OK - I think now the dust has settled a bit it's time for me to hold myself accountable.
I haven't been here since this site's formative days, and I don't know a lot of the regulars here, but I am still very active in the community and feel that I should air my views here in light of recent events at DA.
I was involved in the thread at DA, but did not involve myself in any personal attacks. I have never criticised Stardock nor any Stardock software, I do not use their programs so I am in no position to do so. My only criticism is of Brads marketing tactics, and his tendency to react badly to any criticism of him/Stardock. If you think I have been unfair, let me know and I will address it. I don't see that there is any sort of vendetta against Brad, and I don't think there should be. He was just the victim of bad timing - with a few unfortunate events all happening at the same time
The threads I have read about Brad being a good guy are, in my view, full of good intention, but redundant. No-one has said he doesn't love his kids, treat his employees with respect or help people out on these boards, and if they did, I would not condone them, as these are things I know nothing about, and would have no place here anyway. These threads only serve to perpetuate this cirus.
As far as the loc/brad thing goes, the only explanation i can offer is that the term "Nazi" has become a slang term for anyone who acts like a dictator, this is unfortunate, but the rights and wrongs of this are another debate entirely. The way I see it, a lot of the shocked reactions are because of the recipient of the insult, not the actual insult itself. I do not agree with it in any way, and I don't think loc did himself any favours by using it, but if you look elsewhere on this board, you will see a comment in just as bad taste as this, but only one person reacted to it, and the thread died.
The reason I chose this thread to respond was because it was already at the top, and I didn't want to dig up any of the rubbish that is working it's way down the board, and also because of something in the initial post. Paxx wrote "Let it be fair, no more personal attacks on anyone, period". When I read this I thought of the thread that contains the line "4 word summary - loc is a wanker". This was appluaded by the very people who were castigating loc for his personal attack. Where is the logic? Surely we haven't stooped to the "eye for an eye" mentality? I'd like to think not. These debates are not pointless flame wars, but a sign of a community that is growing, and like anything , experiencing growing pains. These things are vital to prevent us stagnating.
I congratulate Brad on stepping back from this and getting some fresh air. It's perhaps something you could consider doing more often. I'm not saying this vidictively, it's simply my personal view. You are free to tell me to piss off and mind my own business - it's your site
Please note - all my thoughts above are simply observations, and I am not trying to perpetuate the nonsence that has been unravelling not just here, but on all the skinning sites. If you have an issue with anything I have said, here or elsewhere, please respond by e-mail. Not because I am afraid of a good debate, but the community really doesn't need it at the moment.
I realise that this post has developed into one of those long winded ones that people tend to skip through and only read the last line, so I'll make the last line the most important :-
