About 3 years after this, I suddenly got a message on the irc channel where I hang in for embedded Linux, #buildroot.
Someone asked me if it was okay to send me a private message, and having nothing better to do I accepted. In the interest of privacy I will not disclose the name, nor the nickname of this person, despite everything that follows. This will get hardcore real quick, so if you're uncomfortable you might wish to skip the posts I'll mark as extreme.