It's been my experience that while Bob and his reps truly believe in, and have pride in, their products, these folks are not zealots nor cliquey, as some might have us believe.

Since the BVM reps are frequently among the best jet pilots around (in the US, at least), these guys are regularly singled out by newbies or less experienced pilots for help in flying their latest creation, no matter who manufactured that creation. I've yet to hear any of the reps commenting after such a test flight "This is crap - you should have bought BVM products". Instead, they are cordial, helpful, and sometimes even a bit envious... I heard one rep say about another manufacturer's F16 "What a beautiful flying airplane - the bigger size (compared to the BVM model) really helps it - wonder if we can get Uncle Bob to make a bigger version?"

I think it's not the official BVM folks, but rather some of us customers, who might possibly be helping create an appearance of an "us and them" division, and I think there are at least 2 main reasons:

1) The convert. No "bash" intended against born again Christians here ... but for anyone who knows someone who has just newly become a born again Christian - well - while we don't deny them the right to their beliefs, these folk are just a tad over the top at times, since some of them can't seem to talk about anything else. So much so, that on more than one occasion I've heard people make comments like "Hmmm... if I take up the occult, do you think that would be enough to make Fred stop talking to me about how much better his life is than mine?". Now maybe - just maybe - some of us folk who truly appreciate the quality of the BVM products we buy, are just a bit too effusive, and come across as the same kind of convert. If so, we are actually doing BV a dis-service, not a favor.

2) Defensiveness. Let's face it - BVM kits do cost more than some others. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who simply can not justify spending the kind of money that a BV product requires. Most such people (in my experience) just accept that fact, but some unfortunately can't accept it, and feel the need to harass people who can afford them with deliberatley demeaning comments about dumb rich people spending much more than the kit is worth. That kind of comment is generally intended and virtually gauranteed to cause a defensive response that is an over-reaction, such that instead of just responding with "Well - I find it to be worth the money - but I understand that you might not, so good luck with whatever kit you do buy", you're bound to get a number of "Oh yeah - well BV kits are the only kits that are worth anything - everything else is pure crap." kind of replies.

So - after that long rambling post, lemme conclude with some suggestions on how we can perhaps reduce some of these tensions in future:

• If you own a BVM product and are happy with it - tell other folk about it, but don't overdo it to the point where you turn folk away.
  
• If you can't afford a BVM product, don't begrude those who can, and don't attack people for spending their money in a way that they are happy with.
  
• If you own a BVM product and someone harasses you about being dumb for spending so much money - recognise the outburt for what it really is, and also recognise that your response will be much more effective if it's a calm, logical reponse to an illogical attack, than if you fall for their bait and over-react.

Anyway - since this kind of discussion has popped up in various threads lately, it's clearly something that's been on a lot of people's minds. Consequently, we've allowed a lot of lattitude in letting you get some of it out of your system. That said, I think this topic has been worn out now. I'm gonna leave this thread open for a little while, just so that it doesn't look like I'm trying to get the last word - but when I return from the flying field today I will close the thread if it seems like its still going down the same repetitive bickering path that it has for the last day or two.

Regards,
Gordon

P.S. ALthough I used a quote from Scott's post to start this one, my comments above are a response to the thread in general, not to Scott's post.