Date:         Thu, 9 Mar 2000 11:33:30 -0500
Reply-To:     "Fitz-Randolph, Douglas" <Doug@BEACONMARKETING.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Fitz-Randolph, Douglas" <Doug@BEACONMARKETING.NET>
Subject:      List Sticker thoughts from sunny Portland, ME
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

(Apologies for tying up bandwidth here - this message can also be found on
the sticker discussion forum at
http://www.321website.com/members/home/data/kokopellis/ . However, as nobody
has posted anything there yet, I figured I ought to post to the list to be
safe)

my 2¢:

1)  The sticker should be used so list members can identify each other.
Identification should be able to be performed from a good distance away and
while moving at a considerable speed, thus facilitating a wave, smile,
u-turn, 6-car pile-up, whatever. With that being the goal, a sticker (for
example) like 'Raul Cisneros #5' (MHO: maybe replace 'bus drivin' list
member' with 'vanagon list member' and 'vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com' with
'vanagon.com' ) would seem to me to be the easiest to spot from a distance.
(MHO: It kind of reminds me of the big letter/number on the subway trains in
NYC - which is what I think we should be striving for here) In a perfect
world, there'd be one on the front windshield and one on the rear. If you
want to try and judge which stickers are the most 'visually distinct',
squint your eyes really tightly so everything is blurry, then scroll through
the stickers and see which ones still look like something recognizable!

2) The other scenario I can envision where the sticker might be useful is
when your van is parked somewhere all by itself and some potential community
member comes up and peeks inside. They'll think 'Wow, this thing is great -
a bed, a fridge and all that room, yet it doesn't take up any more space in
the parking lot  than my crappy little car - I wonder how I could find out
more?" Then they see the sticker... what should it say? Vanagon.com I think.
They'll be able to find lots of valuable info there, including how to access
the list. Sure there are other great sites out there, but which one would be
easier to remember than Vanagon.com? Anything about gerry will just be
confusing to anyone but us, and we're already list members.

3) Bear in mind that not everyone likes bumper stickers on their vehicles
(yes, that'd be me!) and might be making an exception in this case because
they think this is a 'worthy cause'. So stickers with clever sayings,
allusions to The Dead, etc. might not be the best thing for everyone.

4) The "having a primary" idea proposed on the list is a great one - narrow
it down first so we aren't throwing our votes away!

Doug Fitz-Randolph
'90 Syncro
Yarmouth, ME