Yep, we all want to get teh best price and teh best service that's available to us, and we all would like to share those experiences with the rest of us.

Now. suppose you are a Supporting Vendor of CF, you pay a monthly fee to get your name on the forum. Suppose you, a Supporting vendor, read about the wonderful service and price, the same that you strive to deliver day in and day out, of a non supporting vendor, complete with testimonial and links to said web site. You're thinking....geeze, I'm paying a monthly fee for advertising, and XYZ Vendor is getting free publicity. You see enough of this, you decide to cancel your status as Supporting Vendor and rely on word of mouth, the same as XYZ is getting. Slowly, the snowball is rolling down the hill and picks up speed. When all is said and done, the greater portion of supporting vendor's are no longer supporting this site. What does that mean to you? Someone has to support the site...if Management were to charge a membership fee, how many would reach into their pockets. Be honest with yourselves when you answer. I'm sure some, but prolly not enough to support this site.

Guys, if you want to share your experiences with vendors that don't support this site, IM or email.

 

So what your saying is, since I've had a great experience with a vendor that isn't paying to advertise here, I'm not allowed to suggest their service to my fellow brotherhood of Corvette lovers and restorers?

And the same goes for poor service of a supporting vendor. We are just supposed to sit back and watch it happen to other people without being able to offer any help?

 

Let me put it to you this way...do you want to pay for this forum or do you want a free forum...the choice is yours.

 

I have a feeling this is related to the bairs post right?

 

 

No, actually I think he was pretty clear in saying that if you want to suggest the service to your fellow brotherhood of Corvette lovers and restorers, do it by email or IM instead of posting it.

While I agree that that sucks, and that will be a detriment to the forum, it's not as big a detriment as charging a membership fee.

I suppose one could also look at it in a different light.... namely if the supporting vendors (and this is generally speaking and hypothetical) offered the same or better service and competitive pricing, you probably wouldn't see non-supporting vendors names thrown around nearly as much.

 

Surely there must be some middle-of-the-road approach where supporting vendors receive value for their support but members are still free to identify problems with supporting vendors and identify excellent service and parts availability where the same may be lacking among supporting vendors.
It would be a shame for supporting vendors to be able to purchase immunity for substandard service by supporting the site.
There should be a mechanism to encourage the support of excellent vendors and perhaps discourage the support of inferior vendors (no reflection on the quality of current supporting vendors).
Maybe a "code of conduct" for commenting on vendors could be developed.

 

I want to be part of a forum that allows its members to help each other find quality parts for the cheapest price available. I want to be able to comment on the service of a company I have dealt with, whether it be good or bad. I want to know which companies have good reputations and which ones don't.

If it hadn't been for this place, I would have overspent for my new interior with a certain vendor until I found out about a different one that offers better service & better prices.

When supporting vendors can dictate the parts conversations here because we are not allowed to talk about other companies, then Corvetteforum will have outlived is purpose and will have turned into nothing more than a large commercial.

 

I will abide by the forum's rules.

If, however, the site were to go to a membership-supported format, I would gladly pay. I am a paying member of the Lincoln LS owners club (www.llsoc.com). I feel that the quality of that site is among the very best available to automobile enthusiasts. A lot of that is due to the fact that the posts are all from folks who have literally invested in the site. There may not be as many people, but who cares if the quality of the average post improves. Beside that, there are no restrictrictions on who or what can be recommended or criticized...including Lincoln itself.

The free sharing of information is the single most valuable aspect of a site like this. If it reaches a point where the MOST valuable types of information can't be freely discussed, I'm afraid we all lose. Worst of all, our cars (which in many cases are older than the owner) suffer by not having the best quality parts and services available to them.

Again, I will abide by the forum rules.

 

 

 

Ahhhh, the struggle between support and censorship.

I, for one, always give the supporting vendors an opportunity at my business and always will. I make a fair amount of my purchases from them and always will. Having said that, I believe that censorship is just plain wrong in a free society. Of course, this is Troy’s society, so we must abide by his rules if we want to be here, whether we think they’re right or wrong.

This will be an interesting thread and an interesting “rule”, to say the least.

 

I would definitely pay a member fee to keep the forum "open".

I donated a fee at the Corvette Action Center, and would
gladly do so here. The help and advice is well worth it.

You guys should think about increasing the IM space beyond 50
messages. It seems that will be the mode of communication now.

 

yeah, I already got some unconfirmed messages because my box was full and there's no way to view them.

 

Supporting vendors and non-supporting vendors should both be thrilled that this forum even exists. We as members should not have to tap-dance to make them happy.

Corvetteforum.com is the best, but it isn't the only one. Besides, vendors need to advertise somewhere and I don't see them buying Super bowl commercial time anywhere.

Personally, I like that so many other venders advertise here, this is the only place I hear abour Bairs, Speed Inc., and AFR.

I hear about the big three everywhere though (Ecklers, Mid-america, and Corvette Central)

 

I totally agree with GDAINA and saw this coming. We all should value our supporting vendors - they give us discounts, offer free advice and input, and provide this forum for our "free speech". To advertise a company that doesn't provide the aforementioned services doesn't deserve their plug here. Take it off line or join a forum that you pay for and say what ever you want. Nothing personal here, just a sense of good business.

 

This is without a doubt the most popular Corvette based discussion forum on the net. I'm more than willing to pay for the privilage of being able to voice my opinion on vendors products and services. I honestly believe that a large percentage of current members would also pay. For me, a yearly membership fee would more than pay for itself when the right part is purchased at the right price based on the uninhibited feedback from fellow forum members.
Poor products and services are all too common these days. I'm sick of paying high prices for low quality parts that simply don't fit, don't work, don't last, etc... It's gotten so bad that it is really cooling my long time passion for Corvettes.

Vendors could still advertise on the forum but each of them should have a customer satisfaction / feedback / rating link attached to their ad for all to see. I would even go so far as to display a member rated "STAR" evaluation on their ads. (ie. 1 star = poor, up to, 5 stars = excellence)

Forward this opinion to Troy. Ask him for a guesstimate of what the yearly membership fee would need to be. This information would help other forum members determine if they too would be willing to pay for non-biased opinions.

Regards,
Mike

 

here is another way to look at it...company X receives praise, but are paying to sponser the site.

That

1) gives you guys a lead to call them and say, hey we have heard good things about you, would you like to advertise with us

2) gives the people who ARE sponsering a chance to check out the companies themselves and make sure their pricing and service is where it should be.

Its kind of like a trade show, you have a captive audience, give them a great deal and the people will buy...just look at the brake company that sponsers this site, they are doing it right!

But to say, hey, we know company Y doesn't have good pricing, or good service, but they pay to keep this forum going seems a little whacked.

That said, the first place I looked for parts when I joined the forum a few days ago was on the left hand side of the screen.

 

Hmmm... wish everyone would stop volunteering to pay a fee for access here.....

 

I agree, positive comments are usually deserved and are given because the company must be doing their job in respect to customer service, pricing & quality. All the advertising in the world won't make people buy from you if you have high prices, poor customer service or lousy quality parts. With the ads and the forum discounts I think most supporting vendors already have the edge over the other non supporting vendors because they are more widely known, intereact with the members here and offer a discount. Why should advertising money be hush money?

Does the rule of not mentioning non supporting vendors only adhere to positive posts or also to negative posts? (why do I have the feeling it's only praise that's not allowed)