Associates on ACE

[Desertdawg]

shouldn't we have been given the opportunity to at least vote on this issue?

This is your opportunity to vote.

This isn't Dwayne and Phils forum, we try to keep it running.

This never should have been about one vendor!

If anyone feels I'm doing a bad job at trying to keep ACE working, they are more than welcome to step in and have at it.

[nort99]

Sorry but I couldn't just sit back. Two things....

first I would respectfully disagree that this is Phil and Dwayne's forum. They may be the caretakers and I commend and thank them for all the time they've put into making it the great place it is but this forum belongs to the members of ACE. We have operated for the almost four years that I've been around here w/o bosses and we should continue that way.

second I have to agree with you on your statement that if I wanted to be inundated by advertising I'd go over to CF. Good vendors who truly want to offer something to ACE members will stay involved here as Mike and Joe have. The "banners" that we now have here are too small for me to see anything but their name anyway, so they are just clutter.

How about a seperate page if we have to have "associates". That way I could choose to ignore the whole thing but someone who wants to hunt up a vendor or locate a specific website for the vendor could still do so. Don't clutter our website with them.

edit: question? Up until recently if I added a post the software would take me to that post but now it goes back to the top post in the thread. Is that so I'm sure to see the list of "associates"?

I am for this. Seperate page and no icon on the sidebar.

[Phoenix FRC]

Sometimes it doesn't make any difference, some times it does.

CF is pretty good because you can post for sale items.

I once owned an F150 Harley Davidson model, Nice truck, I bought a set of long tube headers for it but never installed them, I sold it and bought my Vette instead. Good choice huh?

So I head over to the F150 online forum and for the first time realize that they don't have a for sale section. The vendors won't allow it. I have a brand new set of 1999 to 2001 Longtubes for an F150 4.8 or 5.4 jet hot coated with Y pipe etc, can't even post them for the people that might be most interested because the vendors have the board locked out. I was pissed...

To this day, I still have them, I was thinking about hanging them on the walls in my garage, garage art.

Just don't sell it out in the name of doing something for the boards, It looks to me like the membership would rather pay for the operating costs of the board out pocket. I'll make another donation, its not a problem.

I don't really think of myself as a contributing member to ace other then the $25.00 name purchase and a few posts here and there so I'm not going to get ugly, I'd just hate to see it go the wrong direction.

It seems to me it might have been a good idea to ask the mebership what they see for the future of the board? ask first and impose later.

United we stand, divided we fall.

[ChadC]

How about a seperate page if we have to have "associates". That way I could choose to ignore the whole thing but someone who wants to hunt up a vendor or locate a specific website for the vendor could still do so. Don't clutter our website with them.

I agree with that idea.

I have seen it used on several of the Dodge forums I visit with success.

As a bit if a hijack,

.. Should there be a slection process of whom we allow to be on our forum "associates"?

What criteria should we follow?

What benifit should ACE members get (if any)?

What benifit should the vendors get (if any)?

chad

[Eddie44]

As a bit if a hijack,

.. Should there be a slection process of whom we allow to be on our forum "associates"?

What criteria should we follow?

What benifit should ACE members get (if any)?

What benifit should the vendors get (if any)?

chad

The one thing that I would suggest is that they be Vette related. I don't see any need for someone advertising a Dodge or Mercedes (oh, wait they're the same) Shop here. Likewise I don't want to see restaurant advertising here. Lets keep it pertinent to our love, the Vette.

[Quiktrip]

See, talk is good. Robert

[MOTV8]

I agree with that idea.

I have seen it used on several of the Dodge forums I visit with success.

While it will require more work and skill from our excellent admin/mods, there could just as easily be a whole subsection for "approved associates" kinda like on 300Cforums.com, and if you wanna go in and post a thread or ask them directly, you can do so.

Lose the flashing neons, ...what's next? Tits and Ass banners and Geico insurance pop-ups?

"Lighten up Francis" - Sgt. Hulka

Edit: Wow! Lookit! They're gone, WTG guys!

[Guest Sidewinder]

(Curly voice from the 3 stooges) Hey fellas!

(Regular voice) We are having a BIG meeting this weekend, we could vote and share some ideas there. ACE members only of course.

My hats off to The guys who take time out of there day to keep our website up and runnin'

[ChadC]

As a bit if a hijack,

.. Should there be a slection process of whom we allow to be on our forum "associates"?

What criteria should we follow?

What benifit should ACE members get (if any)?

What benifit should the vendors get (if any)?

chad

In my humble opinion...

The one requirement that a vendor should follow to become an "associate" is that they are a contributing member to the ACE club.

Now what do I mean by a contributing member?

Can they print up a bunch of shirts to give out to people? ..no

Can they offer a 0.0005% discount to there store? ..no

Can they pay for the Internet usage till 2037? ..no

What I mean by a contributing member is an active person to participates in the events and conversations here on ACE.

The one thing this club can always have more of is someone who cares about the group, and adds there knowledge, skills, time, and effort to the group as a hole.

If we have a Vendor who gives up a bunch of cards and t shirts but never offers any advice to a fellow member in need or show up to a luncheon to enjoy in the friendship, they can take a walk.

Those t shirts and cards are a tax write off to them. Most of us Vette owners have the finical means that if we want a t-shirt or card we can buy them our selves.

I will use Mike as what I consider a contributing member from AZ power and sound as an example. Bigfoot99 took on the project of replacing his Intake to an LS6 intake. Mike could have said

"Hey come on down to my shop. Ill take care of ya! Best prices in town!"

Mike didn’t.

Mike said (paraphrasing) "I have a LS6 intake you can buy from me used. Be careful of this, this and this when doing a job like that. You will need extra Parts A, B and C too. If you get in over your head, come down to my shop and Ill help you."

thank you for reading my opnion

chad

[Kameron]

If anyone feels I'm doing a bad job at trying to keep ACE working, they are more than welcome to step in and have at it.

Dude! Man, we love you! You are doing a great thing for this forum. Everyone has their opinions about advertisement. Many people hate it. Hence Sirius and that other one.

[Togo]

If anyone feels I'm doing a bad job at trying to keep ACE working, they are more than welcome to step in and have at it.

Dude! Man, we love you! You are doing a great thing for this forum. Everyone has their opinions about advertisement. Many people hate it. Hence Sirius and that other one.

it wasn't about how you were running the forum - it was more that when bryan gave it up, you and phil took on the initial technical and monetary obligations to keep us up and running, you both have done a bang up job and we appreciate it, however, "legally" this is whomever's forum is on the domain registration and website hosting - "technically" it is OUR forum.

and for those that say we need a page for vendors - WE ALREADY HAVE ONE

in case some of you have neer seen it......

http://arizonavette.net/links.htm

let's just keep it at that - like some said, if i want to look at that page, then i will, if i don't want to be bothered, then i'll keep off the damn page! (but of course, change it to have vendor discounts and other "freebies" from them - it's all good!)

[anmracing2]

I have to agree with Chris.

http://arizonavette.net/links.htm

That is a good page to have "Associates". If I need something I can go there and not worry about all these advertisements. I thought that is what that page is all about.

Yes Mike is certainly a good example of a "Vendor" who cares enough to help us out. He is willing to give advise without the "Come on down and I will charge you for my information" attitude.

Would the vote go to "Contributing Members" or "Active Members"? Just wondering... Doesn't matter to us either way.

Andrew

PS. Mods are doing an awesome job.

[Robert and Elizabeth]

I also agree with having a different page for "associates". That way we don't have to be "forced" to see them everytime we log on or go to the forum home page. I am all for discounts, and having a specified page for "associates" would be fine. I can make the choice of who I would use. I would also see how much that "associate" participated in our forums, giving advice. That example of Mike at AZPS giving advice to Sean was perfect. He is awesome and is always willing to help. That is why we do business with him. If I needed something or am having problems with something in my Vette, I would post a thread so you guys and the "associates" could give me your thoughts from your experiences. If an "associate" stays silent in our forum, then I would probably not do business with them. That is what this forum is about...helping each other out and learning from each other about our true love...the Vette. Just my

[Desertdawg]

In my humble opinion...

The one requirement that a vendor should follow to become an "associate" is that they are a contributing member to the ACE club.

Now what do I mean by a contributing member?

Can they print up a bunch of shirts to give out to people? ..no

Can they offer a 0.0005% discount to there store? ..no

Can they pay for the Internet usage till 2037? ..no

Just curious, Contributing Member????

http://www.arizonacorvetteenthusiasts.net/...ic=2129&hl=

(Pete was pretty persistent about wanting to contribute to ACE.)

If you let one person say they hate something, does the entire community loose the opportunity to make their own choice?

If the community chooses to go against that one member is it worth loosing him?

Also realize that just because a business owner wants to offer something to us, doesn't mean they will be on here to contribute like Mike(AZPS). If we have several Chevy dealerships offering us a group discount, are you going to say that they can't be on the list because they are not logged on here???

All we were trying to do here was to tell the membership that there is a list of vendors that we can trust, and were offering discounts to ACE. (and yes it was going to be only vendors that the membership as a whole would approve).

I'm sorry for assuming that the list of banners down the side of the forum was going to be ok with everyone.

[Guest UVETTYA]

I'm sorry for assuming that the list of banners down the side of the forum was going to be ok with everyone.

Apology accepted. (as far as I'm concerned)

Moving right along.... :D

[bzimpf]

So I'm a newby here but what the heck - someone asked for opinions - and I usually have one :D

First off - 10 minutes looking and I don't see these banners anywhere. There's the links page but that's not what you mean...what banners? I think I saw them once but maybe not - oh well.

When I first came here a few weeks ago I wanted to know one thing: Where can I take my car and not worry? Got that answer pretty quick from those that are on the forums regularly.

I appreciate that associates (or whatever) want to provide discounts to members - it's a very nice thing - and may indeed drive some additional business their way - that is the point (or one of them) for owning a business.

I think if there were banners (that I could find ), I'd presume a certain amount of endorsement by the club - in fact anything on this site (beyond the forums) represents the views of the club in some way, right? Unless of course it's characterized just as businesses offering discounts to members - nothing more nothing less.

So, I think there are 2 issues (or concerns) around the current plan:

1. Banners - as opposed to a seperate "Discounts from supporting vendors" or something page. The business probably wants the visibility of the banners (an assumption on my part), the regular users (those that have voiced a POV) don't want the clutter. Both valid points. Will the vendors still provide the discounts without the banners (a discount page instead)?

2. The "neighborhood" issue - I don't know Joe, or CnV, or any other vendors here (except the 2 I've dealt with). If you (we?) start posting banners in return for a 15% discount it's a double-edged sword. Who accepts banners from vendors we collectively "approve" of and rejects the rest? Ain't gonna work IMO. We either take 'em all or take none.

What may work however is something CF has (hope I'm not pushing it here). They've got a sticky or whatever where members can relate their positive experiences with businesses/vendors.

So, there could be discounts and banners (or a seperate page) for everyone offering them and a "Good Experiences" sticky or whatever for the "voice of the people" to be heard. No negative stuff -

You can tell me to "but out" anytime now.

Although I haven't met the mods yet: nice job on the site - I know you just want to make it better for the members - no good deed goes unpunished! :D

[Desertdawg]

Bryon, everyones opinion is welcome here.

You have some good points, and yes it is a double edged sword!

The banners were small and down the left side like on the CF, but I took them down.

I think we will just keep the links page updated, and if a vendor wants to increase their exposer here they can start posting along with the rest of the members, offering advice and getting involved.

[roneva]

"I think we will just keep the links page updated, and if a vendor wants to increase their exposer here they can start posting along with the rest of the members, offering advice and getting involved."

Whew!!!!!!!! Glad we cleared that up!!! Good job commicatin' fellow members!!

[anmracing2]

Maybe you can put "Associate" under their avatar. In the grouping. You already have "Member" "Supporting Member" "Admin" Etc..... Just a thought.

Andrew

[Buccaneer]

Sorry Dwayne and Phil...I'm with a few of the others on this issue as well. I think "maybe" the idea of a discount from a business "might" be a good deal for members and certainly free advertising for the company’s. However, I ALMOST fell out of my chair when I saw CnV listed though. I know you bought from them Dwayne and you may have had good dealings with them as well and you're a lucky guy.

I know of two CF members that recently purchased from them and let's just say CnV knew better and should have fixed the vehicles before selling them and stand behind what they sell and they didn't and wasn’t truthful with the buyers either. That to me is VERY dishonest and very MISLEADING to say the least. They just want to sell a vehicle which is fine vs selling a QUALITY corvette to a corvette enthusiast which is what the forum is about, right…Corvette Enthusiasts. I certainly would not want to promote or support a business like that for any reason even though we don’t have to go to them if we so choose.

On the other hand, I have no qualms about supporting other quality corvette oriented businesses with an excellent track record and above board business ethic, as a matter of fact, I'm taking the vette to Classic Gold tomorrow for an alignment and to do some data logging on the way. I have been very happy with them to date. This is only my .02 and may be shot down for it, but it’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.

P.S. Sorry I'm so late on this topic and glad to see that the links are gone from the index page. Jim and I have been busy rewriting the code and changing the look of the CFI forum for Ken and have a long way to go yet.

[Dvl4evr]

I don't know much about how forums work, but wouldn't it be possible to add "associate" or "vendor" to the top of the forum page by "gallery" or "help". That way, it's not on a completely different page, yet you wouldn't have to go into it unless you wanted to.

Jim

[dcoleaz]

"How about a seperate page if we have to have "associates". That way I could choose to ignore the whole thing but someone who wants to hunt up a vendor or locate a specific website for the vendor could still do so. Don't clutter our website with them. "

[Harris]

I think we will just keep the links page updated, and if a vendor wants to increase their exposer here they can start posting along with the rest of the members, offering advice and getting involved.

[Guest UVETTYA]

Bryon, everyones opinion is welcome here.

You have some good points, and yes it is a double edged sword!

The banners were small and down the left side like on the CF, but I took them down.

I think we will just keep the links page updated, and if a vendor wants to increase their exposer here they can start posting along with the rest of the members, offering advice and getting involved.

I think this is a good decision Dwayne. In 15 yrs, this is the friendliest forum I've ever been on - including more than a few Christian discussion lists!

And thanks Dwayne and Phil for all the hard work you do in the background that we never see.

Steve

[nort99]

Bryon, everyones opinion is welcome here.

You have some good points, and yes it is a double edged sword!

The banners were small and down the left side like on the CF, but I took them down.

I think we will just keep the links page updated, and if a vendor wants to increase their exposer here they can start posting along with the rest of the members, offering advice and getting involved.

I think this is a good decision Dwayne. In 15 yrs, this is the friendliest forum I've ever been on - including more than a few Christian discussion lists!

And thanks Dwayne and Phil for all the hard work you do in the background that we never see.

Steve

Damit Steve I work hard also. A pat on my back feels good to you know. I am going to thank you in advance for the kind words. Do we have to work hard here also?