I did use the 5'x5' Mountain Laurel Designs dog tarp along with a bivy on my last couple tours. It worked out well to shelter the upper half of the bivy and a bit of gear. It could also be used to cook under, though I have seldom done that. I am not sure I consider anything I did as all that extreme. I am planning to go to a much lighter bivy and a more full sized tarp though and still might use a tent in some conditions. The idea is that the lighter DWR bivy will be lighter and much more breathable hopefully allowing it to work better in hotter buggier conditions, but it will require more protection from hard rain, hence the bigger tarp. The whole package will wind up being lighter and hopefully functional in a wider range of conditions, possibly to the extent that the tent option will be discarded altogether.

BTW: While I do agree that the "negative nancy ****" is getting stale, but at least he does also post useful and interesting stuff. There have been folks here in the past who posted a lot of negative stuff without anything of even slightly redeeming value.