Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Normally an apology is a simple thing.  Admit wrong doing and ask for forgiveness.  In this particular case I think that would be a mistake without explaining my short history here at AbbysGuide and how I’ve changed during that time.

I came here in mid-January, 2005 asking for help in buying a snow blower.  Many people went out of their way to give me their thoughts and opinions.  In return for their work, I responded with harshness, skepticism, and crassness.  I wanted more information from these people and somehow felt they owed me, when in truth it was I who was in debt to them.

After about a week the moderators decided to take some action – specifically ChrisS who publicly warned me.  Warned ME!  How dare he, I thought, I’m SnowRemover.  Instead of taking the warning to heart, I responded in a defensive manner.  More specifically, how a pre-adolescent responds to an adult who always gives in to every temper tantrum.

At this point, I’d be lying if I told you I thought I had done anything wrong.  In fact, I believed myself to be the beacon on a hill, not an instigator of arguments.  After a few days of being non-argumentative, I found myself without the capability of replying to a topic, or starting a new one.  Most logical and decent people would have taken this as a wake up call and asked what needed to be done to make amends – but not ME!  No, I am SnowRemover and I pushed back hard, writing off Private Messages to ChrisS and Marshall demanding my posting rights.  When this failed, I even threatened to come on this site with multiple identities should they not reinstitute my privileges.

To their credit, the moderators stood their ground.  To my discredit, I followed through with my plan.  I created multiple identities on the site, forcing the mods to ban these user names and the administrator (Peter) to lock out my IP Address.

Yet again, the message “You’re a jerk” was getting through.  I was SnowRemover, and I can spoof IP addresses and get around these locks.  And so I did, getting more user names, flaunting my prowess and believing I was better than the moderators on the site, better than the administrator and better than the users.

I came back as different users, but found myself, at times needing real advice.  Found myself needing AbbysGuide and its collective wisdom.  I wish I could say I had an epiphanic moment, when the light clicked on in my head and I suddenly realized what a fool I’d been, but that wasn’t the case.  It was more of a long term realization, where each day I found myself more resentful that my posts were being removed and my new identities banned, but not resentful at the mods or the administrator, instead at myself. 

If I was the great SnowRemover, why did I keep coming back here?  Why did I need your advice?  How could someone who is better than all others, need those people.  These were the questions that stewed in my head the last ten days.

And here I am, today, asking for your forgiveness.  A forgiveness that, if the shoe be on the other foot, only a few short days ago, I would not return to you.  That is the position I’m in today, asking once again for your generosity and sympathy, which I’ve already taken, used and scorned before.

The moderators here have been good enough to allow me to post this apology to you, the users, to the moderators and the administrator.  I ask for your forgiveness.

Sincerely,
SnowRemover

I'll give a second chance after this, it will take a while for people to accept you back, but things come in time if they're earned.

What about the rest of you all?

Thanks, Marshall

Yeah, let him back in.  Everyone, just follow the rules so we can get back to the snow business.  We're getting flurries here on Long Island.  Lets see if those Manhasset Indians that I've put on the payroll can make this Sunday snow storm materialize.  I don't like looking foolish having told Marc that winter isn't over yet

  Marshall,

       I think it is only fair, with his apology to let him post here again.

       Good decision on your part!!

                                                                             Fred     

It takes a big man to admit mistakes, I say we let him back in.  History shows us that formally exiled members can be productive contributors to the forum if they are willing to play nice. 

Two thumbs up from me.

KROACH,

Not only asking for forgivness but being repentant too??? How could I refuse........

Welcome back brother!!!

                                                                                  Dan

  

Play by the rules, play nice with the good folks here, have a little fun,  earn the respect of your fellow members and you'll be more than welcome back.

I smell a skunk !

SnowRemover,

Do you think you could help me write a note to my wife?

MInts

Why?  What did you do??

Snowremover

You'll be judged by your actions, not your words.  The moderators have been more than patient with you...so hopefully you'll put your money where your mouth is and repay their kindess in kind. 

Paula 

Hi Snowremover! It's nice to get a second chance, make the most of it. I hope all goes well for you here.

robmints wrote:

LOL.         Classic Mints.

                                     Kevin

Hmmmm.....which of the "many user's is actually apologizing?

Just kidding...welcome back!

TheKneebiter wrote:

i know the christian thing to do is forgive, but...

i start a pool and bet 4 quatloos on march 15 2005

wd

What's a quatloo? And would I want one?

bontaiJoe wrote:

this is from the original star trek series when a species of telepathic brainiacs were betteing on kirk -vs- some alien monster. quatloos were their monetary units.

Ok, now is where I make my post. Some time back Termy got into some trouble himself. He acted like he was someone else that new all this stuff he was posting. Some of it he did know, but did not help to jam it down everybodies throught. I remember I just wanted to help people out. But, then I started lying about lots of things. Such, what kind of OPE I had and job related information. When others realised I was full of sh**t, they told me I was. I was getting pretty upset and all it did was progress. This happened between two different forums sites. I becamse known as a trouble maker. So I left WTB for many months. During this time, I was getting help from friends and family. Basically, they were teaching me to be a better man. Something that should have been taought long ago. I was having lots of other problems too that I won't mentione here. But the thing is that you got realise is that we are no bettter then anyone else. We are all equal. Yes, some of us like to get a little more attention to ourselves than others. I guess its good if it is healthy attention. But, what I did was not healthy! I was wrong and hurt many peoples feelings. After months later, I was a better person. I was no longer hurting peoples feelings or lying about things.

I accept your apology and welcome you back to the forums

We have a good bunch of people on here and we all will welcome you back

Be nice and respectful, and you shall not have a problem

Once again, Welcome to www.abbysguide.com

Terminator20 wrote: Termy, this the best post you have ever made on Abby's/WTB. I am impressed! You have come a long way. Hat's off to you.........

Nice Post Chris.....

C

Snow I would like to publically welcome you back to the forum......  

C

Hi Terminator20...

Change is usually not easy for many... but certainly is possible... it usually hurts... old habits die hard...

...you have shown us here at this forum... the positive changes you have made...

...you've made friends instead of foes...
...you're now welcomed with open arms... instead of clenched fists...
...you have trust... instead of doubt...

Termy...  you've "grown" a lot in my eyes...

I truly respect your actions and what I view as positive changes for yourself...

My hat is off to you !   


Sincerely,


Dave...

Marshall and Dave ,

Very eloquent  and great posts!!!

                                               Fred  

SnowRemover...


All I expect of our little e-community members here...
...is that we have integrity...
...treat others with respect...
...try to get along...
...share... and have FUN !

I take things at face value, initially... I believe most people are "honest"...
...so I, as others do,  accept your apology...
...and welcome you...

Sincerely,

Dave...

jubol wrote:

Thank you Fred !

It's a rare thing... !  LOL...

Dave...

Welcome.  I look forward to benifiting from your passion for gathering and sharing information.

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks!!
I only post here,if I have a question or can have a laugh or two.
BUT, I read all the posts when I have time.
In my eyes you have redeemed yourself!!!!!!!!
WELCOME BACK!!!!!!!!
You are and will be a productive member of this forum.

SnowRemover,

I was quite touched by your post as well as Terminator20's. Honesty from within oneself is a great virtue. I hope you will take this opportunity and make the best of it, this is a forum like no other and is quite special. The moderators are outstanding and have compassion, as you are a witness to. I'm proud of you for looking at yourself, not liking what you see, saying so publicly, and will make the corrective changes.

What other forum will you see a post from a grateful individual that received support in a time of failing health. The below  partial post is from Pecanmanwill (Will)  from his departure from the hospital.

"Forum management, moderators, members, etc--I cannot thank you enough  for your flowers you sent to me in the hospital, your prayers, your 65 posts (which I can,t stay on line but a few minutes so I have not read over half of them."

That says it all about the bunch of fine people that paticipate here.

Best Regards

 Will

Termy already wrote a apology to both mods and all the members on the board of WTB, so all he needed to do was write a explanation to snowremover

I really like our community here! So many nice people to chat with and share things with. Lets not all ruin it ok? We all have worked too hard to build our community, lets not go trashing it.

Note: To all memebers here, I really enjoy reading your posts and the things you share. Please keep up the good work. I have built a website so that I can give advice there aswell. I really like to help people when I can. Right now, not many come around there, but, I will just wait and see what happens. For instance, I have been helping Ajace build his computer, even though he is clear across the eastern side of the united states! He has run into a few problems along the way, and I have been helping to fix all that. Him and I have been excited to build his new computer. Who knew I could build a computer when I am clear across the USA lol

Termy certainly  has completed many things.  We have gotten a good friendship going.     

Snowremover quotes
"That is the position I’m in today".

Hoepfully it will continue this way everyday and we can have a great place here again.
I accept your apology.

  

Where are my manners.

Apology accepted.

Welcome back.

How would you like people to refer to to you?

Paula wrote:
Paula,
I'm not real sure yet, but I'm sure she will let me know.

Hats off to you KRoach - it does take a BIG person to admit their mistakes. Welcome back sir!

NONE, and I repeat, NONE OF US are perfect. NONE of us knows everything. I like to think I know quite a bit, but yet I always seem to learn something from someone else. I certainly don't know it all which humbles me. Humbleness is something it took me some time to learn & accept within myself.

I come here to share some of my knowledge & also come here to LEARN because there are some very sharp gals & guys that make up our little community. I also feel that the high quality of postings & personalities is found nowhere else. Our mods also run a great site. HATS OFF TO YOU ALL!

Lets enjoy our forum & each other. PEACE!
Marty

You know what I think.Your stuck here now. Welcome back.

robmints wrote:

Mints

Its always nice to know where you stand...even if its quicksand..

Paula

Since we are still way below 70 x 7............welcome back!
I look forward to your productive posts.....

Frank D.

nicely written apology.........................

welcome back.........................

bill

sure let him back,  we can allways ban him again , and then let him back again.

Frank, is that a new expression for He double-hockey sticks? 

He is refering to Mattew Chapter 18 verse 22.  70 X7 times is the number of times Jesus tells us we must forgive our brothers who do wrong against us.

Well said Frank.....

C

SnowRemover,

Welcome.

Walt

I'm not much of a poster, but I do read the boards often and did decide on my Craftsman 88775 and my leaf blower after reading many discussions here the past two years. I am appreciative of the time and effort it takes users to post good info here and I also appreciate the time and efforts the moderators must have to put in to keep it all going. After reading the apology, I'm also glad to see that SnowRemover has been let back in. Everyone deserves a fresh start as long as no one got physically hurt. With that being said, what about someone like Chopper who was banned from the old board? I don't recall his postings to be any worse that what we have gone through with SnowRemover but he too had a couple of user names going and I believe that was what ultimately enraged the moderators. It seems we were all extremely hard on him and even went into discussions (and diagnosis) of what we perceived as his mental problems. In the end I believe it was he who raised the question as to why this board continually gave high praise and kudos to top end machines like Honda and Ariens and spoke negatively about MTD and Murray. The debate got heated and he got banned. In the spirit of Niceativity that seems to be flowing here at the new board, I ask...Can't we all just get along? Yes he was sometimes a pain in the arse, but on many topics I thought he was right on target and actually had scientific backing for some of his arguments. Would an apology get him back? Is that going to become standard operating policy? Just curious.

If you ban him again he might end up moving to sirius radio.  Im sure someone out here will understand this.

  Knee,

             Are you saying he can maybe join Howard Stern!!

                                                 Fred  

If he asked we would consider it as we have with SnowRemover.

In the end though rememer this, we moderators don't come here daily and spend our precious time looking to edit or ban people.  If a person IS edited or banned they have been warned many times before that happens.  By rights when that time does come we have no obligtion to let that person back on. 

C

Agreed, that would be something that should be discussed by e-mail or PM with one of the Mods.

If Chopper/JKON, et al want's to contact me, I would listen to him.

Everyone, thank you for your support. I promise I won't let you down.

--SnowRemover

Just want to make a quick comment before this thread moves on.   I don't recall if I ever had any $#%*munication on any old post with Snowremover, but I did follow those post alittle when things were getting out of hand. I eventually quit following as the only thing coming out of it was negative things. Most of us in one way or another deal with some 'negativity' at times through out our work day..I.E customers, and in my case co-workers.  So in our evening hours to settle in and relax on pc, and to come here to learn or share..the last thing most people want (especially those who just got done dealing with iritating customers) is to see the same here. I do really appreciate the way the Moderators(sorry, terrible speller) are running this site. It is important to keep it the way it was intended for..and have a little fun doing it, and even get a little silly at times. A vast amount of knowledge is shared and learned here. BUT, What I really think that puts the icing on the cake here is..You folks running this site all seem to have a forgiving Heart.. at least one more time. This act of kindness makes me very proud to be here on this site from time to time. I think it is safe to say We all have done something we regret, and learned from it, I know I have. So now it's time to move ahead.   Hats off to you Moderators and while I don't know Snowremover- Glad things have worked out the way they have.  thanks also to Frank for that verse..It is there for a reason.      Geno  ( sorry for so long a post)

Geno wrote: Geno,

Thank you.

I think a point might need to be made here and I am glad you brought this up to make me think of it.

This forum is your all's forum, the members! We moderators post as members much more than we do moderators, thank God. The type of people you all let in here and let post are the guys and girls you see around you, quality people! You all have the power collectively to make unruly members not want to be here, who wants to be where they are not wanted? You all have the power to make them feel that they are not listened to, that their credibility is lost.

You also have the power to make the right kind of folks stay here, and you all do a fantastic job of that and we thank you very much!

The bottom line is that this site is what you all allow it to be, all we moderators have that you don't is a control button that says go away. I would like to never have to use that again.

Here's to all of you.........

Here, here Marshall.

Geno, Marshall,
Thanks.

Frank and Chris I remember now.  I had just forgotten it, and thanks for reminding me.   

Marshall well stated, that is exactly how it is here and I am very glad to be a part of this forum.