My, how selective a memory, and limited recollection of the events some of us have.
Coming from purely a members perspective....
Wealth of information or not, the technical knowledge base he may have provided paled in comparison to his poor attitude and vile temper and willingness to exploit it with anyone who he thought crossed him. He was never above telling you what he thought of you (or anyone), or going out of his way to stomp on your toes when he thought you deserved it. I was not the Staff member who banned him, but am familiar with the particular incident that put him over the top at the time and having dealings with him in the past, am confident that it was the right decision.
Fact....his banishment was not based on one single incident. Fact....He drew the line in the sand and pushed the envelope for years in this place. Fact....He was given more warnings, by multiple staff members over the years he was here than I care to remember. Fact....more times that I can count, a blind eye was turned and he was let off the hook more times than almost any other member in recent history, yet he still chose to tow the line with anyone he thought looked at him funny. Near the end, you didn’t even need to cross him to earn a reaction. You only needed to have a differing opinion, on the matter at hand....on any matter quite frankly for him to lash out at you.
After reading this thread, I decided to go back and do a search on his account. The thread in question that everyone is so up in arms about earned him near a dozen, very heated complaints throughout our reported posting system from several different members alone. And this was just one thread during a single period. Staff dealings with he and others like him go back YEARS, so please don’t be under the mistaken guise that this was an off the cuff, or rash decision.
As far as I’m concerned, D. Hearne treated Stangnet like his own personal lavatory. Being of Founding Member status, he seemed to develop an elitist attitude, along with a nice sized chip on his shoulder when it came to dealing with members with less time on the site under their belts and authority figures on this site alike. Courteous, civil behavior gave way to a spiteful attitude and blatant, public ranting when he didn’t agree with the outcome of a decision. His attitude was toxic and although he may have brought a decent knowledge base to the table and willingness to share that knowledge with a the select few (most of which seem to be present in this thread), he overshadowed his good deeds with a poor attitude, tactless demeanor and a complete lack of respect for any person with an opposing point of view, on any issue. I can't say whether or not he'll be back one day. That's not up to me to decide. I for one haven’t given him a second though since his departure and hope not to encounter another like him any time soon.