Signs you're abusing SOAP

Big red flag that you either don't know how to use SOAP or that you shouldn't be using SOAP for this job:

The only argument your call takes is a string, which contains XML which holds the structured data the server needs.

You should be either creating a SOAP object tree corresponding to the XML structure and passing your data as SOAP structured data, or you should be removing SOAP entirely and using simple HTTP POST.

Delay: unclear on the concept

Conversation just finished:

"Your simulator delay variable isn't working."
"I tested it and it delays correctly. What's happening?"
"Every time I set it, I get a CURL 28 timeout error. If I take it out, everything works. You need to fix it."
"... Sounds to me like it's working, the response gets delayed like it's supposed to. You did remember to bump up the timeout setting in AD's config file to something greater than the delay you're setting, right?"
"..."
"If you don't, it'll always time out like that because you're making the simulator delay longer than AD's willing to wait."