He is not coming back here.
I never defended his actions. I've said repeatedly that he made some serious mistakes, and should be accountable for them.
I simply said you didn't need to act like a mob and do stupid things which lowered you way below his level. (such as the member on this board that sent letters to his elderly father, harassed previous employers, friends, etc).
I hear from chris frequently, and because i'm polite, he's very upfront with me.
And i think even if you didn't talk with him directly, he'd still post updates for you on these boards when he could. Not anymore though.
But i was never stupid enough to assume i was getting anything very soon. Let alone would i have put in more than the 60 bucks or so i did with the false assumption that it wasn't a risk to do so.
Frankly, you people in for hundreds of bucks? I think you were kinda foolish to do that in the first place. But you took a gamble, just like I did.
I wish you the best, no matter what at getting your stuff. And i urge all of you to press on (i'd hope in a more mature fashion) to get your items that you payed for, or get your money back.
I've also said that even if i get my items, i'm going to continue to do what i can to post updates for chris if he relays information to me, so that everyone is not kept in the dark.
But it didn't have to be like this. You formed a mob, and you pushed him out. And while that might make you feel all proud and special, all it did was backfire, and make things worse. You upset him, attacked him, and increased his amount of crap to wade through in order to get work done. And to top it off, made the chances worse for those of us who were calm to begin with of getting our items. So thanks for that! So while i don't agree with him leaving the boards, i can understand that to even attempt to remain here with the hostility that was present, would be a mistake, or at least one of the most difficult and time consuming tasks for someone who is already a busy person.
He bit off more than he could chew. And as a reasonable person, i understand that he made a mistake. Does that clear him of responsibility? Of course not. But hopefully the lesson will be learned from. He's blown his reputation in 1/6th. I'd agree. He could perhaps salvage it if in the coming months he continues to try and finish all the work he has taken money for, and either ship it out, or give refunds.
But if we are being realistic.. lets consider this. If he took the money, and didn't know how far in he was over his head.. do you honestly think he still has it all?
I don't. And so if he even attempts to refund, it will have to be done on a case by case basis i'd assume. And I would hope that he does that.
But since i'm not his ultimate defender (despite what some fools on here love to say about anyone who dares forgive someone who took on too much work and made some mistakes).. I also realize that he might not refund. And legal actions might need to be taken.
And if that happens, so be it. But it would just be nice if people were a little more mature and civil about it. Most of you just seem to have fun flinging insults and jabs around. And you are so upset about the possible loss of your money (not a trivial thing by far) that you somehow feel the need to attack anyone who attempts to calm the situation and solve problems instead of creating them.
It's also very clear to me now exactly who some of the culprits are in this mess. Chris hinted to many of you that you should not believe everything you hear from some people. That they have other motives to their actions.
But that could never be, right? After all. No competition, even from recasters in this profession. Right?
My first objections were that a lot of you were following some like blind sheep off a cliff, without knowing all the sides of the story. I still believe this to be true. I've told chris i would keep certain information between us so that it doesn't create even more problems. But i'll easily say that there are many people on this board who are to blame for escalating this problem, and who did so out of revenge and fear of Chris. That, coupled with the way we all reacted, and the further personal attacks, involving of law enforcement and courts, contacting employers, etc.. you all basically screwed yourselves into a very tight spot.
You didn't have to pretend everything was perfect. I knew something was wrong months ago. But you stood a better chance at getting what you paid for or what you had hoped to pay for, if you had remained calm, and not jumped on the bandwagon of chaos. You can encourage someone, and push them to complete a project in a lot of ways. Even if it takes time. But you can also squeeze someone until they pop, and then get nothing in return.
While i love these boards, i'm kind of ashamed at how a lot of you have behaved. And I think the comments made my some other customizers on here who had similar problems shed some very good light on just how unforgiving a lot of people can be.
Go ahead. Attack me now. Call me chris's little buttsniffer or something. It seems to be what most of you feel is the correct course of action. :/
That was so awesome, much obliged Tom Selleck. 
