The almost overwhelming temptation is to respond again but this is going nowhere. Worse, I agree we’re communicating the wrong message.

So I just deleted a point-by-point response. Instead, as my parting message (I promise), I want to say that Tim Mara always treated me right and I never heard a bad word about him. If I got a little carried away, it was because I thought he was being treated badly here. My opinion.

I also said that Bob, the original poster (100+ messages ago!) was out of line but that's also opinion. Only he and Tim really know what happened. Probably only one of them knows why.

I don't think Tim owes anyone an apology or explanation. According to Bob, Tim gave him a choice when he (Tim) saw Bob's ad appear on another site and they parted company. The ad was obviously up elsewhere so there was no gap in exposure. And Bob's had ample opportunity to get it back up on W&W if he wanted. No harm, again in my opinion.

I also can't criticize Tim for having a somewhat unclear exclusivity policy.. Just speculation, but maybe he allows clubs and frequent customers a little more latitude. And what's a competing ad, anyway: an index card and photo on a club room wall? How about a one line listing elsewhere with a link to Wing & Wheels? Nearly everything on the Web is evolving rapidly; no reason to think Tim and Wings & Wheels, though they had an early online presence, aren't also evolving as we speak. Maybe Tim hasn't decided what his policy should be now that there's been so much noise.

So I don't blame him for remaining silent. I think it's safe to say that no matter what he said, he would have been criticized, accused, and abused.

But to try to cut this off, I'll agree that it would be nice (NOT necessary, not required, but nice) if Tim eventually--and NOT in response to being baited or harassed--stated this part of his policy. I'm OK with an exclusive and apparently nearly everyone on W&W now is, too. But it might help avoid another frustrating exchange.

BUT...all of that is IF and ONLY if Sean backs off on questioning Tim's ethics (yeah, he did do that) AND promises not to attack him all over again for what's really a business decision between Tim and his advertisers. If a seller doesn't like it, there are other ways to post ads.

In the meantime, let it go.

FWIW, Wings & Wheels had 61 gliders for sale at last count compared with 6 on GliderSource and 26 on SoaringCafe. Sean's Facebook page hasn't been around very long so it's not fair to include it but it has 2.

One of those ads is Bob's sailplane, which seems to be listed everywhere on the planet EXCEPT on W&W.

So allowing for a few duplicates, Tim's share of sailplane want ads is somewhere north of 65%.

That works for me. Sellers seem OK. And buyers do, too. Of course, if they want to see everything, they also have to check at least one of the other sites but they can see most of what's for sale on W&W.

It also suggests that current sailplane sellers prefer simple (W&W). I suspect that will change, especially as buyers demand more sophisticated online capability themselves. Tim and Bill, maybe you two SHOULD work together. The combination of Tim's market share and Bill's technology creds (which he's already offered) would be a great combination. Expect action from the Federal Trade Commission, however.

OK, I'm done. This is now the third, close to the second most viewed posting in the past YEAR. Depressingly unbelievable.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.