I have to say that this is somewhat surprising. Immediately after Bob made his post about leaving the forum I called him. After a few minutes of discussion it was agreed that maybe a was a little too harsh. I apologized to him on the phone and on this forum for my lack of tact. The conversation, however did not end there. We spent the next hour discussing things that we DO agree on, one of which was his foam wings. I have stated numerous times that I have no problem with purchased sheeted foam wings and as a matter of fact I had one in my Evolution that won the Concours award at the Nats and was used by Bob in one of his advertisements in Stunt News. We discussed the future of stunt and even touched on each others opinions about FAI and BOM. Even though we are not in total agreement as to which way it should go, we both understand and respect each others views. Bob told me that he was done with this forum (yes partly because of me) and because of a lot of the arguing that goes on here. He said that he feels that the forum should be a positive place, reserved for helpful instructions and constructive criticism. I disagree a little with him, I think it is a good place for us to discuss and sometimes argue our points. Yes, it does get out of hand sometimes and I am as guilty as anyone for stirring the pot sometimes. Does this make me a bad person? I don’t think so, but I cannot speak for others. Bob told me that he would rather spend his time doing things other than arguing with me and others on the forum. I respect his decision even though I don’t fully agree with it. I am surprised that he took his store off of the forum though…Regardless to what you may think, when Bob and I got off the phone I was under the impression that we were still friends, we just decided that sometimes its better to agree to disagree. Maybe one day he will decide to join the forum again, I hope so, because he is a master builder/finisher and pilot.
Derek