D
Demosthenese
Guest
I have seen a bunch of comments up here and there to the vendors, both before and after this weekend and the events. People say "post in the buy/sell/trade" and then others say "that's suppose to be for individuals, not vendor promotion", and then others say "no vendors!". We as a community need to make this decision.
I don't see how allowing the vendors to link their wares harms the site. Promotion is different, but a simple list of product and a website address in a seperate location on the board doesn't bias or hurt anyone if it's there for any vendor to post in. Strict rules, perhaps up to and including no adjectives or something, it could be kept to strict listing of available product.
I think associating equally with ALL vendors is the same as NO vendors. Favoritism, manipulation and apparently sponsorship is were things go wrong. And to be honest, i WANT to know when dax's Titan is ready to ship, or if Andy develops a tuned pipe or whatever. I want people to tell me their review of new product, i want the vendors to feel like they can send free stuff to respected individuals for impartial reviews. Those are all reasons i visit this site. I have nothing to do with Tom or any of the vendors, so i don't know their position, but i know that there are non-sponsor vendors that have very important products. It seems a shame that it is so hard to find the info that is in these pages sometimes, when you need something very specific. Having a list somewhere on the site under the search engine might help a lot.
The vendors shouldn't be allowed to use the site as free add space, but i don't think we should bury our heads in the sand as to the difficulty of finding the exact right peice for our incredibly diverse creations. Most vendors i'm sure are linked somewhere in the posts, by somebody asking "is this a good engine", "should i buy from x company?", "will this work for my application", or whatever. I'm sure we've all noticed the difficulty in using the search engine. If we had a definitive list of product as it was available, and clear instructions for contact with the vendor, i think it would help people see what the possibilities are before buying. It's one thing to flip through our picture section and be inspired, and quite another to know you have 300 bucks to spend, and that that rear tank costs 34.99 exactly. The easier it is to get from inspired to ownership the more people will join the movement. Vendors that are untrustworthy or ship faulty wares will be identified by the community, i'm sure.
I think my point is that, depending on the approach, allowing the vendors to link somewhere specific can be looked at as just letting them do our organization for us, while at the same time being fair on them and stopping the arguments of promotion and self promotion once and for all. I think that this is an issue that will continue to trouble the community unless we get it out there and discuss it. We need solutions, not just arguments, so while im interested in comments, suggestions would be more helpful.
What do people think?
I don't see how allowing the vendors to link their wares harms the site. Promotion is different, but a simple list of product and a website address in a seperate location on the board doesn't bias or hurt anyone if it's there for any vendor to post in. Strict rules, perhaps up to and including no adjectives or something, it could be kept to strict listing of available product.
I think associating equally with ALL vendors is the same as NO vendors. Favoritism, manipulation and apparently sponsorship is were things go wrong. And to be honest, i WANT to know when dax's Titan is ready to ship, or if Andy develops a tuned pipe or whatever. I want people to tell me their review of new product, i want the vendors to feel like they can send free stuff to respected individuals for impartial reviews. Those are all reasons i visit this site. I have nothing to do with Tom or any of the vendors, so i don't know their position, but i know that there are non-sponsor vendors that have very important products. It seems a shame that it is so hard to find the info that is in these pages sometimes, when you need something very specific. Having a list somewhere on the site under the search engine might help a lot.
The vendors shouldn't be allowed to use the site as free add space, but i don't think we should bury our heads in the sand as to the difficulty of finding the exact right peice for our incredibly diverse creations. Most vendors i'm sure are linked somewhere in the posts, by somebody asking "is this a good engine", "should i buy from x company?", "will this work for my application", or whatever. I'm sure we've all noticed the difficulty in using the search engine. If we had a definitive list of product as it was available, and clear instructions for contact with the vendor, i think it would help people see what the possibilities are before buying. It's one thing to flip through our picture section and be inspired, and quite another to know you have 300 bucks to spend, and that that rear tank costs 34.99 exactly. The easier it is to get from inspired to ownership the more people will join the movement. Vendors that are untrustworthy or ship faulty wares will be identified by the community, i'm sure.
I think my point is that, depending on the approach, allowing the vendors to link somewhere specific can be looked at as just letting them do our organization for us, while at the same time being fair on them and stopping the arguments of promotion and self promotion once and for all. I think that this is an issue that will continue to trouble the community unless we get it out there and discuss it. We need solutions, not just arguments, so while im interested in comments, suggestions would be more helpful.
What do people think?
