Me neither, out of all the other threads on Pinside! Add it to the list of stupid, cringe-inducing stuff that I've done in my life! But learning lessons nonetheless.
At least the confusion's resolved. If I offended or upset anyone by how brash I was when I revealed myself, my apologies. Took it a little bit too personal, I know.
Quoted from ezeltmann:But to be fair, if you read the whole thing they are very wary of new accounts due to people re-inventing themselves to troll.
I actually overreacted, because when I tried to put a link to my IFPA page on my response, I got a message saying that I couldn't due to spam abuse. I thought that someone had mistakenly reported me for spamming before I even had the chance to explain myself, when really it probably didn't happen!
Before I joined Pinside I saw everything with the duplicate accounts -- not only on this thread, but also on others by certain... uh, repeat offenders that I won't name. Crazy stuff and an utter shame that people have to put up with it. And then I forgot to realize that my account was brand spanking new... I now completely get the suspicion of recently-started accounts.
I NEVER want to trod down the path of being discouraged from Pinside, despite all that I've heard of it from my friends. Truthfully it's got flaws like any site. Much like in real life though you just gotta make the most of it and stick with the people that you can trust. And, like you said, have "thick skin" and be sure to watch out for yourself, but have fun. I've been fortunate that some of my closest pinball hobbyists and competitive players -- like you! -- are on the site, either as users or moderators.
Plus the tech advice here is excellent. Thanks to Pinside I'll hopefully get my hands more dirty in terms of actually getting into games and servicing them as opposed to menial tasks like changing bulbs or waxing and cleaning playfields.
Glad to see ya Ed (and on a different note, wicked job on your alternate sound packages for TWD)! Thanks for your support.
Added over 7 years ago: I take back a lot of the stuff I said. What I did wasn't "stupid" or "cringe-inducing". I posted a valid comment. Of course, the witch hunters here jumped the gun and made assumptions (like they always do). It's understandable because of stuff in the past, but my identity was essentially forced out of me. An interrogation of sorts. And that is ridiculous.
When I revealed it defensively, I didn't regret my response. I could care less if I was "brash" and offended or upset anyone. This was all a big misunderstanding, but I rightfully voiced my frustration. I don't give a damn if I took it "personal"--when you falsely accuse me of things, I WILL speak my mind. Mark my goddamn words.
Also, yeah...it discouraged me. Now back to take care of some unfinished business and stick as much with the market/tech advice as possible....