Hippynerd:
showing some tests is one way, but calling it a crap design by someone that doesnt understand what they are doing is totally subjective, thats just your feelings, not the truth.The truth seems to be that you may reduce the lifespan of some or all of the parts. If you dont protect your LEDs with resistors or some form of current limiting device, they will probably fail sooner than if you had.
Why willingly reduce the lifespan of components if it could easily and cheaply avoided?
It makes absolutely no sense to me. Datasheets do not lie. There is reason they are only rated at 20-40ma.