Commercial Posting...was Sue Miller's Catalog

[pharriso]

Thank you Jeff for all your efforts. Donation made. Money well spent.
Dan

Ditto

[billwill]

sponsoring vendors should be allowed commercial activity in your new "Now a word from our..." forum.

Great point. Help me on this hypothetical....

Let say we have four businesses that are sponsoring the website. They are able to post catalogs, specials and price sheets in the sponsors section.

How should we treat a post that contains a non-sponsoring business' catalog or price sheet?

Should a non-sponsoring business have a catalog in the main discussion area, while business that paid for a sponsorship be limited to a special area in the forum?

jeff

It's your judgement, but I think that if you see a posting that would be more at home in the Sponsors section, move it there and leave a link to the new topic in original place. Then contact the firm, explain what you have done and suggest that they might contribute to website costs. Suggest a scale of payments or say a small percentage of profit traceable back to the website. If you get a snooty reply, delete the non-sponsors posting.

[AHM]

I said I wouldn't comment further , but as my post is now out of context I will take the opportunity to clarify it (I believe it is quite clear if you read it objectively!)

Part 1 Sue Millar.
Great person, Great company, 100% integrity.

Part 2 Posting of the price list useful - I downloaded it - Mine is from 2010 and took weeks to get!

Part 3 -Accepted custom and practice.
If company A wants to place details of its products and services on or within the property or premises of company B it is customary to ask. The O/P pointed out that he had asked Sue, but made no mention of Jeff. for others - There is a distinct difference between a recommendation "I think Sue Miller is great" (I Do!) and publishing her company's entire commercial information.

Part 4 Funding
Our favourite suppliers all advertise - and that is expensive. They will realise the value of having their details provided here, that we are a captive audience, and that a proper commercial discussion with Jeff is the sensible business-like answer.

Regarding parts in general - Very few are specific to the Elan and none of the suppliers mentioned actually make them. They are stockists and their catalogues are their main means of marketing to us. If we insist on providing commercial information (however useful) for free then we pull the rug from under Jeff's feet and expect him to pay.

The alternative is to get "members" to pay, for which there need to be benefits of membership.

You wouldn't expect club lotus to publish a full catalogue for free and then charge their other advertisers for 3 iches... would you?

[AHM]

Yes, Sue Miller (in this instance) may benefit by not sending out 368+ catalogs but this is a bit like the old pirate MP3 argument; not everyone who downloads an MP3 would buy the song and I very much doubt we have 368 members who so badly needed a new catalog and weren't prepared to email or call via Sue's website.

I'd guess that that is around ?500-?600 material costs and postage alone - Start allowing for time and it goes through the roof. Producing and sending catalogues is really expensive, so sponsoring the site is a great deal!

[pharriso]

I said I wouldn't comment further , but as my post is now out of context I will take the opportunity to clarify it (I believe it is quite clear if you read it objectively!)

Part 3 -Accepted custom and practice.
The O/P pointed out that he had asked Sue, but made no mention of Jeff. for others - There is a distinct difference between a recommendation "I think Sue Miller is great" (I Do!) and publishing her company's entire commercial information.

You think I scanned Sue's catalog & made a searchable PDF file because she's not great... Silly me thought that was implied. Enough already... over twenty people have said they appreciated the catalog here & more than 300 have downloaded it.

This type of thread is why people leave the board.. Can't we agree to disagree or do you really want to beat this to death? If Jeff wants the catalog gone he can ask me to delete it or delete it himself

Let's drive, work on & discuss our shared delight - the Elan

I am going to England & France for 3 weeks vacation; I really hope this discussion is done & gone when I get back...

[AHM]

Phil,

I completely agree with your reasoning and intentions for posting Sue's catalogue. So you can include me in those who have shown appreciation. And I don't think there is anyone who will disagree - Thank you.
I have not suggested it be removed.
I have downloaded it Myself.

My comment has now been moved and is out of context. So I have replied - That is not beating anything... or am I not allowed to reply?

It requires objectivity to agree with the content of your original post, its value to the site, and appreciate your efforts. While at the same time appreciate that we need to allow Jeff some way of funding the site. If we don't do that there will be nothing to leave!

There have been several discussions on funding
1. Donations - But we want the site to be completely open to all, thus preventing Jeff from providing any real members benefits
2. Sponsorship - but we want to be able to provide suppliers details free.

Come on guys we need to provide Jeff with some means of funding the site.

[casalunge]

Jeff

Keep it simple, no more debate, consultation whatever - enough has been written on this thread and others on this matter.

A flat rate of 10GBP - $15USD whatever to subscribe.

Users of this site all benefit in different ways, as in life there will be some winners and losers - or at least those who view it that way. You will never please everyone.

Anyone running/owning one (or in some cases more than one) of these cars can afford an amount as proposed.

Review it at the end of the first year to see if your breaking even or require A Few Dollars More.

Ditch the tact and diplomacy etc and crack on with threads on the cars.

Colin

[AHM]

Colin,
I agree with your sentiment.

But from memory when Jeff defined how the site will be funded it was through sponsorship - discussion had decision made. edit: see here:http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/questions-f20/lotuselan-net-state-the-union-disscussion-t27383-30.html

We just pulled the rug from under him.