Mrstarker: Since I'm the villain in this story, what I'm about to say is going to sound especially unconvincing, but please hear me out. Because I've been speaking out several times against things like mandatory thank yous over the years, I feel that I need to clarify where it's coming from, especially after what happened. It is not coming from some deep seated aversion that I have towards thanking people. In fact, until now I have made an effort to thank each and every gifter either via e-mail, on the forums, in the comments, or Steam chat and if I have missed someone, I sincerely apologise.

This is purely coming from my personal gifting philosophy. The only thing that I personally hope for when I give away games is that the people play them, because they are of no use to anyone when they are simply sitting in a library. When someone doesn't thank me, I don't assume that they are ungrateful. Maybe they are preoccupied because their child is sick. Maybe they simply forgot and that's okay too. I understand.

I'm not asking for clemency or trying to excuse my actions. When I neglected to say thank you, I clearly caused Momo great grief and for that I really am sorry. And I'm not trying to dictate what the policies of this group should be. All I'm asking from you is to please try to understand. I can see the appeal of a group consisting entirely of spotless people with good conduct, but at least hear them out before you label them as bad apples. Maybe they are actually still decent apples despite having some spots. It's easy to assume the worst of people, but there's plenty of that going around on the internet.