Ok I was just gonna keep it cool and low profile, And I expect to be banned as soon as mods see this BUT please read what I have to say first.
W1zzard, This is Ashen, I know over the years I have caused my own level of drama, and I want to say I AM SORRY for how it effected YOU, most of it was ment in "good fun" and theres only really 1 reason I still stop by TPU, its for your reviews, I have always respected them, I do understand why you used the 9.12's vs 10.3's and had you noted that in you review, I dont think anybody else would have disputed that, or those that did would have just been doing it to be dicks.
The biggist problem I have seen with TPU forums as a whole since all the drama with myself (and others) started has been due enlarge to staff either not doing their jobs or only doing their jobs selectively, banning one party in a fight and letting the other get away with whatever.
Also note, TPU was ALOT more fun when it felt like an internet community rather then what some people/mod's wanted(pure tech talk no personal interaction)
When I first joined TPU I had been lurking for years, and it was ALOT OF FUN when I joined, other then Dan constantly threatening me for not agreeing with his opinions I came to really love TPU and the community, Since My first account was banned I have seen a steady decline in the forums/community, b4 that even, Alot of good people leave because they see mod's taking sides or not doing anything about idiots causing trouble because the mods like those idiots.
When you demoted Zek and Solaris that really was a blow to the view alot of people had of TPU(at least of the forums) at least 5 people I know lost alot of respect for the forums staff due to that action, Zek wasnt a perfect mod BUT he did a good job IMHO, he treated people with respect, didnt over react, was NEVER rude or abusive, And many times I saw zek defuse situations with a little hummor or a few simple words, where other mods would have closed threads or banned people(if not both)
Solaris only ever once contacted me (that i can remmber) about anything I posted, and he just told me to cool it and that he edited what i said to make it less.......abrasive....again good mod..
TPU's personal interaction level between members also ment that alot of situations got defused by the community itself and alot of people got corrected by their peers b4 mods ever got involved, thats changed.
I do want to apologize for my reaction to the APK situation, After dealing with his childish attitude on my own forums when he felt somebody wronged him(by changing his title to afrade of change) he went on a spaming spree and tried to hack the forums as well, I cant tell you how many times people have changed my title on forums as a joke, hell it still happens on AT, and I dont get upset, I just laugh it off and move on........(as I think most adults would) and no, it wasnt me who changed it, despite what he thought, I wasnt even online when it happened, the person who did it, ADMITTED THEY DID IT and yet he still tells people it was me....(lol!!!)
Again I AM TRULY SORRY about how I reacted after the APK indecent all I had ever seen with APK was on TPU and he had always acted mature if not totally respectful of others, After having him on AT for a while, well my opinion of him changed drastically, hes full of himself, looks down on anybody whos not a "published programmer" and generally makes an ass of himself if people dont just agree with him about everything.*bah*
Also I know your sick of trade shows, Why not hire somebody or some bodies to go to shows for you, Im sure some of the old members of the forums and even a few current members would be willing to cover them for you.
I know this will sound strange, but for a while I worked a place that held conventions for other companies, and I even got sick of them, despite all the free stuff, crowds bother me, seeing the same stuff with "go faster stripes" over and over gets old as well.....
Sometimes you just need a vacation from your normal routine, Take a vacation from TPU/Tech related stuff, Nobody would blame you for taking a few months off, Well some would, but they are idiots who really have probably never worked a real job in their lives.....
I really hope you dont sell TPU, If you already have or do sell it, Well TPU is doomed, It will be another Tom's, where once was an unbias as possible review site there will be reviews that are slanted to one side or the other, either due to the reviewers own bias or due to their lack of skill/ethics(one toms reviewer was found to have taken money to give intel better reviews during the athlon days)
I really dont want to see that, There are 2 sites whos reviews I truly trust, TPU and PcPer, w1zzard and ryan's reviews are normally both quite reliable, and one thing I have respected about both of you is that if some evidence comes to light that your review may have been flawed, you both look into it and correct when needed, you also dont back down to pressure from hardware companies to change your reviews(fermi watt's used for example), you tell it as it is.
If somebody reports a legit problem with A peice of hardware, TPU and PcPer never ban them for it, unlike [H] that bans people who report problems with hardware they like.(8800gt issues that turned out to be a good number of cards, not huge number but a good number out of the first batch had a hardware flaw that caused bsod)
Well W1zzard, I do hope you dont quit, and I hope you see this and read it, I may even toss you a line on messenger since i see your online