Posting Ads--Again

[Gary S.]

Back in August, someone posted a new thread that began with "Where can I get." Several people where jumping in where the poster could get his item (rocker panels). One said "I may have" and his post was not deleted. Another said "Such and such dealer has them" and that was not deleted. I said "I do have them" and mine WAS deleted. I knew the rules were no ads, but I saw this and thought the rules may have changed as I am not on the NCRS board everyday like it is the total sum of my life. A big thread followed about ads two days later and the thread was eventually closed.

After I got emailed by the administrator of my deletion, I wrote the administrator this response.

1. If no member can "sell" parts, then it should not be allowed for someone to start a thread that states "Where can I get..."
2. It appears to be OK if a member states what dealer might have the part
3. It appears to be OK for another poster to state that another NCRS member has the part
4. It appears to be OK for members to play the game of "Call me" in lieu of saying "I have the part, call me."
5. It appears a non-member or dealer in general has more selling rights than a member....just plain not fair play.

I see the above is still going on. Check out this thread https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...63891&uid=4047.

I know it is hard to control the members postings. If the NCRS directors want more than 20% participation, than I think member ads will do the trick. As one poster put it, why should the membership reading this discussion board not benefit from getting to buy a part immediately from another NCRS member. We need to allow this in some way soon. Now we go to the Corvette Forum for our parts and there is limited knowledge there.

Write your representative to help get this changed. This is a disservice to our membership.

My two cents....Gary

[Stuart F.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

Gary;

I agree with your premise on this matter as well. I think we are all guilty of at some time or another asking for part location information. It's a natural; you are working on or planning a project and some need rears its' ugly head! What do you do? Of course, you jump on the computer and pose an inquiry by thread to your fellow NCRS members. What better source? If they are more disciplined, they will respond with a Private Message or an E-Mail to you, but it is not as convenient to do so and it tends to limit your input to just a few ideas rather than the wealth of information that exists collectively in the group.

Stu Fox

[Bill C.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

Someone needs to "boot" the old guard into the 21st sentury ----

Seriously -----------

I hate using eBay and the Corvette Forum to list and find parts -


It is not a big technological undertaking to put a for sale section on this forum.

My 2 cents too...............

[Ian G.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

Folks have been talk about it off an on but it hasn't happened yet. The moderators indicated it was going to be too much work to police the extra section. But if you want to increase the usage of this board, won't THAT be extra work? So I don't buy that argument. There's also a concern about advertisers in the driveline getting bent out of shape as well.

I want to see a for sale/wanted section on this forum.

The driveline doesn't cut it, online or otherwise, though putting it online is a step in the right direction (but too diffiuclt to use). The internet has been around in its current form for over 10 years. I'm paying 70 dollars a year to belong to the NCRS and my local chapter. What I get for that money is is this forum and a magazine 6 times a year. I have to pay to go to events our own club puts up. Which is fine, I'm all for helping. I don't think its too much to ask to get a for sale section on this forum to help me save money or get a part when I need it without getting jerked around on ebay or by untrustworthy folks, which happens to me ALL THE TIME.

There's a reason newpapers are losing subscribers: Its because people find it easier and cheaper to do it online. NCRS should not be ignoring a legitimate demand when it can improve the use of this board and bring in new members.

Sorry if my post is a little infammatory. But, it would take the moderators a grand total of 60 minutes to put up the new section at most.

[Mark P.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

Ian - I agree that a For Sale/ Parts Wanted section would be very helpful. Being new to this hobby it takes tons of time to track down parts. I have found so many land mines with EBAY but if you are really informed you can occasionally find a deal. I have heard so many stories where people buy a part and find out it is not correct or not in the condition expected and end up losing their money. A lot of the members on the TDB seem to know where to find most of the parts they need so they aren't experiencing what you and me are going through. We could certainly increase the membership by offering this. Since the Driveline isn't really searchable in an efficient way it is very time consuming to sort through it.

Mark

[Roy B.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

1. If no member can "sell" parts, then it should not be allowed for someone to start a thread that states "Where can I get..."
2. It appears to be OK if a member states what dealer might have the part
3. It appears to be OK for another poster to state that another NCRS member has the part
4. It appears to be OK for members to play the game of "Call me" in lieu of saying "I have the part, call me."
5. It appears a non-member or dealer in general has more selling rights than a member....just plain not fair play.

Your right but some people are dumped on while others are not, go Figure It might be a loupe hole

[William M.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

Add me to the list that would like a For Sale section. If it can work on the Corvette Forum, it can certainly work here.

[Hugh A.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

There is also the issue of timliness. I had submitted a driveline ad as part of my search for a particular vette just shortly after the previous driveline issue. In the period between issues, I continued my search and located and acquired the vette I sought. Recently the latest driveline was released with my ad and I was contacted by an NCRS member interested in selling. Unfortunately this NCRS member was too late - he missed the opportunity to sell because driveline ads are not timely.

A section for members to post ads on-line would be an obvious addition to the NCRS website.

[Greg L.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

No disrespect to any of our elder or computer challenged members but the impression that I get is that the board wants to for some reason protect this group which again for some reason they feel is the vast majority of ACTIVE members and the "future" of the NCRS. They don't want the younger generation of NCRS members or the computer literate that frequent this forum to scoop up all the parts and cars before the "other more deserving" old time members have their fair chance.

I got this feeling from the excuse they posted a few months back about why there won't be a for sale section any time soon. We need like 50% of the registered members to be active on this forum to make it worth while. I'm not sure where "50%" came from but the only way that will ever happen is when those members that don't use this forum stop being NCRS members. Only then will the ratio of forum users to non forum users approach this magical 50% mark.....

Maybe what someone needs to do is start a separate FOR SALE/WANTED forum that is totaly independant from the NCRS but just for NCRS members. I'm not computer savvy enough to do this but it shouldn't be that hard to set up a basic classifieds forum like that.

I hope my thoughts didn't tick too many people off but this is how I see it.

[Bill M.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

Greg

Point well taken. But remember that the driveline is often delivered with a good week variation depending where you live. So many of us are at an immediate disadvantage. In the late 80s i lived in Queens N Y and would buy the LI Newsday because they had a great sports car and classic car section. I would call on cars the first day of posting and most of the time the car was gone. i always heard unconfirmed rumors that there were people with a first look.
I would love to see an on line sales section posted by the seller and the seller only.

Bill

[Ian G.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

This reminds me of when I was looking for a blast cabinet locally on craigslist. I looked and looked and finally I found a guy selling one for $100 dollars. GREAT deal. I call him up. He had listed the ad the day before. He tells me he sold it within ONE HOUR of posting it. So if that can happen with an internet ad, what chance does anyone have to get a great deal in the driveline? Plus, once word of mouth spreads "Hey you can get a lot of good parts on the TDB" you will be amazed at how many people decide to fire up their computer and see what the buzz is about. Over time we are going to see this request get more and more pointed as new folks join who grew up with computers, like me (I'm 36).

[Bill M.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

My point was that every member has equal acess to the board but not all to the drive line. i would say that the average age of members is well above the dawn of the computer, more like the age of the carburator. yet we manage.

Bill

[Mike M.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

If we can't ask where to find a item or the best place to find or purchase something that we can't find. What is the point of having this board? A lot of vendors get mentioned on here as well as some members that do work for others. I don't see a problem with someone saying give so and so a call I got the same thing from him. But we can say don't bye from someone there quality is not good. I have found parts by someone emailing me after a post on where to find a part.

[Wayne K.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

Greg

Point well taken. But remember that the driveline is often delivered with a good week variation depending where you live. So many of us are at an immediate disadvantage. In the late 80s i lived in Queens N Y and would buy the LI Newsday because they had a great sports car and classic car section. I would call on cars the first day of posting and most of the time the car was gone. i always heard unconfirmed rumors that there were people with a first look.
I would love to see an on line sales section posted by the seller and the seller only.

Bill

I also belong to another club that has a nationally issued monthly publication and it is the same thing there. The time between meeting the publishing deadline and when it hits my mailbox is too long and 9 times out of ten when you call what ever is for sale is gone.

[Ian G.]

Re: Posting Ads--Again

I didn't mean to imply everyone in the NCRS is an old fogey that doesn't know a computer from a TV set. But Bill remember you are actually on the forum, so that makes you more computer literate than a lot of people.

I'm just saying as younger people start coming into enough money to buy a corvette, there's going to be more demand for computer services from the NCRS, because kids younger than me that can listen to an iPod while IMing their friend, while doing some homework, while watching a video on youtube and feeding the dog will come along and ask for streaming video from the TDB so they can see first hand how to fix a fuel pump.