I did enjoy Hodinkee more before they started selling things. I miss the old days. But kudos to Ben for building such a successful enterprise legally and without what I believe is some ongoing pattern of nefarious deception. Did they make mistakes? Sure, some big ones and some small (travel-sized) ones. But overall, the existence of Hodinkee has added to rather than detracted from my enjoyment of this hobby, and for that I have Ben to thank. I found many of his work products to be both informative and entertaining -- not so easy when talking about watches -- and I think he put his education and talent to perfectly good use and assembled a top-notch team. So personally I don't view his trajectory with Hodinkee as "sad." [Full disclosure: I've met Ben a bunch of times and have had some great conversations, but we were never close friends and I haven't seen him in several years.]