mcj---glad to hear I might be seeing you. To get back to something that (IMHO) got blown outta context---the whole stick back idea. I teach that to taxi a Cub, Pawnee, Citabria, etc (ie all of the smaller TX aircraft I am familiar with) you ALWAYS have the stick back to keep the tail firmly on the ground in case of a sudden gust of wind, etc. This is simply to get people who have more experience in Cessnas, etc away from that line of thinking of "Which quadrant am I supposed to position the stick/yoke based on the winds?" Even with a tailwind during taxiing ops, I teach to have the stick back and keep the tail planted firmly. Now, takeoffs and landings are a different thing altogether. As was brought out, the differences between wheel and 3-point landings are many and arcane, and both have their times and places, but the stick position during landing and takeoff, landing rollout and takeoff roll are entirely different from normal taxi ops where the stick should be planted. As far as larger A/C with lockable tailwheel assemblies---I was taught in the Air Tractor to STILL usually taxi with the stick back, in essence locking the tailwheel, until I needed to make a turn, etc when I would move the stick forward just long enough to get the pin out and the tailwheel castoring, complete the maneuver and then "lock" the stick to the rear again. Maybe some would disagree, but I never had any problems taxiing in that manner and it made sense to me to keep the tail as firm to the ground as much as possible using the means that I had available, regardless of the airplane or the winds. I'm sure some might "flame on", but I stand by it, as least for my own use---I've thousands of hours in tailwheel at this point and the ONLY tailloop I've ever had resulted from a dropped pen by a student on a previous flight which jammed controls on rollout. That wasn't bad procedures, just a bad preflight and is a mistake I've never made again! To repeat what I said before and some others have as well---what you're consciously thinking about now becomes second nature once you have some muscle memory and more of a feel for the airplane and how it reacts to the situation. Don't be tight, fly your approach ALL THE WAY TO THE STOP and be happy that you're behind the controls of an airplane and not sitting in an office selling widgets for a living!
uke: 
