Come back J Thomas

[f.e.a.r]

If your reading this Jeff, I think its time you came back to the forum.

Your knowledge is much missed on my part.

Anyone else think the same as me?

[bucko170]

I Agree 100%.

Come back Jeff!

[joeywaycool]

Jeff is gone? Why did he go?

[bucko170]

Jeff is gone? Why did he go?

Jeff got fed up with all the Pigeon shit and decided to leave the forum a few weeks back.

[LEDluvr]

I agree - come back Jeff!

Actually, I had sent him a p.m. around the beginning of February and he told me that he was going to be very busy for the next few weeks. I'm sure he's just tied up with work and he'll jump back in when his schedule loosens up.

[abem]

Me too!

We're a relatively small group of lunatics so losing one so knowledgeable and with such valuable contributions as Jeff would make a huge impact. Plus, Jeff's posts frequently add a smile or laugh to the day.

-abe.

[charger105]

I totally agree too.
His knowledge and wit is a great loss.

[LEDluvr]

charger105 wrote:

I totally agree too.
His knowledge and wit is a great loss.

No worries charger, I'm sure Jeff will be back soon. I think it's too early to start making the tombstone just yet.

[retroleds]

I have/had no issue with Jeff, of course he is always welcome back.. ....everyone should rotate their diversions at times. Sometimes you come back with renewed enthusiasm.

[xevious]

Not only did he leave, he seems to have combed over all of his posts and replaced the content with " ". That doesn't seem like the behavior of someone who simply got busy and hasn't been able to come around. That's a lot posting he went through and edited. I've been running across them here and there, wondering why this substitution happened. And that's when I found this thread. A pity that someone could become so negative to destroy their past participation... looks like he had quite a lot of useful information to share, judging from what few posts of his I saw captured in quoted blocks.

[retroleds]

It is a shame - and yes, the smiley faces were his doing - nothing I did. It did seem to be the "pigeon" episode that he used as his reasoning for leaving(both times), and blamed me for not ejecting suspect as fast as HE had determined they were his dread foe(sometimes he was right, sometimes completely wrong). So for starters, I became less and less inclined to try to woo Jeff back, as he (in my mind) tried to force the subject of who/what/when/why people would be asked to leave this site. Both short term and permanently - you know, I really DO like to give people a second and third chance, I understand tempers flare,etc. Essentially I will seriously consider input about allowing someone back after a cooling off period, because I KNOW myself, I know I can hang on to my anger pretty good. But as the facilitator of this site I have to take a very arm's length approach to a group or individual pressuring me to eject someone - other people or groups are never going to have to take the heat for their decisions like I will. Sure, it's easy to tell me how to drive, when I'm the one behind the wheel, the one who will get the "ticket" if I drive like a fool.

Regarding the smileys
As the owner of this site, to MY sensibilities Jeff took a can of spray paint and defaced every single thread he did that in. The [virtually] criminal act of a sick, childish, retributive individual. He could have left without doing that - in fact, I can't think of another person who decided to end things in such a childish fashion. He came back and did that BEFORE the appearance of that poor Russian fellow that he though was the "pige". As follows..

ABOUT the Russian "CANITO"
Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:17 am - the time stamp of Jeff changing a post to a smiley.
Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:26 pm - the time stamp of the first post of the guy "canito", whom Jeff claimed was "pigeon". What I see is that Jeff came on the forum a few days before "canito" arrived here and starting changing his posts to smileys. Then "canito" made an account around the time Jeff FINISHED changing his posts all to smileys(he had to do it BY HAND, wow! 472 times!). Then the first next time Jeff logged on he launched into the "canito" dude. Personally, their IPs geo-locate down to within 10-15 miles of each other. I suspect it was some nutty game JEFF was playing with us and himself.

His one post where he showed himself glowing from radiation should tell you something - he's got some serious health issues. Maybe he just needed to leave because he doesn't have the time/energy to participate - some people find it easier to leave mad than to just leave. I wish him peace and better health, mentally and physically. I do not welcome him back short of some kind of very cogent and persuasive explanation of his behavior, particularly the defacing of the threads.

A lot of bombs, computer virus' and other bad stuff are crafted by smart people who are a little wacked. Finito.

[xevious]

Thanks for the explanation, retroleds. Sorry for the "bump" I made to this thread which I'm sure you'd rather dissipate into the archives. Aptly put, calling his actions defacement. Because indeed, he did destroy valuable input. It makes one scratch their head a bit, because you'd wonder what good it amounts to. It seems like Jeff made some friends here, enough for them to plead for his return. I'm actually surprised they have, because those edits are a real spit in the face to everyone who participates here. Oh well... anyway, things move on. Hopefully there will be more helpful people joining in along in the future. It's a nice little forum going here and it has been a good experience for me so far. I'm not very technical electronically speaking, so I don't have a lot to contribute... but who knows what the future holds.

[retroleds]

Thanks for the explanation, retroleds. Sorry for the "bump" I made to this thread which I'm sure you'd rather dissipate into the archives. Aptly put, calling his actions defacement. Because indeed, he did destroy valuable input. It makes one scratch their head a bit, because you'd wonder what good it amounts to. It seems like Jeff made some friends here, enough for them to plead for his return. I'm actually surprised they have, because those edits are a real spit in the face to everyone who participates here. Oh well... anyway, things move on.

It's ok the thread came up - I think I'll close it later today, waiting in case there is any additional commentary. I liked Jeff too, but he did start to become tiresome - he seemed to think we were a virtual "management team", yet he was threatening to leave every month or two, over various newcomers he though were ghosts from other forums,etc. who had followed him here.

I don't understand him removing his posts - they were a nice legacy, they would have been helpful to untold number of people beyond our current membership. If that was supposed to be a dig at me - hey, we rarely even posted on the same threads unless it was just some random bs. Realistically, he will never be welcome back - cuckhold me once, shame on you, cuckhold me twice, I must like it.

[Bad Juju]

I'm guessing there are no back ups of the forum so it can be rolled back to pre defacement?

[retroleds]

I'm guessing there are no back ups of the forum so it can be rolled back to pre defacement?

Shaun - there are daily backups, as well as my personal, sporadic backup(made before I do anything crazy to the forum, ditto on templates, php files, etc.). Which is why it's never looked too ugly when I made changes, for more than a few minutes.

Rolling back would mean we lose what has transpired in between...for about 3 weeks basically. Or(in theory) I would have to set up a second version of the forum, and drawing off the old database, hand edit all 472 posts. Oh hell no! -he wanted to burn in effigy, so be it.. Seems there should be some cool quote for this, like, "often we cannot reconcile the present, with the past. Nor should we try."