wrote:

The prospect of being judged in public forces the other side to
respond, whereas otherwise they might simply shrug it off. How the
other side conducts themselves provides useful information for members
of the gliding public who may wish to deal with them in the future.

And it works both ways.

The disgruntled customer protests in too much detail and too defensively
-- in a manner that calls into question his maturity as much as his
antagonist's methods.

In short, he does not on first impression seem the sort to whom I would
eagerly lend a very special ship.


Jack