[Bob Kuczewski]

Joe Faust has been wronged and harmed by his separation from a large part of the hang gliding community that exists on hanggliding.org.

This topic will document those who are directly responsible and those who stood by and watched.

All members of the U.S. Hawks are welcome to post in this blog.

[Bob Kuczewski]

I can not and will not sit silently and watch members of the hang gliding community bully another member of this community. Some things are even more important than our love of flight ... and the dignity of the human spirit is one of them.

What Jack Axaopoulos has done to Joe Faust is shameful. But Jack Axaopoulos didn't act alone. Every member of hanggliding.org who has a voice and doesn't continually use it is an ongoing participant. I will endeavor to name them all in this topic. Anyone who wants to list excuses for their silence is welcome to do so, but in my opinion there is no excuse.

The list begins ...

    Jack Axaopoulos ("sg")
    Doug Marley ("DMarley")
    John Borton ("BubbleBoy")
    Mark G. Forbes ("mgforbes")

This is the full list of screen names (and known names) of those who participated in the topic where Joe Faust was banned. The names are listed in order of appearance in that topic.

    joefaust (Joe Faust)
    Paul H
    miraclepieco
    NMERider (Jonathan Dietch)
    once&future
    DMarley (Doug Marley)
    hgflying
    joefaust
    Paul H
    joefaust
    miraclepieco
    magentabluesky (Michael Grisham)
    Roadrunner71
    Paul H
    joefaust
    DMarley
    magentabluesky
    joefaust
    hgflying
    joefaust
    DMarley
    joefaust
    BubbleBoy (John Borton)
    joefaust
    BubbleBoy
    joefaust
    DMarley
    joefaust
    DMarley
    BubbleBoy
    sg (Jack Axaopoulos)
    DMarley
    joefaust
    BubbleBoy
    sg (Jack Axaopoulos)
    joefaust
    blindrodie (Jim Gaar)
    BubbleBoy
    DMarley
    joefaust
    sg (Jack Axaopoulos)
    mgforbes (Mark Forbes)
    sg (Jack Axaopoulos)

I personally solicited the following people for their help:

    Frank Colver
    Tom "Red" Howard
    Michael Grisham

The text of the original hanggliding.org topic is available in the "Basement" at hangliding.org.

Moderators Notes:

The text of the original hanggliding.org posts are still publicly available here:
        https://ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3773

This topic was originally posted in the "Hang Gliding General" forum, but has been moved to the "Blog Forum" at the request of the original poster (myself). As is customary with such topic moves, a link to this topic remains in the original forum so it can be found by anyone who might continue to look in that location. Such links do not rise to the top of their original forum when the actual topic is updated and will gradually sink in that original forum.

To be compliant with the Blog Forum rules, the original poster (myself) should state the rules for others posting:

All members of the U.S. Hawks are welcome to post in this blog.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Jack Axaopoulos

Jack Axaopoulos is the operator of hanggliding.org and uses the screen name "sg". Jack Axaopoulos has created a culture of fear on hanggliding.org and he is the person who actually banned Joe Faust. Jack Axaopoulos has been decimating the hang gliding community for many years with his abusive banning and he is responsible for the weak state of that community in dealing with the money interests who dominate USHPA.

[Frank Colver]

Please be sure you know what you don't know, before you start listing names.

Frank

[Bob Kuczewski]

Please be sure you let me know what you think I should know as soon as you know it.

None of us are getting any younger, and this insult has gone on far too long already.

Please be sure you know what you don't know, before you start listing names.

Frank

[Bob Kuczewski]

Doug Marley

The hanggliding.org user with the screen name "DMarley" constantly badgered Joe Faust throughout the USHGRS topic.

Joe, dude.... I thought that you had some class. I was WRONG! You are devoid of class. Absolutely Zero class. You have ZERO professionalism. What kind of moron would stoop to such depths as to forcefully add a person who has absolutely zero desire to be on a meaningless, fictitious club's list?!?
Why would ANYONE other than your little band of ZERO cohorts, want to be associated with you in any way? 
No wonder you have to steal names to add to your pitiful, deceitful list.

Joe's list is not a club. USHGRS provides an objective assessment of a pilot's rating level in the same way that Standard and Poor's rates stocks, bonds, and commodities. No one "joins" Standard and Poor's list and no one "unjoins" it either. The same is true of USHGRS.

Doug Marley (possibly working in concert with Jack Axaopoulos) badgered Joe continually with personal attacks. Doug Marley should have been moderated for his personal attacks, but Jack Axaopoulos allowed him to continue. Eventually Jack used Doug Marley's outrage as part of Jack's excuse ("agitating people here") to ban Joe. To this date, Doug Marley has not apologized for his actions, and he has not called for the reversal of Joe's ban. For all these actions Doug Marley deserves the second position in this hall of shame.

[Bill Cummings]

I don’t think I have posted anything on hgdotorg since I joined US Hawks Hang Gliding Association.
I did follow sg’s website when links were posted to it on the Hawks website.
When signing in was required to view a picture or whatever I left without sighing in.
In light of sg changing posts made by other members I deemed sg dishonorable.
I was surprised that Joe F. would open himself up to the inherent abuse prevalent at sg’s website.
Joe hasn’t done what has been posted at that deplorable website. Joe surely knew that
pilots trapped in the paradigm of thinking spawned at the USHPA wouldn’t recognize the separation
between his rating system and the Hawks.
Pilots convinced against their will are of the same opinion
still.

[Bob Kuczewski]

John Borton ("BubbleBoy")

John Borton has been around long enough to know the rich history of flight that Joe Faust has given us. But John Borton threw gasoline on the fire started by Doug Marley. Here's one of John Borton's posts (note that this was captured after Jack Axaopoulos had changed all the USHGRS references to "fakeilst.torreyhawksforum.org"):

RE: FAKEILST.TORREYHAWKSFORUM.ORG

By BubbleBoy

-  Thu Sep 13, 2018 2:41 pm

Each time the fakeilst.torreyhawksforum.org is brought up I'm going to do that organization an favor. I'm going to remind those responsible to do the absolute best thing they could do for the promotion of their cause:

Please post a list of all HG flying sites in the US that have a requirement for pilots to hold ratings/certifications that now accept fakeilst.torreyhawksforum.org ratings in lieu of the ratings previously required. Watching this list 'grow' (hahaha) will be both a measure of your actual progress/success and extremely helpful to pilots. (cue the moronic 'helpful to who and how?' crap from Red)

You want to do your organization some good? -- THAT'S the list that is important, not some fake BS list of 'rated' pilots (dead and alive, but not actually participating).

This has been a public service announcement/request

JB

John Borton also played a role in destroying the HGAA that several of us had founded back in 2010. Scott Wise had been unanimously elected to chair the HGAA Transition Team, and Scott generously made John Borton his backup. But when Scott was gone for just a few days, Borton stepped in and began wreaking havoc on the team. He abused his administrative power and eventually soured everyone on the effort. USHPA couldn't have asked for a better saboteur of the HGAA (except maybe Jack Axaopoulos).

It's quite fitting that John Borton be forever associated with this dark page in hang gliding history.

[Bob Kuczewski]

I don’t think I have posted anything on hgdotorg since I joined US Hawks Hang Gliding Association.

Maybe it's time to speak up for Joe Faust over there? What do you have to lose?   

I was surprised that Joe F. would open himself up to the inherent abuse prevalent at sg’s website.

Joe stepped knowingly into the cross hairs of Jack Axaopoulos because Joe wanted to accomplish something great for the sport of hang gliding. Joe went into the lion's den to spread the good word about USHGRS. Jack tried to bait Joe into arguments, but Joe stayed calm and on point. Jack banned him anyway as most watched silently from the sidelines.

Joe hasn’t done what has been posted at that deplorable website.

Amen to that, Bill.  

[Bob Kuczewski]

Mark G. Forbes ("mgforbes")

Mark G. Forbes ("mgforbes") may be the single rottenest apple in the USHPA barrel. Mark Forbes keeps his fingers in all of USHPA's power and money committees. Insurance committee chairman: forever. USHPA Treasurer: forever. Executive Committee: forever. A year ago in 2017 Mark Forbes couldn't even win his own Regional Director election, so his cronies on the USHPA Board made him an unelected "Director at Large". He continues to control USHPA's power and money to this day.

It is disgusting to see Mark Forbes pile on to the banning of Joe Faust. But it's not surprising. Joe Faust has always put love of flight first. All of Joe's works have reflected his purity of purpose. Mark Forbes has always put power and money first. For nearly half a century Joe Faust has been true to his principles, and yet Mark Forbes had the audacity to compare Joe to a chameleon:

Joe ... reminds me of a chameleon placed on a plaid tartan ...

Disgusting.

Now look at the timing of Mark's post in the context of the topic. Jack Axaopoulos had given Joe a warning trying to bait Joe into a reply. But Joe said nothing. At 4:03 pm Mark Forbes posted his screed. At 4:31pm Jack banned Joe and locked the topic. Coincidence? Not a chance. Mark Forbes weighed in and Jack not only gave him the last word, but banned Joe ... even though Joe hadn't uttered another keystroke since Jack's "warning".

Mark Forbes went on to make slanderous statements against me. He started out with " I am not at liberty to discuss all of the reasons behind his expulsion" as if there were some deep dark secret he needed to conceal. Didn't USHPA publicly broadcast their "pack of lies" charges to every member on the planet in their unprecedented email blast? The proper translation of Mark's "I am not at liberty" is "I don't have a leg to stand on".

Mark Forbes has well earned his prominent place on this wall of shame. History should forever associate the name of "Mark G. Forbes" with the lowest points in the history of hang gliding.