I suspect a bit of both in this case. SirCmpwn unfortunately has done this for many years, and is one of the people that pushed me outside of the Minecraft dev world, he can be really nasty :(.
I was a jerk the first few years I was involved in the Minecraft scene, and I'm still a jerk all too often today. I'm sorry for making you feel that way. If you want to talk, my email is in my profile.
At the end of it all, people won't remember your work - but they damn sure will remember how you made them feel. They'll remember how you treated other people. Ultimately, that will be the judge of your worth in the eyes of whatever community you participate in and society broadly.
Few people do work that transcends awful character. Very very few people. Steve Jobs is an example, but let's be honest neither you nor I will have the same level of impact to excuse ourselves after treating others terribly.
With that being said, I admire your effort to mend things and the bit of self-reflection in your response.
Do you think Steve Jobs made contributions that outweighed him being a jerk? I don't think that ever happens, in that I don't think you ever forget someone being a jerk, but then I don't think we aren't capable of appreciating the good and the bad at the same time. There must be studies around this. Maybe someone is aware of some.
It's amazing how little interactions add up to a reputation. You banned me from a minecraft irc channel when I said that the leap second was causing issues with some minecraft servers. (see https://www.wired.com/2012/07/leap-second-bug-wreaks-havoc-w...) since then I avoided a collaboration opportunity with you for this purpose. (Mediacrush-related)
Bad experiences like this add up, and it's very hard to repair a broken reputation.
I wouldn't take this as a sincere gesture. So many people say this in the public eye just to save face without any intention to take it further.
I realise I'm replying in context of Sir_Cmpwn specifically (and I have had my own interaction with him in the past on unrelated projects in very sour taste) but it is more common with anybody that promotes an apologetic-but-contact-me attitude. It's an all to familiar trait of people trying to sound good in threads of their topic.
It looks like an apology on the surface but I don't think it is one.
"I'm sorry for making you feel that way."
That's very close to the classical non-apology apology "I'm sorry you felt that way". [1]
He isn't sorry for his behavior, but sorry that his behavior caused certain feelings. The post he's responding to doesn't mention any feelings, so I assume he meant "Sorry for making you feel that you were pushed out of the scene". He's shifting the focus from his actions (for which he is responsible) to other people's feelings (for which he is not responsible, since he can't control other's feelings).
"If you want to talk, my email is in my profile."
Meaning: Please don't continue talking in public about this.
"I was a jerk the first few years I was involved in the Minecraft scene, and I'm still a jerk all too often today." is the longer sentence preceding it which is 100% a statement about his own behavior. "for making" actually makes the sentence you're quoting about his behavior too, in my interpretation of it.
It's an apology. Maybe you don't think it's a strong one, or a sincere one, or one backed up by corresponding action, but it is one acknowledging damage done, some responsibility for it, and stating a desire to change (unless you have a wildly different interpretation than I do about what, exactly, "I'm still a jerk all too often today" means.)
Usually those type of people had some trauma in the past or had really bad parent-child relationship (probably abused or something). I honestly think SirCmpwn should get professional help. Mental illness should not be ignored.
SirCmpwn was kind of a jerk from what I remember of him in an IRC I was in... but I still liked him (not the guys who ran the channel, unfortunately). He was damn smart and I seem to have a higher tolerance for "smart but jerk" types of people (of which there are many)...
