Paul Remde / Cumulus Soaring - A man of integrity?

[tphill...@gmail.com]

Paul Remde / Cumulus Soaring – A man of integrity?

- Mr. Remde chose not to be governed by any of the crowd funding websites, such as Kickstarter.

- Mr. Remde created a long webpage promoting the crowd funding effort (we have a full copy) that spoke (first person) of Mr. Remde’s importance to the soaring community, integrity, etc.

- Mr. Remde stated (on this website and in a YouTube video) that without meeting this goal, the business of Cumulus Soaring was unsustainable due to high debt interest.

- Mr. Remde placed prominent ads in soaring publications to promote his crowd funding campaign.

- Mr. Remde moved his originally stated deadline of Sept 1st, 2014 back to Dec 1st, 2014 as he was only at 9% on his “success meter” at that point in time.

- On November 10th, Mr. Remde’s “success meter” showed that he was at 14% of his “goal.” On November 11th, his “success meter” jumped from 14% to 44% with a new “stated” goal of $200,000. It is clear that Mr. Remde modified the definition of "success" from about $600,000 to $200,000 (a 66% reduction in goal).

- Mr. Remde, last evening, removed all of these statements from his website and replaced them with a declaration of “success.”

- Mr. Remde also removed the video asking for support from his YouTube account last evening. A video in which Mr. Remde states all of these requirements. Mr. Remde stated "do not send money until "the" goal has been reached." We have a copy of the video. To see that Mr. Remde's video is no longer available on Mr. Remde's YouTube account, follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/user/premde/videos

Mr. Remde, why delete this video from your YouTube account last night?

- Now, despite Mr. Remde's previous statements, Mr. Remde declares "success" and asks his funders to pay even though Mr. Remde has only achieved $92,348 of his original $600,000 goal, which he claimed was absolutely needed to reduce high interest payments and continue as a sustainable business. In fact, Mr. Remde today claims that he can now sustain his business for another 10-20 years with that funding.

- Yesterday, Mr. Remde’s goal was stated as $200,000. As of now, Mr. Remde’s achieved funding is $92, 348.

Mr. Remde, I suggest you explain your statements and how you can now sustain yourself for 10-20 years on $92,348 to the soaring community before claiming this money.

A Man of Integrity - 
I am far from perfect. But I have always strived to be extremely ethical and honest. I try very hard to always give honest advice to customers - advice that is the best for the customer, not advice that pays me more. I have many times had customers complement me for pointing out ways they could make their existing soaring instrument work better - rather than trying to force new, expensive instruments on them. My goal is to help customers in a straight-forward and honest way - pointing out all the pros and cons of several options. I do so because that is how I operate, and because hopefully it will encourage that customer to continue to bring their business to me in the long run - and to encourage their friends to buy from me. In consider myself a servant. – 2014 Paul Remde/Cumulus Soaring

[MNLou]

I would like to make a suggestion -

If you made a pledge to support Cumulus Soaring and are unhappy with the current status, please contact Paul directly.

If you did not make a pledge, you really don't have a dog in this fight.

Lou

[HGXC]

What is this! 60 minutes??? If Paul is good then what is your issue? The guy helps his customers
Dennis

[Paul Remde]

Hi,

I think it is pretty low of you to attack me without stating who you are.

I have been serving the soaring community for 12+ years and I suspect that I
just might, perhaps, have a reputation for being very honest and
trustworthy. If I didn't - I wouldn't have received so many wonderful and
generous pledges of support. I am extremely humbled by the support the
soaring community has given me - and extremely thankful.

I'm not interested in answering your comments below. I never said my pledge
drive was designed to follow any crowdfunding standards. It relies on the
soaring community trusting me. If you don't, don't buy a Mutual Support
Membership.

Have a wonderful day,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

wrote in message
news:97881a63-36dd-448a...@googlegroups.com...

[Vaughn]

On 11/19/2014 1:42 PM, tphill...@gmail.com wrote:
> Paul Remde / Cumulus Soaring – A man of...

Dear anonymous curmudgeon;

Please let it go.

[tphill...@gmail.com]

"I'm not interested in answering your comments below. I NEVER SAID my pledge
drive WAS DESIGNED to follow any CROWDFUNDING STANDARDS."

Taking the fifth? Why call this CROWD FUNDING Mr. Remde? To say this is MISLEADING is an understatement.

Below is Mr Remde's OWN THREAD on rec.aviation.soaring from August 20th, 2014. Notice the title. The website and video have since been "cleansed."

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.aviation.soaring/We1RwUZ4zdw

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cumulus Soaring, Inc. - CROWDFUNDING EFFORT - Your Help Needed
11 posts by 8 authors

Paul Remde
Aug 20

Hi,

I first announced this new CROWD FUNDING effort about 1 week ago. I have
been overwhelmed by the extremely positive comments and pledges received so
far. I have received over 100 pledges so far! Every single pledge is
appreciate more than you will ever know. Thank you! However, we have a
very long way to go to reach the goal.

I suspect that a very small percentage of the soaring population is aware of
this pledge drive. It won't be successful unless many more soaring pilots
pledge their support.

The best and fastest way to reach more glider pilots is for you to please
forward this email to all your soaring friends. A personal note from you
explaining why you think my company is worthy of support would help a lot.

Details are available here:
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/membership.htm

Best Regards,

[drguya...@gmail.com]

No one cares about your rants.
Those who decided to participate with Mr. Remde did so of their own free will.
They made their decisions based upon their own interactions with Mr. Remde.
The exact words used to title his effort are meaningless.

[gby...@cinci.rr.com]

I find this personal attack on Paul to be repulsive.

I have been active on rec.aviation.soaring since the early 1990's when it was formed from rec.aviation by Geoff Peck. The such mean spirited anonymous posts are not in the spirit of the original charter of r.a.s, which is clearly for the advancement of the sport, not for such attacks.

That post is one of the lowest I have seen in the 20+ years on this group.

Guy Byars

[Justin Craig]

1) It is a free market
2) You are not obliged to part with your money

Clearly the guy does a good job because many people support him.

Why persist with negativity? This does not effect you.

Cowards or Trolls hide behind anonymity.

[Bob Kuykendall]

Quoted for posterity, with full headers.

Bob K.

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Subject: Paul Remde / Cumulus Soaring - A man of integrity?

From: tphill...@gmail.com

Injection-Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 18:42:40 +0000

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable



Paul Remde / Cumulus Soaring =E2=80=93 A man of integrity?

=20

- Mr. Remde chose not to be governed by any of the crowd funding websites, =

such as Kickstarter.



- Mr. Remde created a long webpage promoting the crowd funding effort (we h=

ave a full copy) that spoke (first person) of Mr. Remde=E2=80=99s importanc=

e to the soaring community, integrity, etc.

=20

- Mr. Remde stated (on this website and in a YouTube video) that without me=

eting this goal, the business of Cumulus Soaring was unsustainable due to h=

igh debt interest.



- Mr. Remde placed prominent ads in soaring publications to promote his cro=

wd funding campaign.



- Mr. Remde moved his originally stated deadline of Sept 1st, 2014 back to =

Dec 1st, 2014 as he was only at 9% on his =E2=80=9Csuccess meter=E2=80=9D a=

t that point in time.

- On November 10th, Mr. Remde=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9Csuccess meter=E2=80=9D sho=

wed that he was at 14% of his =E2=80=9Cgoal.=E2=80=9D On November 11th, hi=

s =E2=80=9Csuccess meter=E2=80=9D jumped from 14% to 44% with a new =E2=80=

=9Cstated=E2=80=9D goal of $200,000. It is clear that Mr. Remde modified =

the definition of "success" from about $600,000 to $200,000 (a 66% reductio=

n in goal).



- Mr. Remde, last evening, removed all of these statements from his website=

and replaced them with a declaration of =E2=80=9Csuccess.=E2=80=9D

=20

- Mr. Remde also removed the video asking for support from his YouTube acco=

unt last evening. A video in which Mr. Remde states all of these requireme=

nts. Mr. Remde stated "do not send money until "the" goal has been reached=

." We have a copy of the video. To see that Mr. Remde's video is no longe=

r available on Mr. Remde's YouTube account, follow this link: https://www.=

youtube.com/user/premde/videos =20

Mr. Remde, why delete this video from your YouTube account last night?

- Now, despite Mr. Remde's previous statements, Mr. Remde declares "success=

" and asks his funders to pay even though Mr. Remde has only achieved $92,3=

48 of his original $600,000 goal, which he claimed was absolutely needed to=

reduce high interest payments and continue as a sustainable business. In =

fact, Mr. Remde today claims that he can now sustain his business for anoth=

er 10-20 years with that funding.

=20

- Yesterday, Mr. Remde=E2=80=99s goal was stated as $200,000. As of now, M=

r. Remde=E2=80=99s achieved funding is $92, 348.



Mr. Remde, I suggest you explain your statements and how you can now sustai=

n yourself for 10-20 years on $92,348 to the soaring community before claim=

ing this money.

=20

A Man of Integrity - =E2=80=A8I am far from perfect. But I have always stri=

ved to be extremely ethical and honest. I try very hard to always give hone=

st advice to customers - advice that is the best for the customer, not advi=

ce that pays me more. I have many times had customers complement me for poi=

nting out ways they could make their existing soaring instrument work bette=

r - rather than trying to force new, expensive instruments on them. My goal=

is to help customers in a straight-forward and honest way - pointing out a=

ll the pros and cons of several options. I do so because that is how I oper=

ate, and because hopefully it will encourage that customer to continue to b=

ring their business to me in the long run - and to encourage their friends =

to buy from me. In consider myself a servant. =E2=80=93 2014 Paul Remde/Cum=

ulus Soaring

[Paul Remde]

Hi,

Does anyone have a way to figure out who the person is who is making these
nasty posts? I'm not sure I want to know, but I'm curious. The "from"
shows "tphill...@gmail.com", but I have no idea if that means anything.

Paul

wrote in message
news:2731412c-b554-4d52...@googlegroups.com...

[te...@orbital.co]

Point one: Crowd founding is not defined by what web site it flows through. It is funding.by.a.group.of.supporters

Point two: If you don't know know Paul, shut up. You are commenting on a well loved neighbor, helper and friend you have never met.

Point three: Learn something about the soaring scene in the USA. Until then, shut up.

Point four: (and this is my anger talking) Shut up.

[Mike Hendron]

I teach business strategy for a living, so the Cumulus Soaring situation has been a fascinating to watch. I have also run my own consulting business, have my own business ventures, and am involved in many business analyses every year, so I can sympathize with the challenges Paul put forward in his original call for support. I'm also a customer of Cumulus Soaring, and have found reasonable value in the areas where I have made purchases. Paul offers great product information and insights on his website, and he seems to offer excellent technical information and support (although I don't have first-hand experience with that).
There are a lot of different business models that can be used (1) to obtain the capital necessary to start, grow and operate a business and (2) to be compensated by customers for value provided. I will admit that the "Friends of Cumulus" loans from customers, and the current "Mutual Support Memberships" are some of the more interesting approaches I have seen. It is unfortunate more traditional approaches have not been able to make this a viable, self-sustaining business, and that Paul still has had to deal with "high interest rate bank loans" (from the Friends of Cumulus page) after 12 years of operations. Hopefully these campaigns have helped (or will help) him get to the point where he can manage working capital (including inventory) with the normal profits and cash flows from the business for the life of the business (not just for 10-20 years). But it is a niche market, which creates a number of challenges to building a viable business at a reasonable scale. So, not having the details on the business, I'll just assume Paul is doing his best to manage it as well as he has can.
To Paul's credit, he is pretty transparent and open about who he is personally and professionally. This puts him in a league well above many entrepreneurs and most crowdfunding campaigns (another area I research). Simply being on Kickstarter provides almost no real justifiable credibility because there are few limits on who can solicit funds. And unlike Paul, often there is limited credible information about the entrepreneur's expertise, experience, or capabilities that make their project a worthwhile investment. And the "rewards" offered to "backers" have little guarantee of being delivered even if the money is collected. So, the crowdfunding "governance" alluded to by the original poster is pretty weak, and offers merely the illusion of legitimacy and safety in most cases. And there are strategic reasons why Paul's approach has been much smarter than some other generic crowdfunding campaign.
All that said, we as a community should value and respect the comments of the original poster, rather than to simply view it as a "troll" post (it doesn't fit that criteria in many ways) or as irrelevant because it could be interpreted as mean spirited. The title may be provocative (although the "a man of integrity" is a phrase promoted by Paul, so it is fair game), but it is on topic and relevant. Some thoughts:
- "tphill...@gmail.com" isn't really hiding anonymously. If he is, he is doing a poor job of it. I was able to figure out who made the post with less than 60 seconds of searching even with only a partial e-mail address. Sure, he didn't sign his name (which would have been more courageous, and I would still encourage him to do so in a future reply), but this day in age, that doesn't equate to anonymity.
- Paul, by going to a public discussion forum with a commercial solicitation, opened the process up for "discussion" of all types. Earlier posts questioning the appropriateness of the initial Aug. 20th solicitation for pledges (essentially prepaid services) on a public forum were legitimate as well (again, even if the tone was poor). In this case I'm not too worried about the overly commercial nature of the use of a public forum, since it is relevant to most in the group. But when you post on a public forum for your own interests you necessarily open yourself up for criticism. When you pick up one side of a coin, you pick up the other as well.
- The poster in this thread raised some important points of fact. They were points I also was wondering about as an observer of this effort. The questions about shifting statements and removal of information are legitimate points. I think it is helpful when the network of people in our community provides that important service of promoting accountability and clarity from those asking for our support and money. That transparency and open sharing of information in fact is what should give Cumulus "members" more confidence that they will get what is promised. A small, closely connected network (such as the soaring community) that raises questions and seeks openness, even when it is uncomfortable, is essential to reducing the likelihood that someone will pursue a fraudulent or questionable "scheme." And as uncomfortable as it maybe, it is important that questions come up in a public forum, or the mechanisms promoting honest and ethical business behavior don't work either.
- Paul has been generally professional and open in responding to legitimate questions and criticisms from what I have observed. He came across as a bit defensive and evasive in responding to this one... but as I look at the Cumulus website now it is at least open in acknowledging that things have changed in terms of objectives and goals (assuming those were not clearly acknowledged before). It wouldn't hurt to leave the initial video posted as an archive of the process to solicit customer support, but that is obviously a judgment call.
- All of that said, there are still risks that should be acknowledged in taking loans from customers (the old Cumulus program) and in collecting pre-payments for services (the new Cumulus program). The risks are largely borne by the customer, so "buyer-beware" applies as always. In many states these business practices are regulated because they put the customer at an elevated level of risk. I'll assume Paul has done the necessary "t" crossing and "i" dotting here. But again, the buyer can only really "beware" if there is transparency in the market. Mr. "tphill...@gmail.com" has provided a useful service in that regard, even if you don't like the questions raised or the tone used.
I would hope this discussion board can continue to tolerate open sharing of information of all types without trying to shut down or shut up those who may be perceived as critics. All happy-talk, all the time, doesn't move the world forward much, if at all.
Regards,
Mike Hendron

[Kevin Christner]

A few thoughts:

Crowdfunding standards: Kickstarter requires you to meet your entire goal. Indiegogo does not. So Paul certainly followed the Indiegogo standard, if you want to say that Crowdfunding has standards.

Second, its a free market. If you don't want to contribute, you don't have to.

Finally, one might think these sour grapes are coming from someone who has a financial interest is seeing Paul fail. Since he's not going out of business they have a lot to lose. Now its time to impune his character in a cynical attempt to win business.

2C

On Wednesday, November 19, 2014 1:42:42 PM UTC-5, tphill...@gmail.com wrote:

[Darryl Ramm]

I hope this anonymous coward gets DOXed...

The IP address in this case is 98.250.193.7 which *likely* puts them somewhere in the Royal Oak MI area. http://www.infosniper.net/index.php?ip_address=98.250.193.7&map_source=1&overview_map=1&lang=1&map_type=1&zoom_level=7

So Paul, you got any disgruntled customers (should be a short list to think though) or folks who just don't like you in that area?

The posting email address "tphill...@gmail.com" could be entirely created for just posting this abuse and have no relation to anybody "T. Philip". Since there are no other posts with that email address I would suspect that is the case.

[Kevin Christner]

And checking the SSA database we have one member in Royal Oak, MI.

Wait for it....

Wait for it...

Have you guessed yet?...

Sean Fidler.

Hi Sean hope you are having a nice night now.

[Darryl Ramm]

I suspect we have a winner.

And recent posts by Sean Fidler share the same posting-host IP address, which is likely a dynamically assigned IP address of a Comcast Internet subscriber used in that close by area.

[Paul Remde]

Hi,

Thank you Kevin and Darryl.

All I can think of to say is, "wow".

I don't understand the attacks.

I would have gladly answered the questions if they had been asked nicely
with a name attached.

I'm shocked and saddened. I sincerely thought Sean was a friend.

Paul Remde
_________________________________

"Kevin Christner" wrote in message
news:55d51132-c07c-4c3e...@googlegroups.com...

[Bob Whelan]

On 11/20/2014 4:28 PM, Kevin Christner wrote:
> And checking the SSA database we have one member in Royal Oak, MI.
>

For the record, 5 names (including the referenced one) came back when I
searched "Royal Oak" and "MI".

I don't have a dog in this fight - it does sadden me it began at all - but I'd
like to compliment Mike Hendron for his comprehensive, even-handed summary
elsewhere in this thread...

Bob W.

[Andrzej Kobus]

So Kevin, why did you not mention the other 5 names in the SSA database? It looks you have your own agenda.

Andrzej

[Andrzej Kobus]

Correction the other 4 names.

[Mike Hendron]

Just going of an IP address is pretty sketchy, but "identifying" an alleged poster completely misses the point (whether you get the name right or wrong).

As I pointed out in my post above, it is fair to raise questions about business practices (even if they are raised anonymously) when that business seeks to solicit support through an open discussion forum.

If you don't think the poster is nice, and you don't have a name, it would still be a mark of professionalism to respond to those questions which can be deemed valid.

Taking the high road goes much farther than a mob mentality of "get the mean guy."

Thanks for the vote of confidence Bob.

Mike Hendron

[Kevin Christner]

Andrzej,

You are right. Ironically I actually first searched for Sean Fidler because I knew he lived in that area. When I tried to cross reference Royal Oak it appears either I or the SSA website got something wrong because he was the only one that turned up at the time.

That being said, I think we have arrived at a conclusion "beyond a reasonable doubt."

Best,

Kevin

On Thursday, November 20, 2014 7:55:05 PM UTC-5, Andrzej Kobus wrote:

[Andrzej Kobus]

Kevin, if you worked for me and you told me that you arrived at a conclusion "beyond reasonable doubt" based on what is posted here I would say find yourself another job.

Please don't make judgment without having clear evidence. It will not serve you well either in private life nor in professional life.

Regards, Andrzej

[Paul Remde]

Hi Mike,

I appreciate the thought that went into the note below.

I will do my best to answer a your questions.

The old "Cumulus Soaring, Inc. Needs Your Help" web site is now available
again for anyone to see. I don't plan to link to the page from my web site
because it is old and does not reflect the current state of my business. I
took it down because I didn't think anyone would want to see it. I wasn't
trying to hide anything. The new page contains the current data. Nothing
has changed in regard to the benefits of membership - other than that I have
added a few additional benefits - as described on the new page.

The old web page is available here:
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/membership-old.htm

The new (current) web page is here:
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/membership.htm

I took down the video because I didn't want it to be available any longer.
I didn't want anyone to stumble upon it months from now and think my
business was still in a tough spot - which is not the case. I'm sure that
would happen if the video was still available on YouTube. I'm often amazed
at how old data can be found if it is not removed. Also, the video only
re-states what was on the web site - which is again available using the link
above.

I am extremely thankful to everyone who pledged their support. What a great
community of soaring pilots we have! I can't begin to express my great
appreciation to everyone who helped.

There have been other changes in my business funding which have helped me
reduce my bank debt. They made it possible for me to be certain I can go
forward - even though the goal has not yet been reached. I haven't
mentioned those changes in public because they are private. I'll be glad to
discuss them over the phone if necessary, but I'd rather not. The
information on the web site is absolutely honest and correct. I sincerely
needed the help of the soaring community and I was overwhelmed by the
positive support I received. I could not have gone forward with the
business without the support I received from the soaring community. As
stated on the web site, I don't yet have all the bank debt taken care of, so
the Mutual Support Memberships will remain available. I don't have any
plans to stop selling them at any time - even if the stated goal is reached.
If, eventually, the goal is reached, then I will share my appreciation by
offering a one-time additional discount to all members. I sincerely feel
that the memberships have value - making the memberships a win-win deal.
Only customers who trust that I will deliver on what I promise will buy
memberships. It appears that many glider pilots do trust me - which is very
gratifying.

I have put hundreds of thousands of dollars of my own money into the
business. I am not getting rich doing this. I love my job, but not the
pay.

All the money received from the soaring community is being used to reduce
bank debt. None is being used for any other purpose.

The discussion of whether or not this was a "crowdfunding" situation or not
doesn't matter to me. I don't understand why it is important. I decided
not to use any crowdfunding web sites because they charged too much and
didn't fit well with what I was trying to do. If I used the term
crowdfunding, it was only because my pledge drive was somewhat similar to a
crowdfunding campaign. How the pledge drive worked was clearly explained on
the web site.

I think that answers all or most of the questions. I'm willing to answer
more if I missed any.

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

____________________________________________

"Mike Hendron" wrote in message
news:7c6c42e9-5b45-4e6d...@googlegroups.com...

[MNLou]

Sorry gents -

I think a public lynching of Sean Fidler, without further evidence (like a post from him, more IT forensic evidence, etc.), is equally as distasteful as the original post that started this thread.

Sean may or may not have been the original poster.

If Sean admits he was the original poster or if someone finds irrefutable evidence that he was, by all means, pile on. If he was the original poster, I personally wish he would have dealt with his beef with Paul privately. (And maybe he did.)

Sean did make a pledge to Paul when Paul started the process, as he posted on this group. I assume that was a sincere pledge.

If Sean wasn't the original poster, he is definitely owed an apology.

It is no surprise to anyone that Sean can be direct and provocative. (I'm sure others might use different terminology.) Even so, until we get any further information, we are simply speculating.

Lou

- Full disclosure - I sent in my pledge money to Paul yesterday.

[Darryl Ramm]

DOXing an anonymous coward is often not hard, this was really not even a
competent attempt to hide on the Internet. If you want to throw mud at
folks then at least have the decency to come out and just ask the
questions without hiding. Or you know if things worry you then have some
integrity yourself and pick up the phone and call the person directly.

I would not call somebody out unless I was very confident of being
correct. And I have a pretty good idea of how USENET works and this was
child's play...

Of approximately 5,600 recent posts on r.a.s that I just grabbed to look
at...

116 of those posts have a NNTP-Posting-Host header IP of 98.250.193.7 As
mentioned that IP address belongs to a Comcast Cable client in the Royal

Oak MI area.
http://www.infosniper.net/index.php?ip_address=98.250.193.7&map_source=1&overview_map=1&lang=1&map_type=1&zoom_level=7

111 of those were posted with a From header of "Sean Fidler
<smfi...@gmail.com>"

The 5 others posts with that IP address but not from "Sean Fidler
<smfi...@gmail.com>" are -

"Paul Remde _ Cumulus Soaring - A man of integrity?" -
tphill...@gmail.com - 2014-11-19
"Re_ 2015 SSA Contest Selection" - flytr...@gmail.com - 2014-09-29
"Re_ Cumulus Soaring Pledge Drive Results - Success!!!" -
ecartm...@gmail.com - 2014-11-19
"Re_ Paul Remde _ Cumulus Soaring - A man of integrity?" -
tphill...@gmail.com - 2014-11-20
"Wings & Wheels fundraiser for US Junior Team" - Tiffany
<tiffany...@gmail.com> - 2014-08-23

Of those posts Tifanny Miller is Sean Fidler's wide and makes sense she
posts from the same IP address/Comcast home cable service.
flytr...@gmail.com is a email address that has been around for a while
and if you look at old posts on USENET apparently belongs to Sean Fidler.

ecartm...@gmail.com and tphill...@gmail.com appear to be Gmail
accounts created to attempts to anonymously post on r.a.s.-- both to
attack Paul Remde.

I have no dog in this fight, I have helped Paul out in the past with
Transponder and Flarm related info, some of which is on his web site. I
brought a few things from him in the distant past. I have not followed
his fundraising efforts or helped fund Cumulus Soaring myself and have
no interest in doing so. It is simply that this sort of anonymous coward
attacks on any forum need to be stopped.

All this is easy to look at for anybody interested, you need access to
the USENET headers. There are lots of ways to get these, simplest is to
just grab a whole raft of posts off a NNTP server then massage them with
your favorite text processor program.

[david....@gmail.com]

On Thursday, November 20, 2014 8:52:58 PM UTC-8, Darryl Ramm wrote:
> DOXing an anonymous coward is often not hard, this was really not even a
> competent attempt to hide on the Internet. If you want to throw mud at
> folks then at least have the decency to come out and just ask the
> questions without hiding. Or you know if things worry you then have some
> integrity yourself and pick up the phone and call the person directly.
>
> I would not call somebody out unless I was very confident of being
> correct. And I have a pretty good idea of how USENET works and this was
> child's play...
>
> Of approximately 5,600 recent posts on r.a.s that I just grabbed to look
> at...
>

>..........

>
> I have no dog in this fight, I have helped Paul out in the past with
> Transponder and Flarm related info, some of which is on his web site. I
> brought a few things from him in the distant past. I have not followed
> his fundraising efforts or helped fund Cumulus Soaring myself and have
> no interest in doing so. It is simply that this sort of anonymous coward
> attacks on any forum need to be stopped.
>
> All this is easy to look at for anybody interested, you need access to
> the USENET headers. There are lots of ways to get these, simplest is to
> just grab a whole raft of posts off a NNTP server then massage them with
> your favorite text processor program.

Just wanted to point out - in case it went unnoticed - that on Nov 13 (just a week ago), on the following RAS thread - on the same subject, Sean congratulates Paul and Paul thanks Sean for his support. Hope the link works.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.aviation.soaring/We1RwUZ4zdw

David

[Darryl Ramm]

Certainly not unnoticed by me. But Google Groups NNTP-Posting-Host IP header addresses don't lie (and cannot be faked unless (in this case) you get inside Google's infrastructure)... they are there to help stop spam and this kind of crap. And then he creates two fictitious email accounts and post negative things on the same topic. Are there three voices all talking in his head at once? I'd imagine it gets kinda crowded in there...

[Andrzej Kobus]

Darryl, are you sure the other names in the area are not using Comcast services? What if this was posted by another member who does not post often or not at all until this time? Can you honestly say this beyond a reasonable doubt? I don't think it is unless you have the person's IP address and physical location which you don't have, correct?

Andrzej

[Darryl Ramm]

On Friday, November 21, 2014 3:44:51 AM UTC-8, Andrzej Kobus wrote:
/sbip/

> Darryl, are you sure the other names in the area are not using Comcast services? What if this was posted by another member who does not post often or not at all until this time? Can you honestly say this beyond a reasonable doubt? I don't think it is unless you have the person's IP address and physical location which you don't have, correct?
>
> Andrzej

I already stated this is beyond doubt.

The evidence here is bloody obvious. This has nothing to do with which SSA members might live in the same area. This is simple correlation of NNTP-Posting-Host IP address that shows the same Comcast customer posted all these posts. I gave you the simple summary of the data, if you don't want to believe that go check it yourself.

And other analysis (which I am not going to spell out in public to give anonymous cowards clues how to hide) confirm this was the same person/Comcast customer posting.

And when I did this quick analysis of r.a.s. posts there are a few other cases of folks (not Sean) posting in contentious threads that seem to be the same poster hiding behind different posting names. But nothing that rose to the disgusting level of the post that started this thread. Hopefully this is a warning that you can be easily discovered and maybe time for them to knock it off and be man enough to say what they want to say without hiding.

[Andrzej Kobus]

So how do we know that the IP address is of the client and not the comcast NNTP server? It could be either.

[Darryl Ramm]

On Friday, November 21, 2014 12:18:00 PM UTC-8, Andrzej Kobus wrote:
> On Friday, November 21, 2014 11:02:23 AM UTC-5, Darryl Ramm wrote:

> So how do we know that the IP address is of the client and not the comcast NNTP server? It could be either.

Comcast does not have an "NNTP server" involved anywhere in posting a message to Google Groups. Google does. The Google servers that you connect to post a Google Groups message record the IP address or the client web browser when you make a post. That is the NNTP-Posting-Host address. If your web-browser is behind a NAT proxy that proxy IP address (aka your Comcast address in this case) will be recorded as the posting-host. Anybody knowledgeable at all with USENET can rattle off the relevant RFCs and ad-hoc use of these posting-host fields, but more importantly if you are at all technical, just go look at the header fields, it's plain text. Go look at the headers of your own posts, etc. and see exactly what is recorded.

I'm not going to answer anymore or these confused questions, you either have enough basic technical understanding to know this its obvious or not or you need to accept from others that is is.

[Mike Hendron]

Paul,

Thanks for the additional clarifications. I think this is helpful and constructive. I do have further questions, but I'll take those offline.

Cheers,
Mike

[Andrzej Kobus]

Well, I did not take a look a the header and I don't have as much time as you do. The specification for the NNTP-Posting-Host field gives either the local usenet serever or client IP address. If no local server was involved then you are right as it is unlikely that the IP address could be spoofed.

Man you are a bit arrogant. I should perhaps remind you about another discussion a few years ago on PowerFlarm subject how how your prediction came true...

You are right no need to continue this.

[Darryl Ramm]

I realized what is possibly confusing here. The header refers to a "host" this is just historical baggage when these fields were originally named that dates back to minicomputers running usenet where users logged into those hosts from dumb terminals. I was managing a microVAX USENET server when NNTP protocol started to be adopted... which dates me.

I have no idea what PowerFLARM stuff you are talking about. I strongly support adoption of PowerFLARM technology and gave been pretty happy with its adoption in the USA. But this is not the time or place.

[Dave Nadler]

On Friday, November 21, 2014 9:13:27 PM UTC-5, Darryl Ramm wrote:
> ...I was managing a microVAX USENET server when NNTP protocol started

>to be adopted... which dates me.

You're F'ing old Darryl!
Sadly, not as old as me (who was on ArpaNet node < 20)...

[Brad]

I wonder if there are power-nerd discussions on para-glider and hang-glider new groups?

Brad

[Glidergeek]

I find all of this pretty disgusting, all the way from Paul's first post through the last post. I take that back there is some constructive in there but not much. The man took a hobby turned it into a dream, try to make a business out of it and can't make a profit enough to pay his bills and now is groveling for donations to keep it alive. Should've kept your day job.
Russ
70.209.231.37

[Alexander Georgas]

On 22/11/2014 04:53, Glidergeek wrote:
Should've kept your day job.

> Russ
> 70.209.231.37
>

Well, maybe for his own self-interest, but for us it is indeed a very
positive thing that he didn't.

Gliding is a niche sport and there will probably never be enough glider
pilots to make anyone coming into this business rich. Yet we depend on
very sophisticated equipment to practice our sports, from specialized
avionics to hight performance aircraft to dedicated labor-intensive
infrastructure to get us aloft.

It is only the passion of people who submit to their love for soaring
and dedicate their life to it that makes our sport even possible.

Alexander

[HGXC]

worse!

Dennis

[Dave Nadler]

On Saturday, November 22, 2014 5:58:25 AM UTC-5, Alexander Georgas wrote:
> Gliding is a niche sport and there will probably never be enough glider
> pilots to make anyone coming into this business rich. Yet we depend on
> very sophisticated equipment to practice our sports, from specialized
> avionics to hight performance aircraft to dedicated labor-intensive
> infrastructure to get us aloft.
>
> It is only the passion of people who submit to their love for soaring
> and dedicate their life to it that makes our sport even possible.
>
> Alexander

Well said Alexander, Thanks.

[chip.b...@gmail.com]

Sorry for posting late but I just stumbled across this thread. Several people have mentioned something that deserves a bit more thought. I've done business with Paul Remde in the past and always found him to be helpful and ethical. For sure, his Cumulus Soaring Web site is a wonderful resource for information about soaring equipment and software.

Paul's stated hope/assumption has been that pilots who valued this information would choose to do business with him rather than with his many competitors. It's fascinating how so many equipment suppliers and distributors compete for such a tiny market. Back in the day (I started soaring in 1965), there were really only two "big" full-line soaring suppliers in this country, Thomson-Wessel and Rainco, both run by very active competitive soaring pilots (or their wives, in the case of Helen Thomson). The number of vendors of soaring-specific varios, radios, and other gear was pretty small, too. Today, I don't know how many competitors exist but it's far more, IMHO, than the market can arguably support long term on an economic basis.

Therein lies the challenge. Some current competitors seem to be primarily in what I refer to as a "lifestyle" business; i.e., one that is run for fun, for love of the sport, for the tax benefits available to write off otherwise hobbyist expenses related to operating a gliderport or attending contests, and in general for reasons other than making a profit. And that probably includes folks on the software side who are giving it away in the form of freeware/shareware.

That's great for them. They obviously derive some benefit and it's good for me in the short run. It's not so great for those who are actually trying to make a living. It's a fact that in business, the most dangerous competitors are often what I refer to (for want of a better term) as the "stupid" competitor: i.e., one who stubbornly prices below the level sufficient to maintain a reasonable return on investment and thereby poisons the market for everyone else. It's not sustainable long term. But until such competitors are finally forced out of business, they can make life miserable for everyone else.

This is more than just bricks-and-mortar retailers who complain that consumers visit their stores to inspect/size merchandise and then buy it from an online etailer at a lower price. In this case, all of the major competitors go to market about the same way. Some apparently just choose to chase what volume is there by reducing their margins below the point where they can generate sufficient profit and cash flow to support their businesses.

I'm not saying Paul is stupid. Or that he's any less entitled to compete than, say, Wings & Wheels or Craggy Aero. But he's apparently been unable to make a go of it using his former business model of offering a lot of information and support in exchange for business. So he's embarked on a different strategy of tying the benefits of doing business with him more explicitly to funding. If it works, more power to him. But nothing comes for free. The impact of keeping him in business will fall on his competitors, who have to be rolling their eyes and gnashing their teeth at his latest moves.

It will be interesting to watch as this plays out. The story is not over yet, by far. FWIW, I also welcomed Mike Hendron's well-reasoned comments. Transparency helps avoid behind-the-back sniping.

Yes, we're all participants in a sport. But some are also in it as a business or livelihood. I don't envy those who endeavor to do both.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

[kru...@sbcglobal.net]

On Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 10:42:42 AM UTC-8, tphill...@gmail.com wrote:
> Paul Remde / Cumulus Soaring – A man of integrity?
>
> - Mr. Remde chose not to be governed by any of the crowd funding websites, such as Kickstarter.
>
> - Mr. Remde created a long webpage promoting the crowd funding effort (we have a full copy) that spoke (first person) of Mr. Remde’s importance to the soaring community, integrity, etc.
>
> - Mr. Remde stated (on this website and in a YouTube video) that without meeting this goal, the business of Cumulus Soaring was unsustainable due to high debt interest.
>
> - Mr. Remde placed prominent ads in soaring publications to promote his crowd funding campaign.
>
> - Mr. Remde moved his originally stated deadline of Sept 1st, 2014 back to Dec 1st, 2014 as he was only at 9% on his “success meter” at that point in time.
>
> - On November 10th, Mr. Remde’s “success meter” showed that he was at 14% of his “goal.” On November 11th, his “success meter” jumped from 14% to 44% with a new “stated” goal of $200,000. It is clear that Mr. Remde modified the definition of "success" from about $600,000 to $200,000 (a 66% reduction in goal).
>
> - Mr. Remde, last evening, removed all of these statements from his website and replaced them with a declaration of “success.”
>
> - Mr. Remde also removed the video asking for support from his YouTube account last evening. A video in which Mr. Remde states all of these requirements. Mr. Remde stated "do not send money until "the" goal has been reached." We have a copy of the video. To see that Mr. Remde's video is no longer available on Mr. Remde's YouTube account, follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/user/premde/videos
>
> Mr. Remde, why delete this video from your YouTube account last night?
>
> - Now, despite Mr. Remde's previous statements, Mr. Remde declares "success" and asks his funders to pay even though Mr. Remde has only achieved $92,348 of his original $600,000 goal, which he claimed was absolutely needed to reduce high interest payments and continue as a sustainable business. In fact, Mr. Remde today claims that he can now sustain his business for another 10-20 years with that funding.
>
> - Yesterday, Mr. Remde’s goal was stated as $200,000. As of now, Mr. Remde’s achieved funding is $92, 348.
>
> Mr. Remde, I suggest you explain your statements and how you can now sustain yourself for 10-20 years on $92,348 to the soaring community before claiming this money.
>
> A Man of Integrity - 
I am far from perfect. But I have always strived to be extremely ethical and honest. I try very hard to always give honest advice to customers - advice that is the best for the customer, not advice that pays me more. I have many times had customers complement me for pointing out ways they could make their existing soaring instrument work better - rather than trying to force new, expensive instruments on them. My goal is to help customers in a straight-forward and honest way - pointing out all the pros and cons of several options. I do so because that is how I operate, and because hopefully it will encourage that customer to continue to bring their business to me in the long run - and to encourage their friends to buy from me. In consider myself a servant. – 2014 Paul Remde/Cumulus Soaring

I have to ask myself why someone would trash a guy like Paul Remde. I did not contribute to his crowd funding but I am a customer of his. I've purchased many items from his company Cumulus Soaring and have spoken to him via email on several occasions. He is honest, professional and very knowledgable in all things soaring. He is GOOD for Soaring. He deserves a chance to make a living in Soaring.
Finally, if you have a bone to pick with Paul, give him a call; don't drag his name and reputation into the gutter on this forum...it's boring

[danlj]

I understand the explanation for the concerns -- I want to say that in the decade+ that I've been Paul's occasional customer, I've come to trust him. I contributed $1k to his campaign because I value him as a good person, not for the discounts. In October, I asked him what his contingency plans were in case he didn't meet his goal. He had a well thought-out answer. The goal changes detailed above are consistent with the contingencies he described.

My overall impression is that he is a man of discipline, honor, and integrity - and this does mean he won't pretend to agree with us just to make us happy.