Based off

We say for example that a tune is based on the twelve-bar blues; that a recipe is based on Grandmother's recipe for green enchiladas.  No doubt this expression is figurative: The picture is that you start a product or activity in a certain way, and introduce departures from that base. The base is a foundation, a rock-solid starting-point.  But lately I've seen or heard the following variation:

So I began testing based off of Smith's suggestions in the other thread. 

It does make sense: Starting with Smith's suggestions as a base, the writer speaks of going off in another direction, going 'off-piste'.  I'm sure that this was again borne of confusion or ignorance of the relevant expression, but in this case there is no loss of meaning, as there was in the case of 'egregious' or 'beg the question'.