Emphasis on this particular bit:
Used to be super active but got burned by most of the old closures (Cryptsy, btc-e, Bter, etc)
For instance, Cryptsy and btc-e are exchanges which abruptly shutdown along with their users money -- FBI seized btc-e to be more precise. Hence it's a sound theory to say OP may have lost time and money amidst the controveries otherwise, why say they got burned by the closures.
It is very easy to blame others in such cases, but it is not fair. “Be your own bank” also means that you actually have to take care of the security of your coins yourself, which is why coin holdings have no place on an exchange once they have been traded. There have been countless examples in the past where people have been robbed of their coins because they traded them out of convenience/lack of knowledge/... simply left them on the exchange. Unfortunately, this opens the door to losses and fraud.
That's why we must never tire of emphasizing
“not your keys, not your coins”.