Wasnt this intended to be a 914 technical fourm?, Im seeing a disturbing trend. Options

[914work]

More & more I'm seeing the "Garage" being used to solicit sales for various of our member vendors instead of helping members fix problems, impart knowledge & generally discuss 914 related news experience ID parts & the like.
We have a section devoted for Member Vendors ~ don't we ?
I understand the occasional crossover where customers need help or provide a (unbiased) reviews but cant we keep the introductions / group buys ect contained to the forum section CREATED for that purpose?

Flame on (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[Mikey914]

Well think about this, to keep the forum going maybe all "vendors" should pay an advertising fee. $1000 for the big boys and $200 for the small guys. I have no problem stepping up. Sierra Madre, AA, URO parts, and myself should be kicking in.
Fair enough. But Andy does a lot of this stuff on his dime. As long as it's not a predominately commercial site. Say the big guys get 2 direct threads a month, the others the same.

That would be fair.

[ChrisFoley]

Well think about this, to keep the forum going maybe all "vendors" should pay an advertising fee. $1000 for the big boys and $200 for the small guys. I have no problem stepping up. Sierra Madre, AA, URO parts, and myself should be kicking in.
Fair enough. But Andy does a lot of this stuff on his dime. As long as it's not a predominately commercial site. Say the big guys get 2 direct threads a month, the others the same.

That would be fair.

I don't consider myself to be one of the big boys but I've been paying $550 a year for my advertising here for many years, and I've tried to keep sales talk to a minimum in the Garage.
I remember when the topic of Banner Ads was discussed at length and it was decided the Banners were a good and unobtrusive way to allow vendors to advertise on the forum.
Seems to me the Member Vendor Forum and the Banner Ads should be sufficient on a non-commercially oriented discussion forum.

I'm at least mildly offended by your regular use of the Garage Forum to hawk your wares. I was already feeling that it was inappropriate and then you announced a "group buy" of a product that I've had on the market for more than a few years. The last straw for me was the "x of 200" numbering you started using this year.

[GaroldShaffer]

Well think about this, to keep the forum going maybe all "vendors" should pay an advertising fee. $1000 for the big boys and $200 for the small guys. I have no problem stepping up. Sierra Madre, AA, URO parts, and myself should be kicking in.
Fair enough. But Andy does a lot of this stuff on his dime. As long as it's not a predominately commercial site. Say the big guys get 2 direct threads a month, the others the same.

That would be fair.

I don't consider myself to be one of the big boys but I've been paying $550 a year for my advertising here for many years, and I've tried to keep sales talk to a minimum in the Garage.
I remember when the topic of Banner Ads was discussed at length and it was decided the Banners were a good and unobtrusive way to allow vendors to advertise on the forum.
Seems to me the Member Vendor Forum and the Banner Ads should be sufficient on a non-commercially oriented discussion forum.

I'm at least mildly offended by your regular use of the Garage Forum to hawk your wares. I was already feeling that it was inappropriate and then you announced a "group buy" of a product that I've had on the market for more than a few years. The last straw for me was the "x of 200" numbering you started using this year.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) with Chris. I'm a very very small fish when it comes to vendors making & selling parts. As such I don't run a banner ad or post in the garage items that I am selling. My 2 cents, Group buys need to be in the classifieds and also listed in the vendor section. Those are the areas for selling items, yes?? It seems to me almosteveryone checks the classifieds every day, yes? It would be up to the seller to keep track of the orders.

I have used Marks items with refurbed / plated parts I have sold and have no issues with the products or Mark. Just feel if GB are ok, then vendors should be able to "mention" products or services they have in the garage also. My memory is a little foggy, but way way back in the early days of 914club / world that was why the vendor section was made so the garage wouldn't get cluttered with non garage stuff.

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[SirAndy]

My memory is a little foggy

It is indeed ...

This isn't the first time (and probably not the last either) that we have this discussion. I'd say maybe once every 2 years or so?

Anyways, if you go back you'll see that we decided quite a long time ago that it was OK to post the occasional group buy in the garage while all other vendor specific posts and announcements should go into the member Vendors section.

Group buys go beyond the usual product offerings in that they should provide some added benefit to members, like special pricing etc..
As such, they would most likely not get the traction needed if they had to stay in the Member Vendors section.
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