Ah, but I was not commenting on what you do. I was commenting on your assertion that the mechanic can be good for other people to learn from.
As near as I can tell, nobody here who says they use skill challenges is describing their use of skill challenges as by the book. Everyone who uses them has made a tweak. Most of those tweaks look very similar, and are much more flexible than the guidelines in the rulebooks suggest.
As far as I am concerned, if the mechanic and guidelines are almost universally houseruled, then the mechanics and guideline are a failure. And pretty much everyone involved in this conversation has a better idea of how to adjudicate these situations than what was created as the skill challenge mechanic.
I would have said, "Tellingly, 4E Organized Play team (who often appear more clueful about the rules than the devs) disagrees."