Good point Nathan....
CA

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Christy Ann
99WhiteLightningSVTGirl
RookzRook@aol.com
WhiteLightninSVT@aol.com
Have you ever seen an Angel riding a Lightning bolt~

 

RANT ON

A quote from Sal's post...he is promoting the capabilities of his company. I have been asking the vendors to use the appropriate forums for these posts. Those requests seemed to get ignored. And before anyone complains, I am trying to cover every vendor, even the one that has chosen to advertise on the site.

I am getting very close to prohibiting all vendors and solicitations from these boards, and have not at this point because they add value.

I have said it over and over, and will continue to say it (one more time below)...if you want to contribute to the conversations and you are vendor you are more than welcome to do so.

If you are here to promote your company, products or capabilities, do it in the vendor forums - but no open selling! Are you allowed to advertise for free in Car and Driver or Truckin' Magazine? Not last time I looked.

My expenses to run the site continue to go up. I am sick and tired of vendors that are making money here and not willing to share the wealth. It is not fair and I will not allow it.

The reality here is that the rates to advertise on this site, that has a proven target audience, cost a fraction of the print media. Some of the vendors here can afford it, but choose not to since they can get away with doing it for free.

Let me repeat, if you are a vendor and you want to contribute to the discussions, you are welcome to do so. If you want to promote your company, products, capabilities, etc. do it in the appropriate area of the site and no selling.

These are the terms that the vendors (and everyone else) agreed to in registering to use these message boards. The boards have been up and running for over a year now and the policies have not changed. This is not a new policy, but I have now chosen to enforce it because too many vendors are taking advantage.

Contrary opinions are welcomed, but try to understand what I am saying and put yourself in my position before replying.

END RANT

Steve

[This message has been edited by webmaster (edited 02-11-2000).]

 

Steve is right guys.
This board is here and works fine but I do not think it would be fair for others to profit from it without helping in the expenses. I for one appriciate this forum, and all on it. I am also one that will search out info I want, starting with the F150 online site. Steve, thanks for your concern and in sharing your dream - F150 Online.com

------------------
Andre Terranova (1-18-1947)<*(((><
isa4325@flash.net / "1-BAD-TK" Texas Tag,
Red Lightning / Red Premier Tonneau Cover,
Red Shadow Cowl Cover / SuperChip,
3:73 Gears / K&N Filter,
Edelbrock muffler, Interceptor,
Laptop Computer at Side,
G-Tech,
Best Time 12.986 @ 107.54 "Tweeked to the Max".
[05-11-1999 #1132]


"Only Little Boys Wear Bow Ties"

 

Another thought (an addition to the rant), I need to consider starting to run this site more like a legitimate business, protecting the interests of the site and me, personally.

To date, I have not done so to a large degree. But the potential liability, financially and otherwise, dictate this needs to happen and everyone has to bear with that if you want the site to live on.

No longer is this site a few hundred people getting together to chat, it is not several thousand people, each day, generating millions of page views and bandwidth.

With that growth comes more responsibilty and that I hope everyone understands. I do not want to change the atmosphere of this site, for it is just that which has made this site.

What I do not want to see is rampant spam and rules abusers (the rules are there for a reason) take advantage and turn these boards into a free-for-all like some of the "portal" sites.

Steve

 

My apologoise to you Steve for that post, as I know what you have asked about the vendor posts. But in this case, I thought it was important to post it here because hardly anyone here reads the vendor forums, and there may have been those here who were downing thier trucks to send me thier GEMs, and I was just trying to avoid the inconveinence for everyone. I was actually denying myself business Seriously, I really try to abide by the rules you asked me to, but it is difficult for me because everything I do and say revolves around Lightnings. Anything I have the ability to do, I will try to offer to others, and obviously that goes through my business most of the time. For me to post here only when it's not business related, would mean I wouldn't be posting at all. I have no problem with some posts going to the vendor section, but I feel if I don't at least mention them here, nobody would ever know. I usually would discuss this privately, but since you brought it up here and there may be other "vendors" here reading, maybe you could explain better what we can and can't do. And just for the record, I do agree with your statement that some people will try to get "free" advertising so they don't have to pay, even if they have the money. I am not one of those people. If my business was booming, I'd have contacted you already for one of those nice animated banners at the top of the screen. But since it's not and I am trying desperately to help it grow, I do what I can to do just that. I feel that I do more than my share to contribute to this forum, and I try to do it in a tasteful and professional manner. And I've not heard anyone here complain about my posts being business related. I think that many here come to find out about my offering s and advice, so I think we both benefit each other. Please let us know what we can and can't do here. Thanks.

------------------
SAL
13.35@103mph
All stock with PSP 99 Lightning Chip and Filter Kit

Power Surge Performance--- Your SOURCE for SVT Lightning EFI Tuning and Performance!! http://members.aol.com/NLOCsvt/svt.html


[This message has been edited by LightningTuner (edited 02-11-2000).]

 

Steve,

I think both you and Sal have made salient points. In my many years on various message boards, I consider this the best. I find that Sal's postings are mostly information and, from my perspective, sorely needed. I understand your point however. Maybe it's time that we all sent in a yearly fee of $15 or $20 bucks to help defray the costs. I would be more than willing to do this. I also believe that your 4000+ members out there would be willing to do the same. I really appreciate your hard work!

adp

 

I've said it hundreds of times, but it bears repeating.

I do not want anyone who uses these message boards for the purpose of free exchange of information to take any money out of their pockets to keep this site alive. Period.

If vendors want make money from their presence here, they should bend over backwards to want to pay to support the site. Am I crazy about this?

Keep in mind, though, that the same rules apply. Paying for a banner advertisement does not imply that you would have free reign to sell on the message boards. Selling is strictly prohibited.

Sal, I certainly understand your point, but F-150 Online is not intended as an incubator for your (or any other vendor's) business.

Are you (or other vendors that make money here) seriously telling me that you cannot afford $300 - $500 a month to advertise on the site?

If that is the case, fine. Perhaps some vendors need to look elsewhere if that is their only purpose for being here. (Sal, I am not implying that is your purpose for being here)

But I think that any company that is making sales because of their presence on the site should want to give something back.

Bringing people here is fantastic and obviously well appreciated, but realize that the greater the traffic, the more money it costs to operate this place!

Steve

 

Hey Steve, Sal here. As I've stated before, I completely understand your view and rules. What I'd like to know, is what exactly can I do? What would be fine for me, is if I post a business message here, and you move it to the Vendor forum. Then at least everyone will see it at first, and will know it was moved to the Vendor forum. If that can't work, is there a way I can somehow let people here know of a new "annoucement" or "vendor"-related post in the Vendor section? I don't want to break your rules, I guess I am just looking for a happy medium.

------------------
SAL
13.35@103mph
All stock with PSP 99 Lightning Chip and Filter Kit

Power Surge Performance--- Your SOURCE for SVT Lightning EFI Tuning and Performance!! http://members.aol.com/NLOCsvt/svt.html

 

Jeez, I hope you guys can come to some kind of accomodation because I have gathered a lot of helpful information from Sal's posts and I would hate to see him banned from the forum.

------------------
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

'92 Civic Si, Centerforce Dualfriction clutch, no front license plate.

'84 Alan Record Carbonio, Aerospoke wheels, Sugino AT crankset, Campy brakes (I think, hard to tell underneath the protective coat of grease and dirt).

'98 Honda "Harmony" 5.0 h.p. mulching mower, stock.

2000 silver SVT Lightning on order (the lawnmower will have to go).

alphadoggy@jetlink.net

 

Ok, let's not get extreme here. I have no intention of banning Sal from these forums! If I implied that I apologize, that was never my intent. Sal adds a great deal to the Lightning forums and I don't want to see him go.

Here is a simple rule of thumb to follow Sal (or any other vendor), if you are involved in a message thread that is meant to educate Lightning owners or to contribute to the general conversation about Lightnings (or any F-series truck), then it is appropriate.

If you get involved in a thread because it will result in a profit for your company or you see a "sales" opportunity, it is innappropriate and a violation of the general rules of the message boards that you agreed to.

There is, however, a section in the Vendor forums where you can announce new products. Simply give people a way to contact you and do it off of the message boards. Don't sell on here!

If business is good, give something back. That is only fair, and something that no vendor should find a way to argue.

Can anyone out there think of another form of media where advertising is free? I can't think of one. All I ask is that you consider my costs when you are making money from your presence.

Steve

 

I feel the same as Lightning tuner, I most likely wont check the vender forum unless I knew that there was relevant info to lok at there. I respect <steve> for his efforts on such a great site, & hope there is a meduim that can be found. If Steve hadnt even mentioned about the 'vendor board' I would have never even known it existed.

 

I think that particular post is relevant to the Lightning forum. I have been looking at a gear change for some time and decided to wait based on Sal's post. I would have never seen this info if it was in the vendors forum.

 

A very simple solution...

Instead of using subjects for threads that have no meaning, try using descriptive ones...(i.e. New Chip For SuperDuty) and place in the Announcements/Vendors Forum.

Make it a habit to utilize the "Today's Active Topics..." feature on the boards and if that subject interests you, read the thread.

Steve

 

Steve,

Like I believe most of us on on this board are, I am very busy most of the time and, therefore, really appreciate anything that streamlines the time I spend reading and replying to posts. When I discovered this great forum (and you are certainly to be congratulated for starting and maintaining it) a few months ago, I was thrilled that I had located a wonderful "one stop shopping" Lightning resource. And while I can appreciate you not wanting to "give away advertising", closing informative threads and moving them to other areas of your site forces all of us to either miss the threads altogether or to spend time searching the other areas when that shouldn't be necessary.

As you know, our Lightning's are very specialized trucks (otherwise, this Lightning-specific forum wouldn't exist) and we all really appreciate being able to read, learn and comment about them on this one Lightning forum without being required to search any other parts of the site just to read all the Lightning-related posts.

This isn't to say, of course, that the vast amount of general F-150 information available within this site is not of interest to Lightning owners, because it certainly is - and that's great. I'm just trying to say that if it's Lightning related, it should be allowed to stay within the confines of a Lightning specific forum.

Back to the advertising issue, I don't disagree with you wanting to keep pure and blatant vendor advertising out of a general discussion forum. On the other hand, an ocassional or offhand reference to a propriatary product while mainly discussing a subject of general interest to most Lightning owners should not, however, be grounds for moving the topic.

Sorry for the long post and I appreciate this opportunity to verbalize what I feel many of us think.

Thanks again for this site, Steve. Yours is not an easy job and we are all just glad that you're doing it.

Mike

 

I would like to say something in Sal's defense. There are 57 topics in the Lightning Forum that contain "SAL" in the subject. None of them started by Sal. The Lightning owners bear their share of guilt for conducting business on the boards. No one here would concsiously break the rules.

I always read Steve's posts twice to ensure I understand what he wants.