Brent that's a good explanation, and I think the key is your statement,
Quote Originally Posted by Brent Mills
Keep in mind, that this is a typical workflow for anyone dealing with the internet.
Anyone and everyone that posts image files on the internet or sends them via e-mail deals with the necessity of reducing file sizes as normal practice. The high resolution files are only necessary if you're trying to print a picture larger than 8x10, or wanting to crop an image to create a picture of a small detail in the original, like taking a picture of a car and wanting a full size picture of one lug nut. Anything like that is done before posting/sending, so that's a moot point anyway. It's simply part of dealing with the flexibility of digital photography.