Believe me folks, there is no offense taken on my part.

I would, of course, have preferred that some consensus had been reached from the membership as you have put me in the position of making a decision that I know will not please everyone.
No matter what I choose I will be wrong in the eyes of some. (but hey, that is normal around here.)

I took the money collected from our advertisers over the entire first year of my ownership of the forum and purchased items to be held in stock so they would always be available because that is what you asked me to do.

We have our Tartan and yes, there is fabric available.
We have our Cap Badge and yes, I have them in stock.
We have our Dandelion. ditto.

The orders for these trickle in. I have not yet recovered the cost of purchasing these items and at this rate it may be over three years before I break even.

Now you ask me to make an arbitrary decision on additional items to be purchased and held in stock with the possibility of going further into the hole with forum funds.

There is a shirt possibility but again no consensus on style, color or design.
Now we have a tie ifrs but again you cannot seem to agree on style, color or design.

And you ask me to use forum funds to purchase these items, and hope that enough of you like them to actually buy them.

With the track record on our other items it is unlikly that all the ties, of any design, would sell or it would take years for even a minimum order to sell out.

Strangly enough one member has offered, out of the kindness of his heart, to gift the forum the sum of $1000.00 just to get the shirts on order.

I am not a big fan of a regimental style tie as a symbol of the forum. Unless we use the Tartan for the ties I don't feel it would be instantly recognizable as representing the forum. I would prefer to spend our money on a shirt with our cap badge on it or something else that says "We are X Marks". Something that could be used to help recognize each other at Games or which could be seen by others as a symbol of our membership in this community.

I have recently used the current funds to purchase a custom made Quaich and logbook to travel the world.

I made a promise to Hank, and to all of you, that I would never turn this forum into a money making enterprise. I collect some money from advertisers to pay for the operation of the forum and have enough left over to purchase a few, select items, that you, the members, choose to represent us. I have kept that promise.

I'll purchase ties if that is what you ask me to do. I'll purchase shirts if that is what you decide you want me to do. I really do wish there was some consensus though.