like most other people i was surprised when i found that hmt had been drastically changed and i was banned. i didn't even know what i was banned for or that hmt was for sale to begin with. i guess that is what i get for only really spending time in the fab forum.
shortly after the change i recieved an email from one of the members who i have a great deal of respect for, telling me that my sponsor forum was removed. that didn't really bother me too much. i went through the same thing when h-t was sold to ib. no biggie. i'm having kamil make me up a new website anyway, so hopefully i'll get more traffic on it.
anyway, shortly after i got the first email, i got an email from chris, asking for my phone# so he could call me. within 15 minutes of my response xenocron had called me to find out what was going on with me being banned. we talked briefly about hmt and why he sold it. his biggest concern was that i had been banned and my vendor thread was removed. i felt bad for chris, but wasn't mad at him. everyone makes mistakes. EVERYONE. i made a serious mistake when i dealt with the douche bags at PUR. when i made that mistake everyone on hmt backed me up. i've never felt more a part of any other forum i'm on than hmt. i've never been on any other forum as long as i have hmt. when everything changed it was a tough pill to swallow, but i can move on. that is something i've learned to do in my old age now. it isn't worth the stress... i get enough from my wife.
anyway, my point is, chris knows he fucked up. he made the effort to call me to make things right for me since i was a forum sponsor. if he could make things right for the whole community i'm sure he would. i'm not happy with what happened, but i can forgive him. he has been a very important member to hmt.
later in the day i got a phone call from rickp. chris had given him my # and encouraged him to call me to get things straightened out. i told him i'd like to at the very least to let my current sponsor subscription run out and see if it is worth it for me to continue sponsoring the forum. at this moment, i don't see it happening. i don't intend to spend much time there other than to check pm's. rick made it very clear to me he has a zero tolerance policy, and that he doesn't give a shit about the membership. i'm part of that membership and i'm sure i'll be banned eventually.
hmt wasn't about a forum's name. it is about a group of assholes who respect each other and don't let people fuck with them. if you want to be part of that group, you need to earn their respect, not just buy their website and turn shit upside down.
i'm just glad that this has all been created so i can still be a part of that group.
thanks guys.
aaron
btw, i'm still anticipating something none of us expect from a couple people.