I found this thread late in its first page, but wanted to wait for Dave and others to weigh in before I did, mainly b/c I still feel like a spectator rather than a participant in this whole mess (though I seem to have provided the snowball that was started down the mountain). I obviously waited too long.
It's a bit unfair to add to a closed and emotional thread, but maybe my perspective will soothe some nerves/suspicions. My view of how this whole mess unfolded:
I PM'ed Dave with what I thought was spam. He apparently put two and two together and recognized it from the advice he gave "some year [sic, as usual--JR, I feel your editing pain
] prior." He got JR to look into it, and eventually Geo spilled the known-at-the-time beans. I don't know if Dave knew about AEG by name before my PM, but it wasn't hard to find them given the PM I received, and I don't think he needed to read anyone else's PMs to find AEG and the services they advertised. Thus the PM I willingly forwarded to Dave may be the only one he read and all that JR (apparently erroneously) thinks Dave read surreptitously. The clandestine nature of the group seems to have led everyone to suspect the worst initially, myself included. Much of this turned out to be overblown, knowing the B3D members involved.
This may be the naive sucker in me talking, but I think no less of all the people involved, or even AEG (once again, I involved Dave b/c I thought their offer was spam, not b/c it was obviously underhanded, and Ail and CR think it has merit and they seem like good guys). In that sense, I agree with Rys that leaving this thread open would just (apparently continue to) invite a nightmare of recrimination, to borrow a phrase. I hope that my perspective has helped dispell some of the ill will that clearly lingers and this new fear of PMs being read (though I haven't spoken with Dave or anyone else about it, I'll take Geo's word for it that it's sufficiently hard to do that it's not done on a whim, and Dave's word for it that he didn't do it b/c I think I provided him with the biggest dot he or JR or Geo needed to connect). I think this whole thing started innocently, was driven by
perhaps cynical but not malicious curiosity, and exploded onto the community at large with exaggerated light and heat the internets are so good at producing. I'm left knowing more but not necessarily wiser for it. I continue to value the contributions of all those B3Ders caught in the middle of it.
Sorry to squeeze in this last word, so to speak, but I figured I'm due a final (relative to this thread and maybe this topic) and this time witting comment, and I (forced myself--again, this wasn't a happy episode--to) offer it in the spirit of peace. I hope it'll be accepted as an attempt to mediate (though I'm venting a bit, but only 'cause JR did! ;P). If it's seen as more meddling, kindly disregard and let's all move on.
