of 2.25 inches in length and about 3/4" in girth). I did not believe those kind of results were possible at first.
But, I stayed with the regimen and never gave up. It was THAT important to me. And many other men who have tried it feel the same way. And so, it becomes (and REMAINS) a most sensitive subject to us.
I have been both determined and deliberate in my enlargement techniques to assure a natural look in girth and straightness of the shaft. My routine was not easy and had to be changed quite often to avoid any suggestion of "disfigurement" or unnaturalness even beginning to appear.
I can understand more harshly judging those results from surgical enhancements. Many of those procedures have made for some horrifying experiences for many men--tragic ones, unfortunately. But there are indeed some VERY favorable and successful NATURAL enlargement success stories out there and the results are rather impressive.
So, I'm not quite sure I would catagorize any and all "enhanced" penises as "less than a natural one."
To each his own I suppose.
Also, I'm not so sure I follow your comment on the "natural range of size from soft to hard". I have a fairly long flaccid size before erection but then, so do a lot of men who fall within my catagory of overall size. There is some fluctuation in rigidness (from time to time), but again, that's true for many men "in the upper reaches of length" anyway....Rock-hard erections do exist in the larger sizes, but truth be known, they probably all do vary from time to time...due to the physiology of what it takes to keep them that way---circulation and the like.
I certainly don't consider myself "a freak" by comparison next to a "naturally-endowed man"....far from it (and I don't think you implied that either, in your comments._ But, having gone through successful self-improvement of my size, I better appreciate the advantages of being larger while I can still can relate very well to those members on this board who are not large and wish to be. My experiece puts me in a rather unique situation I guess to better understand a number of issues we see here within the LPSG community. I am humbled by that fact.
One other thing: Your comment: "With my mediocre claim (8 x 6) to endowment"
STOP THAT! If you check statistics, you are WELL-OVER
the average size range of 5.5" length / 4.75" girth !
You ARE one of the larger men in the world!