One thing I'll never forget, there was this huge guy on the T-nation forums, "professor x" who was a serious advocate of bulking. I remember him saying something like, "everyone gets big by bulking, then turns around and talks shit about it later in their career."
I was guilty as charged, but now I'll just say, "who knows"? Would I have been better or worse had I never bulked? Obviously, I'll never be able to say from experience.