My apologies for leaving out information that I thought was common knowledge, especially amongst the so called 'gurus' who delight in making unhelpful criticisms.
There is two ways to do things: by design and by hope. That "gurus" (that all, I'm sure, have been exposed to the bullshit you refer to) offend you by not beliving in "design by hope" is just too bad.

You will find post after post that start "My 232 does not work with my new PC" ALL these posts end "do you use a MAX232 (equivelent)?" answer "no". When the crap circuit is replaced by a proper chip all start working again.

Even the piece of bullshit you quote states "however, the overall range that the RS232 signal may be transmitted/received may be dramatically reduced."
This is a very clear example of "design by hope". WHERE is the exact maximum length possible defined? HOW can you guarantee that a longer cable is never going to be used? HOW can you guarantee that a next generation PC will not require negative voltage? - oh, well you can alwatys hope that none of this will happen.

also (by mistake, I'm sure) your reference contains correct information: "RS232 data is bi-polar.... +3 TO +12 volts indicates an "ON or 0-state (SPACE) condition" while A -3 to -12 volts indicates an "OFF" 1-state (MARK) condition"

There is mo question that you MAY get by with the non-standard signals, but the issue is that there is no way that you can say that you WILL get by with it.

Erik