Look, I don't know how I can be more forthcoming with people here. I maintain a thread with a changelog for the next version that all registered members can access. I've made posts throughout the hiatus letting people know what's going on with my life, and I'm generally not someone who talks a lot about myself to complete strangers.
I personally have standards which I like to maintain and I've been disappointed in myself for not keeping up with them. But guess what, I have a wife and a job which requires a lot of time from me (for example, I'll be out of the office traveling on business for the better part of the next two weeks). On top of that, I just don't do as much on the computer as I used to.
I tried to turn over this project to another person about 3 months ago mainly to keep everyone here happy. I was willing to let my name be taken off the pack in exchange for maintenance. Unfortunately, the person who was to be my successor disappeared. I don't know what happened to him. I'd like to know if for no other reason to know that he's OK IRL. His disappearance put me in a particularly bad spot because it meant that time I could have otherwise been spending on this work was instead used elsewhere as I thought I wouldn't be doing this work anymore.
But one thing about me. When I say I'll do something, I'll do it. I promised you guys an update, and an update you will be getting. If you want to see what all's going into it, check out the annoucement thread in Members Only.
Since everyone and their mother apparently need to know so bad what my future plans are, I'll say this much. I have no plans nor any desire to do anything Vista-related. If someone wants to step up to do it (and it appears someone already has), more power to them. Once SP3 ships for XP, I don't know if I will continue to maintain the post-SP2 pack. Given that SP3 is pretty much a post-SP2 hotfix rollup, I probably won't. I haven't made any decision yet as to whether or not I'll do a post-SP3 pack. It would be trivial for me to do so, but some members of the board are already doing so with the SP3 betas. If they're willing to continue them after SP3 ships, I'll probably get out of their way and let them continue on as maintainers of that branch.
As for friendliness toward newcomers, believe me I'm aware of the matter (and guilty of it myself at times). I know some of that has come from some of the past moderators of the place (some of you may have noticed that I did a little housecleaning in that respect awhile back, hence how 5eraph came to be one). However, I also believe that people have a right to say what they want to say, and be flamed for it if they're being assholes. I'm not going to censor people unless there's a truly pressing reason to do so. It may not be a popular stance, but tough, it's my board

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If I do end up stepping out of update pack game, I still want to make my forums relevant. I'll probably de-emphasize my own work and rearrange things a bit to let others show off their work better than now (as I've been promising Xable for awhile). I never thought this site and board would become as active as it's become. I think especially given the way my life is going, it's better for everyone if it revolves less around me and more around the community of contributors which has risen up.
OK, but enough rambling. None of what I just blogged about is going to happen tomorrow. Just some musings from me and a little insight. Now everybody shut up already and be patient. Your wait is nearly over

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