I've personally known OCP for going on a decade now, having met him in high school back in... 1997, I believe. Aside from a few more screws loose than the average person and maybe lacking in some social graces, he's the kinda guy you'd have as the whacky sidekick best-friend in a WWII movie. Where you're digging out a foxhole with your helmet and the guy helping you won't shut the hell up, going on and on about nothing. And he'd have to have a stupid name like Toothpaste or Ox or something else utterly absurd.
I can understand that the mods here had to bite the bullet and ban him for a reason. If I agree or disagree to it, that is a seperate and actually discussable topic - but as this is their forum, one must wipe their feet when entering and obey the lay of the land. OCP broke rules and that is the be all and end all of the situation.
This isn't exactly in his defense but I find it a touch absurd myself that the mods are able to willingly ban someone not only for profiting (again, against the rules) on DVD/R sales but have the absurd notion that something someone does off the boards is their business. Pardon my frankness, but it strikes me as odd that a site based around the good intention of "fan preservation" (which is a stone's throw from the old "for educational purposes only" warning that followed every cookbook, phone phreak guide and issue of 2600) is so willing and able to push the mighty thumb of administration down on the guy for profiting off his work.
I do have something of an affection for the man, obviously - so perhaps I'm a touch blinded by that. But the guy has been struggling since he left college. It's half his fault and half the BS that details everyone's life. Bad luck, stupid people, and all that steam. Being who he is and how he is in real life, OCP needs to make money doing whatever he can. He's in fairly dire straits on and off again. As to his selling DVD/Rs or what-have-you, I don't really have much to say in that because I can understand why he was banned. But then, you're also banning him from making money and by that I don't mean pocket money. I mean the money he uses to pay his rent and put food in his mouth.
What you're doing amounts to chopping off his hands because he was caught stealing bread to feed himself.
It's silly because I bet you there are other people here doing it and people here haven't caught them yet. So, perhaps OCP's crime is that he wasn't subtle. Knowing him as I do - I can agree to that. He's about as subtle as, say, Ginger Lynn at a NOW meeting. So, what it boils down to is how subtle he's selling, perhaps.
Not to mention, you're damning him for something he's doing outside the forum. While - yes - this is covered by the rules, this is like adding a rule saying "Next time you drop a duce, you will be banned". It's silly and a touch too "internet serious" that you're banning someone for successfully bootlegging on a site that is a spit-and-polish, piss-n-shine excuse for that exact "b" word. Banning people for what they do off the board is asinine, and you might as well just close shop.
But these are your rules, and I will wipe my feet at the door and do as the Romans do and all that nonsense. Theres a lot of good people here and it's sad to see one of them go out like he did.
Yes, OCP broke the rules. But if rules like that are going to keep people like him out - do we have the right priorities in mind?
Thank you all, and have a great holiday.