Date:         Tue, 19 Jan 1999 07:46:39 EST
Reply-To:     KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Subject:      Spam Sandwiches
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

I think this whole discussion has gotten way out of hand.  First of all you
have to realize something about myself, Ron, Jim, and some of the other
vendors.  We are not money hungry capitalists sucking this list dry.  I
started my business for one reason (and I believe some of the others had the
same idea) because Vanagon parts are hard to find, when you go to buy them the
people who sell them to you don't know what they are talking about (don't know
Vanagons), and they are outrageously expensive.  So really I feel like,
myself, Ron and the others here provide a very valuable service to this list.
If you had to go to the dealer (or even your local parts guy) every time you
needed head gaskets or heads, most of the Vanagons out there would be sitting
in a junkyard somewhere.
     Also, I see nothing wrong with what started this whole thing in the first
place: responding to a question on the list with not only information but also
price and availability.
     We are here for you folks.  I am not driving a gold plated van and
neither is Ron.  We are in this business because we love VWs and we care about
the VW community (and we found a way to make a living doing what we love).
     As to list postings, my self imposed rule is that I try to post at least
5 helpful posts to the list for every one ad post.  I feel like this is fair
as I am contributing to the list.  Other critical folks (not Tim) never
contribute anything to the list except flames and then they brag about how
they never post to the List (?!?)  I feel like this is a community that I live
in, and work in, and I like to give more than I take.
So if we are going to make up rules about list postings of ads that is my
suggestion, you have to post 5 helpful posts to every one ad.
     Why are you flaming the vendors postings anyway?  We make up a really
small percentage of the actual postings.  Look up "tires" in the archives and
you'll wonder who is really wasting bandwidth.
Thats my 2 cents (Just got the suit back from the cleaners)
Ken Wilford
Van-Again
John 3:16