I wouldn't worry about it -- we're not angry. But I don't want to set up a wall of flames that would keep him from ever returning. He was a valuable member of the community, as Keith said. And one thing to bear in mind is that we only know what happened on the forums. Yes, there was an unreasonable, overwhelmingly emotional response that showed a lack of trust, and all that sort of thing. Yes, I was annoyed by that and at odds with him, as well. But that isn't to say there wasn't something going on in his personal life that had him in an emotionally fragile state. That's certainly happened to me in the past, and actually when that big argument was happening that was sort of the case for me, actually.
At any rate, I don't want to keep dredging him up to whip on him more; whatever happened, we only have part of the story. I don't know why he reacted so strongly and emotionally out of the blue after so long of working together with the community and us, but I suspect that it only was partly related to what actually happened on the forums.
Wingflier, I don't want you to feel like we're slapping your wrists, either -- that's not the intent. I just get the feeling that while a lot of people feel protective toward Arcen (which is awesome, and we're really grateful for), Machine is taking more heat than he should. People are never more united than when facing a common enemy, and all that, but in my mind he was never an enemy at all, and we shouldn't retroactively paint him as such, accidentally or no.
Now it sounds like I'm slapping your wrist again, but that's really not what I mean. I'm just trying to explain my thinking, and why I defend him. Part of it's just my nature, and my own personal history. I'm exceedingly aggressive (in some senses of the word -- mainly that I don't back down when challenged, not that I ever challenge others) mixed with exceedingly empathetic, and that puts me in odd situations sometimes. As a kid it meant I never backed down from bullies, but I was never actually ever able to hit one in a fight; I always pulled my punches at the end, because I just couldn't bear to hit them even though I hated them with an extreme intensity. It would have been worse than getting hit myself, and the few times I did actually hurt someone accidentally, it haunted me for long after.
I never hated machine, and I wasn't even that angry, despite being exasperated and annoyed. But it's sort of that same situation again, where after all is said and done I feel really bad for how it turned out for his end, rather than for what happened on mine. And I feel a bit ashamed of my own behavior, despite the fact that neither Keith nor I did what machine was accusing us of. But, I did react to his baiting with more aggression than I should have (again similar to what happened with bullies as a kid for me), and that's something I'd thought I'd grown out of. He wasn't even a bully, he was legitimately trying to help.
Well, anyway, the whole situation basically sucked, and it still gives me a twinge every time I see his name in bug reports and such. In the end, while I
really appreciate how much support that conflict has made people give us, it's one of those things where I just can't tolerate when people are slamming him about it, especially in his absence.
That was a bit more soul-searching of a post than I'd intended, a good sign that I'm very tired.
Christopher J hasn't been sleeping well lately, and that's made this week very challenging for me and my wife. Anyway, now you have a bit more insight into my paradoxical nature, and why I don't like it when people insult machine.
