There aren't any sore spots. It just seems that merchandising does not fit the PM.com business model.
There are probably all sorts of legal and financing considerations involved that I'm not even vaguely aware of
(product liability, insurance, taxes, trade name protection, etc.)
The original brouhaha was over a renegade plan to market a PM.com Pipe Of The Year. The folks involved
were denied permission to use the name, and they left in a snit.
It's easy to lose sight of the fact that this site isn't just a private blog that became wildly popular.
It is a business, with a parent company, staff, legal people, etc.
(Anyhowwwww... need some license plate brackets?)
(You think that's silly? Lawrence is stuck with several gross of PM.com propeller beanies!)