John is 100% correct on all counts. Let's stop all the useless Monday morning quarterbacking ( without knowing all the facts) and wish Jason the best in getting this resolved.

Ross Rowland

So:

If we shut up for now, are we allowed to mention the fact if, say, more suits are filed?

Are we allowed to discuss the ramifications if and when a judgment or settlement is reached, or the bills paid and suit(s) dropped?

Would we be allowed to discuss, now or later, any publicly-revealed or apparent information about the business model of this Festival, and/or past such Festivals, NRHS Conventions, etc.?

Much as I dislike navel-gazing introspection or cannibalism, we can't learn from mistakes (if, indeed, any were actually made in this case) if we DON'T do post-mortems and "Monday morning quarterbacking."

There's a fine line, however, between squashing rumor-mongering and speculation and squashing all "nattering negativity." I'm currently reading James Randi's Flim-Flam!: Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions; one of the things you learn rather quickly in skepticism is that "dismissing negativity" is a common practice, excuse, or crutch of charlatans and frauds--"I can't work with all this negative energy about...." (Translation: "negative energy" = a master illusionist trained in every possible deceptive sleight-of-hand or fraud technique.)

We need to know, for the sake of our collective efforts at getting anywhere beyond "playing with our toys in our backyard," whether this is simply an aberration or a systemic problem, and if the latter, how we collectively deal with it. (Cue the Franklin "hang together/hang separately" line....) We can cease idle speculation on the specifics of TrainFestival 2011, but not the entire scene.

Without further comment, I accede to Mr. Rimmasch's request. Everything that needs to be said has been, and further comments would, in my opinion be counterproductive. Let's not restart this thread, okay?