This is the crux of it. You messed up, sometimes you have to take the high road no matter what the facts are. In this case, you're being asked to observe basic manners in someone else's home. After reading it, I don't think your comment was that offensive; you asked for a response when you made a one line complaint in a thread that although based on Ka-Bar quality issues, contained posts with lots of extra details, truly exceptional responses from Ethan Becker, and a group that are hardcore followers of the Ka-Bar and Becker brands. You made a remark about never wanting to be involved through buying a Ka-Bar again, and someone told you "see ya!". It was a bit of miscommunication for sure, and of course you aren't familiar with the rules or the culture. One thing I noticed is that a new member really wouldn't know Bladite was a moderator. His tag line says something like "Mystery Man of Leisure", and red names and orange names blend together easily, if you understand that the site is color coded at all. Plus, I'm guessing you're young - even for a knife forum.
I don't like to see new members get kicked out or put on fire before they even get acclimated - but you have been given a chance to make it right. You don't want to take that opportunity. If you would man up, I'm fairly sure you can get the infraction set to expire. If you would have made a pre emptive effort to take some accountability and explain yourself before so many members gave you a road map, I would almost bet that Bladite and the mod that issued the infraction would gave probably reversed it.
I actually understand your POV. You used a dirty word (which Spark has said many times he doesn't really care), against a moderator (that isn't explicitly identified as a moderator), and the comment wasn't as adversarial as describing it makes it sound (if I remember correctly you told him he didn't have to be an a-hole or asked him not to be an a-hole, which doesn't seem as hurtful in hindsight), and you have plausible deniability as a new member, even though you should have taken the time to read the ToS people are understanding about that. 40 points was pretty harsh considering you only have 50. You misinterpreted his comment; but you did it in a place that you're ultimately a guest. You don't go to a friend's house and drink their last beer do you? I mean, in an even scenario, two people would have equal rights to a beer - but in someone else's home you are expected to pay them some respect. People will judge you on how giving you are, how forgiving you are, and how much you will sacrifice so others do not have to.
The fact is you made a mistake; a mistake that everyone here is willing to forgive - but you also were presented with a test that we all agree is a good indication of what type of person you are. What is bad about it isn't that you won't be part of the forum now, but that you're putting off a lesson that you will either learn sooner or later, or you will make your life much much harder than it has to be (that's the selfish side of it). You're also going to burden the people around you with that attitude - your friends and family. For every mistake or tresspass someone will ultimately be held accountable; I'm guessing you're the kid that tries to blame others, and when the occasion allows puts responsibility and accountability off on people like your mother. Society doesn't have respect for that type of thing, and we certainly don't in this community. You aren't throwing away your chance to be part of the forum, you're passing up the opportunity to reach a major milestone in your life whether you realize it now or not.
We actually have a section of the forum called Whine and Cheese where you can call everybody asshole all you want, post whatever you want, and apologies are a sign of weakness. It's a parody of free speech, you would probably enjoy it. If you would have read the forums, the FAQs, the rules and lurked for a bit you would have known that. It's too late for that, but you still have the opportunity to issue an apology, make an attempt at admitting your mistake and clearing your name, and blending back into the crowd. We've already made 50 posts on your account, nobody would have invested that time if they didn't care at all - but your actions don't make you look like a promising effort. You will probably get banned sooner or later anyway if you insist on being childish regarding your own mistakes (forget what you think the other guy did or owes you, worry about yourself), but dozens of people have made an attempt to steer you in the right direction anyway. What I hate more than seeing new members leave or get kicked out because a mistake is someone wasting an opportunity.
seeya!
