This is not aimed particularly at you, but it's crystallised something I've been thinking all day, so thank you for that.
I intermittently lurked and read here for a few years before signing up. Maybe 3, maybe longer, don't really recall or care. One of the things that always gave me a chuckle is that for a site supposedly full of "viciously bigoted doxing fascists" was the fact that most people here almost overwhelmingly enjoy and cheer redemption arcs when they do happen.
Gator though? Nah. Not happening to anywhere near the same extent.
This should, but won't, make him have a good, hard think about things, since he's bound to read the thread.