I see some folks posting that they hadn't met Mike, but wish they had. I'd like to offer an anecdote from another forum about him that was typical BC.
We were dealing with a typical forum troll. Every tool in the moderators toolbox had been exhausted short of a permanent ban (which this particular member had already evaded and signed up under a new name). The dude was the worst of the worst.
Well, Mike decided to let up on his typical tough guy, no nonsense self. He asked us other mods for some leeway to try a different tact. He recognized that the "punk" was a teenager. Not only was he a teenager that didn't understand how his actions were being felt, he was as lost interacting in real life as he was on forums. BC reached out to this young man in his still stern fashion, but with a fatherly, mentoring tone. As anyone that knew him, there was no straying from the straight and narrow, but he spilled pages of counsel on this young man. He explained the consequences of his choices, in both is online persona, but his real life persona. I watched that conversation happen in real time, and watched him make a real difference in that young man's life. He didn't big time him, he mentored him. He reached him. I watched that young man come to respect and adore Mike, for both his honesty and forthright advice.
It's just a little story that occurred to me while reading the responses in this thread. I'm sure there are a million more. That was the Mike I knew.
