interested onlooker here. been following this for a while, without actually contributing. needs bumping now, so I'll have my two penneth...
if someone really stopped participating because a move they didn't advocate was played, they are idiots. the whole point of this game was to see whether a democracy type arrangement would work - sum greater than parts etc.
...h4 wasn't "yours" - it was the forum's majority choice. you may have been first to suggest it, but the forum chose it.
if someone didn't like h4 they should have posted their alternative with robust analysis showing why it was better.
I stopped posting in these threads mostly because I've lost the time to make meaningful contributions. I've started a full-time job at General Electric, and I'm finishing up my Master's Thesis at NASA. I just simply have less time for RHP now than I did 3 months ago. My apologies for not checking in the Chess Forum more often. I'd love to, I just lack the time. I've blown a couple of easily winning tournaments, and lost quite a few rating points to timeout, but I'm sure once I finish up my MS then I'll be back in approximately full force soon. 😀
-Tony