Yeah but 50w 75w or even 150w porch lights are not out of the question, in fact the house right behind where I work has some sort of HID light as an outside light.
My point is that your assesment of what CFLs were meant to be used for is sort of pointless because I doubt HIDs were initially designed for growing plants. If you walk through Home Depot for instance, you might find many HPS lights designed for your walk way, or many other non growing applications. So instead of trying to push your own personal growing dogma, just answer people's questions and be helpful.