not sure where to put this so putting it here.

Official Apology to Omnimaga.org by jhgenius01


Old version under here:
2nd edition

Official Apology (2nd Edition) to Omnimaga.org by jhgenius01

Briefing:
First attempts aren’t always perfect and so I am creating a new version of my apology. (Sorry, I’m a kind of perfectionist)

EDITED FROM 1st EDITION:
Here is my apology – the one many of you have been waiting for. Throughout the process I have tried to make it as clear as possible by splitting it into distinct sections as seen below. If you only have time to read a bit, read the Overall Apology and The Future paragraphs. I invite you to read this apology with an open mind.

Introduction:
   Opening Statement:
Thank you to all.
I start with this sentence because now I realise just how friendly and vibrant a community Omnimaga.org is, but more so, just how ruthlessly I tried to eradicate the integrity of the whole community in my most recent actions. I had made many minor mistakes previously but the way I handled the copyright program issue was unacceptable of me. The effect that these actions had on Omnimaga, however were not at all what I had originally intended.
I have now reread the forum rules many times and have realised my actions have violated quite a few of those rules, but the way I handled the most recent issue that gave me a weeklong ban is the issue that matters most.

   How I became a member:
I had watched Omnimaga as a guest for a while and found I quite liked it so I joined on 03 September 2010, 10:50:11 am (+10 GMT). I admired DJ Omnimaga’s ability to continually inform and help the fellow members of his site and with his phenomenal number of posts and respect; I could see that he really was passionate about Omnimaga. I hoped that I could also follow his example to help other people.

   Overall Effect:
The way I approached the forum during the month of September backfired and instead of achieving what I had originally intended to do, I unintentionally achieved the opposite effect – hurting everyone and the site as a whole, but most of all hurting DJ Omnimaga, the creator of all this. I should also say a big apology to SnakeX, since it is he that I was directing my anger most during the events that occurred at the end of September.

I won’t say it was all unintentional, however. That would be the wrong thing to do. I would say that I wasn’t thinking about how different talking on an online forum is to talking to people in real life. So my intention was expressed in a way that was offensive to Omnimaga which is not what I wanted to do.

For consequences, read the section below titled: Overall Consequences.

   The mistakes:
Firstly, a few of my posts brushed some of the forum rules. I have tried my best to track them all down, if I have missed any, notify me.

Part 1 – minor mistakes – I was an outsider in a new forum.
The first few mistakes that I made were minor in comparison with what was to come.
http://ourl.ca/6862/114501
http://ourl.ca/6992
http://ourl.ca/4852/116364
http://ourl.ca/6748/116378
Ignorance of the rules was a part of these but because I was still a new member, I was let off with a warning. As I am now reflecting on these events, I have realised the overall effect that I have given Omnimaga.org has been one where I thought I was the authority and could tell people what to do. Telling people how to run their site was a big mistake on my part and I was given a stern warning by DJ Omni on OmnomIRC. http://netham45.org/irc/EfNet/view.php?log=omnimaga.20100911 (from [00:52:53]). However at this time I kind of didn’t realise what implications that would occur if I continued.

Part 2 – major mistake – Health Bars for the TI-nspire copyright issues

At one point I discovered how to make health bars for the TI-nspire graphing calculator. Immediately I was reluctant to publish the actual source code for the program this as no one had done the exact thing before. I started getting obnoxious and arrogant about the whole subject and posted 4 useless posts about ways people can look at source code.
All 4 posts were rated down by DJ Omnimaga (-4 in total)
The posts were borderline on Rule 1
Link: http://ourl.ca/7009/116335

When I was about to do a good thing by releasing my health bars program on ticalc.org, the evil side of me took over and instead postponed the release of the program, but then I went too far and called SnakeX a kind of code stealer. I went even further by employing a method people could ‘use’ the health bars program through a complicated process.
-8 respect for that post and a weeklong ban
Rule 1 – provocative comments towards SnakeX and Omnimaga as a whole.
Link: http://ourl.ca/7009/117446
      
Aftermath

When I realised I had been banned, the implications of my actions dawned on me. I hung my head in shame for being so stupid, so protruding, so oblivious of the effects my comments had on others and to the consequences that could occur. I was also leaving for China the next day but before I left, DJ Omnimaga and I had a private chat about the whole situation and it was settled. This apology is a result of clarifying it to the whole of the Omnimaga community.
I could have been banned forever due to my attacks on the site itself, but the only reason I wasn’t put on the blacklist was that I was a new member. This made me realise how close
Respect: I lost 12 respect in total from that one topic. It dropped from +3 to -9

Overall Apology

I have seriously been shocked at my actions on the Omnimaga forum. I never knew I could wreak such havoc in such a short amount of time. I admit that when joined Omnimaga; I did not read the forum rules properly. After I joined, the effect that my most recent actions had on Omnimaga and on SnakeX, and everyone else’s reaction were not at all what I had originally intended. My selfishness prevented me from releasing my program and caused me to lose control. My stupidity cost me the respect that I had earned and more.

After I had been banned, I decided to look at the forum rules. As I read each rule, I realised that I had unknowingly plunged into the forum without any regard whatsoever to the rules. As I read each rule, I realised the true reasons why DJ Omnimaga and the rest of the admin had given me warnings about. There was so much I didn’t know at that time, and the wrong thing I did was to assume that I knew all the rules and could just command blindlessly without knowing the circumstances. I was like jumping from an aeroplane 10000m up without putting on a parachute and other safety gear first.

I say a deep apology to everyone who is a part of Omnimaga for my actions, but most especially my attitude towards SnakeX and I hope that you will all forgive me. I should also say a deeper apology to the founder of this great community, DJ Omnimaga, who I so admire and respect, for my terrible actions that have given you such a bad first impression of me.

Throughout this apology, I have tried to show my sincerity as much as possible by laying out my every action that has been offensive. All I hope is that you all accept that.

[A few more things that I’ve run out of space to tell]
The whole situation made me feel like I was verdant. I felt really terrible.

Personal Apology to Snake X
It is you who I should say a deep apology to for my recent actions. My most shocking actions on the forum were directed at you and must have had some effect, classifying you as a code stealer. What a silly thing to say. I was so selfish that I forgot that I actually told the forum that looking at other people’s code was the way to learn! (This was in the topic where I commented about verdant, btw) Your eagerness to learn is a good thing and this is the aim of Omnimaga, which I violated in my actions towards you. For your eagerness you will be rewarded and one of the first to receive a copy of my program.

The Future
Now that I have a clearer picture of the forum conditions, I will try and take care of my words and make sure that:
1.   They don’t challenge authority
2.   They don’t criticise other people in a negative/destructive/rude way.
I will also try and help people as much as possible but also keeping in mind at the same time not to get arrogant and selfish along the way.

Advice to others
My advice to others is to go back to the forum rules from time to time and make sure that you attitude towards Omnimaga isn’t violating any of those rules.
The 2nd Edition of this apology should now clear some things up and address more about the Health Bars issue.

Yours Sincerely,
jhgenius01

2010/10/07

ohullo
i've only seen you two or three times around the forums and honestly hadn't noticed any of the posts listed here(although that's probably because i spend less time around nspire threads). i'm not quite sure how you could have broken so many rules in such a short time, even without having looked at the rules page, because for the most part it's all basic netiquette. however, it does look like you spent a great deal of time preparing this apology and are actually sorry about recent events, so personally i would be willing to overlook any past events. just be sure to make plenty of positive contributions in the future.
cheers!

Apology accepted. IMHO if you do not repeat all the mistakes again there should not be any grudges against you. I've watched your forum posts since the start and the vast majority was perfectly fine. Only some in the RPG health bar topic and a few others were borderline or negative. However, you have acknowledged you did wrong and I appreciate that. I have been myself kinda rude when warning, though, so I apologise for that too. Do not worry too much about the double-posting part, though, as this is not a very bad rule violation. Generally we warn but people stop anyway.

I hope you stick around for a while on the forums

I remember being in a similar situation once... upon... wow, that seems so long ago, but it was only like 2 years ago!  Anyways, don't worry, as long as your apology's sincere, and you really make an effort to change, which it seems you have, you'll easily become accepted as a part of the community.  Especially if this forum is one of your first places though, I can remember, it can be hard getting used to the way you need to say things to get them better understood online... I'm sure everyone appreciates this apology very much though. 

Wow i go to sleep and when i wake up, it's been read 88 times! (recheck: 103 times). I am deeply grateful for all your responses and will try and answer them. Here we go...

First for meishe91
i knew the moment that i posted my apology that it would be too complicated and could be expressed in a simpler way that addressed the more serious issues. It is really hard writing a good apology though. i am planning for an edit sometime but thanks for the response.
For shmibs
Hi shmibs, pretty much the same as for meishe91, i was planning to possibly edit my apology to incorporate the more serious issues more. Thanks for your response
For Michael Lee
Thanks for replying, and i appreciate your forgiveness
For DJ Omnimaga
once again i admire your authority and appreciate your response greatly
For ztrumpet
thanks for your response. i am slightly confused by your statemenet (not every slate). does this mean that my apology didn't address everything? if it did then please tell me? as i said before i am going to do an edit sometime. Also I have been on some other forums, but not that many, mainly calc forums such as UCF, UnitedTI etc. but none that I have been involved in nearly as much as Omnimaga.org
For cooliojazz
Thank you for your encouragement and your own experience in a situation like mine. I appreciate it greatly
For SnakeX
As other people say i owe you a separate apology. I shall write this up in a new section in my apology which should be coming soon

For All
Thank you to all
My respect has now been restored and i am deeply grateful to the Omnimaga community as a whole for helping me return back to Omnimaga.

Especially if this forum is one of your first places though

Yeah true. IMHO when someone joins somewhere he needs to be given a chance to improve/learn and correct his mistakes. In the case above many were done in a short period of time so it sadly lead to a temp punishment but I've seen some members getting banned for a week before, then they never did anything wrong again afterward. When arriving somewhere you doN't really know how things works and when you join a forum for the first time ever you don't know about netiquette in general. Example: you may ask questions without searching first, because you think the forums is here for that, but someone needs to point you in the right direction if you do it too much (and not in a harsh way like I saw happening elsewhere on new members)

Oh, ok. Sorry, I thought you meant just that part. By that I think he means to him everything is cool but maybe not with everyone. But I would wait for Z to clarify that one, but I think that's it.

I find it interesting, in general, how it is easy to make a mistake, but hard to apologize for it. You've earned some respect from me for managing it. And, an apology doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to be sincere. The rest will fall into place.

To jhgenius only, but anyone interested can click.

The important thing about a community like omnimaga is that we are all here to support one another. That means we don't try to hide our source code. Instead we provide parts of our own code to assist others. Its about teaching. Perhaps you might want to think about releasing your health meter as a subroutine, so that others may include it in their own code. In any event, welcome back.