Depression can make a man like a living dead. (dont know if that's the case, just a guess)
I like Reid. I never understood how the super old vacuum and liquid mercury diodes worked until I saw his excellent video showing it in action. Though I didn't think they were often the best methods, I liked his creative ideas for making bicycle equipment sea-water-proof. He shared some slick first-hand experience with situations in which it's best to use a bearing vs a bushing, and if using bearings, which types of seals have proven to be optimal for which types of enviroments. He also wasn't afraid to take apart anything to discover how it all worked, and I admire that.
Nobody is perfect, and he did often(constantly?) confuse this e-bike forum with a personal-life diary, which made for a lot of added fluff/pollution to the board, but, the man did also add some useful content on a monthly basis or so, which is more than we can say for 99.99% of the members here. I do understand why he was banned, but at the same time I do miss the treats of interesting and rare knowledge he would share with us about technology from the past.