> I agree 100%. As long as someone isn't advertising more than about
> once every couple of weeks or advertising something very common that
> they could get anywhere it would be a welcome post to me. The post
> should say something like "parts" in the heading so the anal retentives
> can delete it without reading it.
I disagree, 100%. How do you propose to police and enforce weekly posting
quotas for commercial entities? If you allow one a week, soon two a week is
not far behind... that also opens the door for suppliers to routinely add
advertisements to ongoing conversations. During the recent thread about
brake master cylinders being out of stock at Moss and TRF, I could have
easily have said "I have 23 cylinders in stock @ $190"... while that is
pretty casual, there is the potential for casual comments like that to
exponentially increase given the nature of the conversations we engage in
about who has the best quality parts or who has something in stock.
The nature of this list should be for objective discussion, not subjective
discussion with increasing bias because of commercial posts.
> I think it would be nice if the major Triumph parts companies
> announced sales to the list once in a while.
Do they not already? Moss routinely updates their website with their
seasonal sale information, in fact a new sale started Monday. The Roadster
Factory routinely uploads new sales flyers in PDF format on their website.
Rimmer Bros also announces their latest sales on their website.
Is it just a matter of people being too lazy to check a supplier website?
With that logic, Victoria British makes it easy; they seldom have worthwhile
sales, but they never fail to put a new catalogue in your mailbox every
three months... even when you ask to be removed from their mailing list.
> Bronco list with over 1200 members and about 100 post each day.
> People post ads there for custom bumpers, tire carriers, suspension
> parts that are not available anywhere else, Bronco artwork, etc every
> day.
> If the part has to do with Triumphs, I see no problem with it.
I have a problem with it and I am a supplier of Triumph parts! I do not
consider it ethical to exploit free information forums for monetary gain.
There are already MANY established venues for posting parts, some free and
some fee based. VTR.org hosts a classified site, it is fairly heavily
trafficked and it is categorized for parts/cars/misc by model. They allow
dealer and private postings at no charge. What is wrong with using the VTR
classifieds site, after all it was intended for this purpose, and it is
directly related to Triumphs
eBay is another venue. If you have a product, put it on eBay. You can not
piss off anyone by posting it on eBay if a search returns your product that
the user specifically searched for. While the people against commercial
messages tend not to be vocal, most of them being the non-confrontational
types, I can assure you that numerous commercial messages per week will turn
quite a few people away from this list.
eBay and VTR's site seem like no-brainers to me if you want to sell or
promote your product. If that still is not satisfying enough, doesn't the
6PACK club newsletter offer classifieds as well as featured advertising
space for paying advertisers. Seems to me this would benefit the 6PACK club
by generating some revenue for the club, as they provide excellent service
and info, rather than just exploiting the free 6PACK list.
If you really want a mass market, and eBay does not contain enough mass for
a supplier, there is always Hemmings. Again, if you're a supplier, buy your
advertising rather than relying on spam.
And if you still are too cheap to pay for advertising space or too lazy to
use VTR.org, you can just type out an email message and post it to the
underutilized Autojumble mailing list hosted here at autox.team.net.
http://www.team.net/www/autojumble.html
Here is the charter description for the autojumble list:
"autojumble@autox.team.net is a mailing list intended primarily for the
distribution of commercial messages related to the automotive mailing lists
here at autox.team.net. Such messages are inappropriate for any of the
regular automotive related mailing lists served from this site. "
I think that makes it pretty clear... commercial messages on Autojumble
allowed, commercial messages on all other team.net lists not allowed.
For the suppliers out there, you pay for your vending space at shows, your
regular print advertising and you pay the hosting fees for your website. So
do not be _cheap_ and attempt to exploit free venues that specifically state
that commercial messages are not allowed.
The fact that a certain individual is knowingly attempting to undermine this
issue is pretty sad... guess they're too cheap or lazy to use any of the
options I listed above. Perhaps I just have a strong sense of ethics, but I
dislike the idea of taking advantage of these wonderful forums in any
commercial way.
Kai
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