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[Lurch]

Originally Posted by djos

There are extenuating circumstances here, give the guy a break.

Sometimes people can't see it from another persons point of view. I know that they're angry that they have lost money.

I've lost money purchasing items online a couple of times.

Nathan when I dealt with him was a straight up and honest guy, if he made a promise he stuck to it.

We had the odd joke via email too. But I never gave him a hard time just a good razzing.

Aussies :-P

Anyway he changed a lot towards the end of our emails back and forth. Not the same Nathan that's for sure.

If I had his number I might give him a call.

I'd say he has had to put all out of the Amiga scene and deal with his "real life" problems.

He may come back once he's sorted himself out one never knows. He's was not out to scam or lie I think the promises he has broken was caused by his depression.

The sad thing is not a lot of people take true depression as a serious illness. Just be glad you haven't experienced it, as you never truly get out of the hole.

Take each day as it comes is my motto :-)

[djos]

Originally Posted by Lurch

The sad thing is not a lot of people take true depression as a serious illness. Just be glad you haven't experienced it, as you never truly get out of the hole.

From the little I know about Nathan I get the impression that he may be suffering from something similar to my Mother - basically serious depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and it can take years of trialing different medications to achieve relative normality.

The process itself can be quite grueling and destructive to ones personality until the right medication balance is struck - my mother attempted suicide several times before they got her medication right but even now can become quite paranoid or fixated on irrelevancies for no apparent reason.

Mental Illness is a real curse and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!

[haywirepc]

So perhaps he should tell his wife or a close friend he owes people all this money and make good on that. Surely someone close to him would help him if they knew people were calling him a thief for what he's done. I'm sure he has other problems, but a bunch of people calling him a thief (and rightly so) can't help his self esteem.

Its only by facing the music in these type of situations that enable us to move on and improve the situations in our lives.

People have problems, I once had a life threatening brain aneurysm and was rushed to a hospital (where I stayed for 6 weeks) Before I ended up in the hospital, I was selling some stuff on ebay. People had no communication from me for 6 weeks and assumed I'd ripped them off. As soon as I was home and able, I made good on the paypal payments I had received. In truth, I hadn't worked for like 6 weeks at that time, I had to borrow the money from my then girlfriend to make good, but I did.

My paypal accounts and ebay accounts got suspended over this, but once I made good I was able to show my hospital records and return my life to normal. (on the internet anyway)

If I can send refunds after a brain aneurysm, 6 weeks in the hospital and 2 "minor brain surgeries" I'm sorry but I just have little sympathy for someone who is too 'depressed" to do the right thing when people have been waiting for their money or their products for more than a year in many cases.

I am sorry but there is no defense for making people wait so long for their money or product, (unless your dead) Even severely mentally ill people have moments of clarity over such a long stretch of time. Maybe he should use one of those moments to do the right thing here. What no one has mentioned is besides these things being unethical, its also mail fraud, in the USA that is a federal offense and a felony. Ending up in criminal court over your amiga hobby is probably not going to make him any less depressed. He's lucky that people have not filed criminal complaints.

[Kesa]

@Haywire. You had a brain aneurysm. That's awesome. Have any souvenirs?

[haywirepc]

Yes I did, but luckily in my case it did not rupture. If it ruptures, 99% of people stroke out and die instantly. (thats the source of all those stories you hear about a young guy who suddenly has an aneurysm and instantly dies) In my case they caught it before it ruptured, and 2 "minor brain surgeries" later, I began my recovery. I always laughed when the doctors said it was a "minor" brain surgery. There is no such thing as a "minor" brain surgery. Pretty scary.

I have a coiled aneurysm still in my brain. A ticking tomb bomb if you will, which can still rupture at any time. They check it every 3 months with an MRI. All okay so far, but its still feels like a ticking tomb bomb in my head.

My case is actually in several medical journals now because its very rare that the aneurysm does not rupture and instantly kill you.

My neurologists once told me to settle my affairs just in case,because it can often still rupture and and still kill you, even after being "repaired".

Sometimes I think of it as a curse, because I am awfully impatient about wasting time now. But most often, I consider it a gift because before that I never considered how important (and finite) our time on planet earth really is.

It made me love the good people in my life more. It made me kinder, more ready to do kind things for even strangers and often go out of my way to always help people. (a strange side effect) it made me value the good things in life.

A scary experience, but a positive one in many ways.

[alc]

Originally Posted by alc

Has anyone got a working email address? I honestly don't mind the wait that much but I'd at least like to know that he's alive and still aware I'm waiting. I'm as patient as they come but it's been nearly a year now.

Thought I should pop up here and say that Nathan finally came through with the goods.

It may have taken over a year to arrive but when you deal with an individual rather than a company you've got to be aware that anything can happen; they might get hit by a truck, they might go through a nightmare divorce, there are any number of reasons that could dump "making a videogame accessory" on the to-do list for quite a while. The lack of communication was frustrating but that's understandable given that he was suffering what sounds like clinical depression. I hope he's found a way through.

[Xanxi]

So, is he back into business?

[royalcrown]

Originally Posted by Cammy

I don't think you understand the difference between "being depressed" and the mental illness. It's not something you can just "snap out of" and there is no motivation to email people when you don't know who to email first when you think every single person in the world hates you, and that they'd all be better off if you were dead. When you are this affected by depression you don't feel like you deserve the help to ask for, so you just suffer in silence.

I don't think Nathan has the money. I think he probably spent it on what hardware components he needed to make the boards at the time but much of it has perhaps been buried or put aside in a house that is just making room for another child. Nathan wasn't making any profit on the hardware he sold, he insisted on not ripping people off like many others do in the Amiga community, and so he probably has no savings either.

He may be struggling to hold his own life together, and coming back to face the angry mob of the Amiga scene is probably something he hasn't got the strength to take on, so all he can do for now is avoid the problem.

I hear what you are saying, and I've known and dated someone who is bipolar as well, been through those days where you don't want to get up. My personal experience is this...It's a FIGHT, he has to force himself out of bed and just take a blind swing, even if it is a miss. If you wait to "feel" like getting up, things tend to deteriorate in the meantime, it gets harder to be functional as it gets to be normal to feel overwhelmed.

He needs to get up, fight it, and just get caught up as he can (whatever he can handle w/o too much stress) with existing projects and maybe just do one or two once in awhile. He sounds like he got too popular and I am sure this stuff takes awhile to make.

IMO, the best way to feel better is to get at least somewhat functional. I don't mean this to sound like an a**, personal experience. I've been known to get focused on something for days, then get so burnt out that I'm mental jello, been through depression a few times. Maybe the guy will read this and it'll get him wanting to take a swing at what is bothering him.

Depression needs to be fought, if it takes meds, church, whatever...but people need to poke it in the eye before it gets bad.

This coming from someone who hasn't bathed in 3 days due to learning the history of Commodore and searching the internet for everything Commodore / Amiga related. time to check back in to real life now.

[magnetic]

Originally Posted by alc

Thought I should pop up here and say that Nathan finally came through with the goods.

Awesome news! Nathan seemed like a nice guy and I hope he's back on his feet in biz!

[Damion]

All I can say is Nathan must really have been down, because he's a stand-up fellow and would never intentionally burn anyone.

Glad to hear he's shipping orders again, I hope everyone gets what's coming to them soon.

[Bamiga2002]

I have just today received my package from Nathan !
At long last I can begin testing the PSx-adapters

[Havie]

I'm glad Nathan is back. I love my PSX adaptors he made for me and they work so well!!!