BigMac, people were "shot down" (as you put it) not because they tried but because they tried in a very dangerous manner. (Not to mention a very arrogant, defiant, and ignorant manner.)
It is strongly believed that the Nano and 5th generation iPods can not record through the headphone jack. The headphone jack was, on earlier iPods, a mic-level monaural input.
Those who were "shot down" didn't simply decide to test recording through the headphone/microphone port, they decided to pump (heavily) amplified signals into said port.