Pay It Forward

When was the last time you did something out the generosity of your heart? You know, just did a good deed, or offered to help someone without them asking or getting something in return? How about the last time you did something for someone else anonymously? Just asking. Just wondering. Just throwing the question out there for y'all to think about.

I have been receiving a ton of emails from people wondering where I had disappeared to and "WHAT HAPPENED?" to my hat name, Sprocket, at the Court TV message board. Why was I (as I like to say) "shown the door?" Well, to tell the truth, the explanation I was given didn't make much sense to me at all, so I let it go. I decided to do what I have always done in these situations when I have been shown the door at a message board: I walk away and I don't turn around and immediately start knocking on the door, trying to get back in. It's not my style. It's not what I do. It's not who I am. What I do is move on. I let go, and walk away.

The last time I was shown the door at a forum (well over two-and-a-half years ago), I walked away. I didn't beg to be let back in, and I didn't ask for an explanation. I said, "That's fine," and let it go. My belief system has always been, if management doesn't want me, then why would I want to stay? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me to stay someplace where I am not wanted. If you were at someones house, say, at a party or an event, and you were shown the door by the people running the show, would you demand to get back in? Would you try to sneak in through a back door? Not me. That's not how I act in real life, that's not how I behave on the Internet, and that's why I have walked away from Court TV message boards.

Some people on the Internet think nothing of changing personalities. They register a new name, and go right back to where they had just been shown the door. For some, they don't have any problem doing that, and that's fine, for them. I'm not judging them for doing that. But for me, there is something in my character, that just prevents me from doing that. At every public crime forum I have ever participated in, my hat/member name has always been Sprocket. I have never tried to register at a public message board under a different name, and be "incognito." I've never had the desire or felt the need to do that. Like I said previously, it's not in my nature to do that; it's not who I am.

And that brings me to one other point. Someone registered a member name at the Court TV message board as "Sprocket II," and that is not me. As flattering as that is (that someone would want to imitate me) this "Sprocket II" is not me. I obviously can't control what other people decide to do, or the names they choose to register as on a message board. However, if there ever is any name registered at Court TV (or any other place) that sounds like "Sprocket" or is spelled similarly to "Sprocket" or some other variation of my name, I guarantee you, that is not me.

I want to thank each and every person who wrote me letters of support after I was shown the door at the Court TV message board. Your kind words meant the world to me. I'll still be here for Spector round deux, so don't worry about that. As far as message boards go, maybe I'll just go where the wind takes me, somewhere, out there.