As much as you want to reach out, sometimes it seems to bite you in the butt. Online communication can be very touchy. One sees the glass half empty, the next sees it half full, so, misunderstandings result. Been there, done that.
My son and I built an oversized Woodmizer, that would saw through and through, 36" diameter logs.
Some asked lots of questions, and, some ridiculed for "copying" Wood mizer. Said we would be sued, etc. Funny thing is, Dave Mann, from Woodmizer Company, actually thought we did a fine job, and asked several questions. Now, they make a wider version of their mill.
We never got past the "Woodmizer is the best mill" thinking.
The more experienced we got with the mill, the less our info was received.
We tried Woodmizer blades, Red Streak blades and settled on Munksforsager " we coined the phrase "Monkey Blades" because guys couldn't seem to respond the the real company brand.
Some guys asked where we bought them, so, I put the info out there. Soon after, A "Sponsor" started selling them, ans, we were advised to ONLY recommend sponsors, even if the person lived within a few miles of where we bought ours.
That was a start of things changing to "protect" the sponsors. This was back in 2002-2003, just so y'all know.
After a couple more years, we got kind of pushed into a deal and soon after, we were hit with major personal issues, so, the deal was never honored on our part. Word got out and though the info was not accurate, I started noticing my posts were stopping threads, and, if I started a post, it had minimal views and NO responses, so, I went to reading, and finally, never logged back in.
Thought I had a few real friends, but, seems not. A LOT of this started happening once I joined this forum, under my REAL name, NOT hiding behind a keyboard like a lot of people do.
SO, I had met Kirk and Buzz Sawyer, and a couple more, at Sawlex in Ohio, before moving down here, so, here is where I stay.
Change is not always a good thing. Brown noseing is not my thing.