I'm not saying that
everything has to happen through the back channel. Post on the board and get everyone's opinions. No problems with that for sure. But if you're going to put someone's name out there, at least have the decency to give them a heads-up. By the OP's own admission he still has not contacted Lou personally to discuss this with him. I don't think he had bad intentions, but what if Lou had been out of town for a couple weeks and hadn't heard his name come up on the boards? I'm sure Lou would have handled the situation in the same upstanding manner once he was aware of it, but do you really think the crowd would have held onto their stones to wait and hear what Lou had to say on the matter before the accusations started to fly?
The fact that it worked out okay for Lou this time doesn't mean that the next stand-up guy to get thrown under the bus will come out so well. I for one would much rather have seen the OP's original post minus Lou's name, the opinions of knowledgable board members, and then a report from the OP or Lou on how they had worked the matter out and it was taken care of. Lou still comes up smelling like roses, but he would have to crawl out from under the bus to do so.
I don't mean to get preachy
I just see a LOT of threads that start out similarly go south rather quickly, and sometimes I wonder if it's truly deserved.
And again, kudos to Lou for being a stand-up guy and dealing with this honorably. Even if the OP does wind up having to shell out for a full authentication, remember, THIS IS AN 11-YEAR-OLD TRANSACTION we're talking about! Even Wal-Mart won't take back something that was bought that long ago!
Lance