Hitech
I rarely post on these boards but I do read and follow them. I took over the BOPS from Falc effective in August of 09 and feel as Diver's overall squadron leader to respond to this post. I have taken the time to read all the posts and speak to Diver. Unfortunately I did call the AH offices but it was to late on Friday and I will make a serious effort to speak with Mr. Addinks on monday. I have a few comments to make.
1. Diver is an exceptional person and player. He has dealt with personal issues and professional ones that would make a lessor man snap. He has faced medical issues in his family and employment issues...like a lot of us have in this economy and still maintained a positive attitude and been a loyal wingman and great friend. Whether it was hurricanes, a child with serious medical issues, being out of work he has kept his chin up. But every man has his limit. Diver loves this game and has been a loyal player for years. His loss will be sorely felt unless we can get this situation resolved.
2. Hitech, bottom line its your company and your product and you run it as you see fit. I am a private business owner myself and I understand the pride one takes in his product, and how pissed off it made me when someone degrades my product in any way. You write the rules and you enforce the rules, its your ship and you run it. I am asking you, as Diver's CO for his reinstatement to the game. I ask for one reason only. According to the reports I have your last statement as "you are not the kind of customer we want". Sir with all due respect you are dead wrong on this part. Diver after all these years still takes the time and has the patience to mentor new players in this game. He does not write them off as noobies and move on. He takes the time to maximize the enjoyment they can get from the game. He teaches, he leads, and he loves this game. He is exactly the type of player you want IN THE GAME.
3. What I propose is this. Put him on probation, ban him permanently from the boards, and I will take personal responsibility for his conduct in the game at the peril of my own membership. But please reconsider this decision Sir. The diver that made the serious errors in judgement in posting what he did is not the diver you see in the game 99.9% of the time. I again state catagorically that will put my own neck in the noose in order for you to reconsider this banishment.
Wt666 CO of the Birds of Prey
On one hand I admire your dedication to your squadmate, Wt666, but I don't agree with all of your post.
Come next month, I will have been laid off for a year. Last February and March, my mom was diagnosed with cancer, had part of her left lung removed, had several other major surgeries with a two week period, and in November it was discovered that the cancer has metastized all over and there is no treatment available due to the rare type of cancer she has. So we put her on hospice and I am watching her die every day and there is nothing we can do about it beyond keeping her comfortable as possible.
Since September, my son has had a dislocated elbow, an ulcerated cornea, and over Thanksgiving he was in the hospital with abcesses to his legs that no one can explain why they occurred. Yeah, worst year of his 17 year life.
Since last February, I've been laid off, am dealing with the impending loss of my mother, have seen my son suffer from various injuries and ailments, and while I am dealing with that, I've been struggling to keep the lights and heat on and food in the house.
Having laid out my own problems and struggles, I can still say I think your squadmate was dead wrong.
I remember seeing his name in the arenas, but can't recall if we spoke or not. Regardless of how nice he is in the arenas, he came on here and went off on hitech and got what he deserved. Having met hitech in person and spoke with him several times on the phone, my opinion is that hitech is an extremely reasonable person.
You say your friend did in fact call HTC and talk to hitech?
If so, and admittedly not being privy to the actual conversation, I'd have to say that he wasn't repentant or had a hostile attitude or hitech would have reinstated him.
I can't imagine myself going off on any of the HTC staff and expecting to just get off with no repercussions.
Just from reading his posts, he was taunting hitech and company to do something......well, they did. It's not up to you to tell them how super a guy he is, it's up to him to demonstrate that he IS the type customer they want in the game.
You say he's a grown man.....he dug this hole for himself, he needs to dig himself out and make amends. If he's the type guy you have described him as being, he shouldn't find it that hard to do......reading his posts, you might have misjudged your squadmate's character.
My point is, you can't use personal hardships as an excuse. I know a lot of people going through really rough times right now, and none of them would use their own problems as a crutch and think they could tweak HTC's nose and get away with it.
Just my thoughts...........
