Wingfoot honest?

imported
#21

I discovered the AT through Wingfoot’s Trailplace website in 1999, and it was the forums and journals there that inspired me to hike the AT. During my visits to the forums Wingfoot personally gave me inspiration and many great tips. I feel indebted to Wingfoot for having provided Trailplace to me as an invaluable resource.

His Thru-Hiker’s Handbook is also a great publication and resource for the AT hiker and I expect that much of the cost of developing and continually refining this excellent publication is not covered by the purchase price.

Having said all of that I was very disappointed in the way Wingfoot treated those with whom he disagreed and the way he left everyone hanging when he pulled the plug on Trailplace’s journals and forums. In the latter months his forum was active he seemed to get quite bitter which I found hard to understand.

I certainly don’t bear him any ill feelings and would like to see him become active in hiker forums again as he has much to offer.

Downunda

#22

Weed killer you answered your own question - from Wingnut: “About the Center for Appalachian Trail Studies: … Two things set us apart from other Appalachian Trail Organizations - first, we are all volunteers…” Is that not pompous? The fact that CFATC is not a non profit org only makes matters worse. I don’t have a problem w/ WF earning a salary. But he is earning a living off of the trail.
The worst thing to be said about Wingnut is that he is joined at the butt with Uncle Johnny. Hence he is harming the trail and its community.

g

#23

I don’t give a rat’s ass who WF likes. I doubt any of you are affected in any adverse ways by WF. By the way, if you don’t like Uncle johnny, don’t use his services. If Johnny and WF are the scoundrels some of you say they are, they will be out of biz in no time. I think some of you gomers are just a bit too emotional for your own good. Hike and tend to your own business.

weed killer

#24

Hey weed killer, I don’t see how calling people names is going to help. We’re talking about Wingfoot here, someone who has worked hard to generate publicity about both himself and his organization. He’s a public figure, and thus his actions and his site are fair game for discussion. Our own business is the trail in all incarnations, good and bad. That’s the whole point of this forum.

Joel

#25

Settle down joel. It appears to me that certain folks are calling a man dishonest and getting a tad overly-emotional. I doubt any of you would speak to the man in person the way you are crucifying him on here. “Gomers” was a kind way of saying what I think of certain people that hide behind pseudonyms and use scathing comments to try and discredit a man. Joel, at least you do post your e-mail address and have the ability to make your point without stabbing.

weed killer

#26

In 1999 Wingfoot accepted me as an online journaler and then half-way through my hike “deleted” my journal because of “space” constraints. He never answered my calls/e-mails or letters or those of my transcriber. Very disapointing!

But, the AT is a long trail, and one of many long trails. Every year more hikers attempt to hike on of the long trails. The long distance hiking community is a large and eclectic one and then you add in the section and day hikers and townspeople and agency folks and well…let’s just say it takes ALL TYPES!

Cross Country

#27

I admire the guy for taking what he loves and making a living from it!

matt

#28

Weed killer, once again i’m happy to kick over your sand castle. The original post on this thread was ‘wingfoot honest?’. Maybe you should go back & read it. If you don’t want to argue fine, Don’t attack others for sharing their opinions, especially when its right on topic.

g

#29

I like what a NOBO shared with me at Abol Bridge Rd. (I was just beginning my SOBO as Chlorox was finishing his last day on the A.T.): “Keep one foot in front of the other and its YOUR HIKE, so do it YOUR WAY!” Enough said!

Spanky

#30

I have formed many nonprofits for my clients over the years, and have helped run one myself. A nonprofit is usually only as good as the person running it. A nonprofit can mean many things, but popularly it is usually meant as a Section 501©(3) IRS approved tax-exempt corporation that dedicates its funds to the general good in certain areas.

Having a nonprofit does not mean that you are taking a vow of poverty. You have the right to pay yourself “fair market value” for your work. Fair market value is determined by looking at what others make for similar work in your area. If nonprofits didn’t pay their workers, how many nonprofits could there be? I appreciated what Howie said about this (even if he gives away just 20% of the money, he gives a lot more than me, and if I worked hard to have a good annual guide, I think I might go on vacation afterward). Nonprofiteers do give up the massive profits that can be made in a very successful for-profit business.

Any kind of business, profit or not, can have the high ethics normally associated with a nonprofit. And nonprofits occassionally let us down; they don’t have the corner on the market of ethics. There have been scandals in which the Red Cross took the money for 9/11 families and gave it to others, where the United Way execs paid themselves king’s ransoms taken from blue collar workers and meant for those in need.

There are good reasons to become a nonprofit, but less than you might think. On the plus side, there is some credibility that goes with having been approved by the IRS, and if you do have profits, you do not pay taxes on them, but plow them back into your work. But this is what many for profit businesses do also. Major reasons then to have a nonprofit is because they are considered for grants by grant makers and most of the time others are not, and because donations are tax-deductible.

Whether Wingfoot’s nonprofit is a full fledged IRS tax-exempt nonprofit (and this process takes months of skillfully working your way through the bureaucracy), or at the other end of the spectrum simply a “doing business as” name by which he accomplishes some good, we can still appreciate the good it does.

If you are curious to know whether a nonprofit is actually 501©(3) approved, and thus follows those rules, check www.IRS.gov.

Aeschylus

#31

Great post re non-profits. BUT - Wingfoot is a FOR PROFIT enterprise. And as far what he’s done for the trail - ZIP NADA NOTHING! He ran THREE email deals where he took ideas from the ATC and ran email programs about them through his website and ALL THREE FAILED. That’s IT. That’s ALL. ON LINE SIX YEARS AND ONLY THREE EMAIL PROGRAMS FOR THE AT. Please… spare us that “he’s done a lot for the AT” crap!

wingscam