Deepcut-

As you know I have tremendous respect for you and think you have the coolest sailboat in BVIs despite my son going to the rival school

I also know you are a smart person...however there is a flaw and a fallacy in this argument below:

"But the Vocal Minority (AKA Boaty Ball Bashers) took the thread over to bash BB. And when I say MINORITY, I say that because based on the BB Sales, it seems there are many more who like BB than the Vocal Minority."

I have been on this board for the duration of the Boatyball talk and followed the various threads and also seen the threads on Facebook pages. The clear majority of comments are negative which isnt surprising for a system that creates failure for up to 85% of users (15/109 per BB at Cooper were successful) and is widely viewed as "rigged". So while it may be a certainly vocal group to say it is in the minority has no basis in the empirical evidence on any of the various boards. In fact BB itself made this same logical argument early on and I pointed it out to them privately which they acknowledged.

The fallacy is the implication that there is a causal inference between "sales" and "majority happiness". The economic relationship for mooring balls is considered an "inelastic demand model" due to the current lack of alternatives. Therefore people not only really have no choice, but BB can charge a premium knowing this (hence they can charge ~$400 per week version). This inelasticity is more prevalent at Cooper and Great Harbor where the majority of balls are BB and little to no room to anchor. So to state that because 15 of the 109 that attempted got balls on one particular day in Cooper are evidence that more people like it than dont is not only a far stretch but statistically speaking is a "spurious correlation".

It is clear, however, when people are given and have the choice they prefer FCFS over boatyball as evidenced by the "boaty ball hole" in the off season when the FCFS balls are taken and the BB balls remain unused.

The real issue is BB started losing the credibility game and that is one hard road to get back...

Again I have no issue with a "reservation model" that both works and is credible.