[SDSilverM3]

Let me describe a situation that kind of irked me this past weekend.

On Saturday the dude Jose ([email protected]) im's me on AIM and tells me I should hook him up as a sponsor here. I tell him if he's interested in being a sponsor he needs to pay the fees or email us with a proposal of what he would be willing to offer and maybe we could waive the fee if we see it as beneficial to us or the community.

I guess he wasn't getting that and said something along the lines of "Refer me some customers THEN we will talk about it". :wtf:

So am I the only one that is thinking "what the fuck are you talking about"? If one wants to be a sponsor on a forum that doesn't NEED sponsors why the hell would they be trying to make it seem like we should bow to their demands? Aren't the roles supposed to be reversed? :hmm:

Sorry, I was a little annoyed with the way he came at me like we owed him something and just need some other opinions.

Thanks guys.

 

[Lensolo]

That totally sucks, Ling. But, I have a feeling that won't be the end of proposals like that. :thumbdown:

 

[jangy]

Ling: Don't take it personal. To play devil's advocate, who the hell is the SDCrew anyway? You are right to have the feeling you do because you know the potential. He doesn't. We need to come up with a tier type strategy. Those that jump in with open arms will be remembered. Those that want proof will pay retail. To his defense, I don't know what any of us will ever "buy" from him. They are a sponsor of MBWorld, and I never gave them a second look. I prefer to let him on and allow me to challenge his products and prices. The ones that will last are the nones that ultimately honest and open. We are already knowledgable consumers. We don't need sponsors to tell us what we want. We simply want them to cater to us.

You are correct that the roles are reversed. I continue to fall back on and lobby for the open system. I say we don't try to gain revenue from sponsors but rather use the forum as a means to pit them against one another. In the end, we will get a series of vendors that we use. To keep them honest, we allow others to come on and post specials. HOWEVER, I think that all such business should be "cleared" by us. Group buys, etc. would all need approval. Also, by not getting paid, we reserve the right to delete any posts and drop sponsor status at any moment. Consider it.

Here is my pitch. Zamini is a virtual concept (with LLC status underway!!). I do not have a shop and am no direct distributor for anyone, yet I can get smoking deals from anyone. I say we use that same strategy to build leverage. Lets say we grow and become a force. We can simply begin to charge then and back off of having to be so personally active. The Reus buy is a perfect case in point. As of now, R, Jeff, and myself are it. I am making nothing on it, but I am making sure that Reus will feed us back IF we help them sell. That is the type of deal we need to establish up front. Asking actual businesses to pay for our potential is going to run into hard times. I had a similar gentleman's agreement with Creative and now he wants to buy MBenzNL shit from us. Funny how things change.

I say do not respond for now and lets have a good sit down to discuss.

 

[SDSilverM3]

Not really taking it personal but just annoyed. Annoyed by his attitude of how he thinks we should do him favors when a) we don't know the guy b) he doesn't even want to make an effort to email what he wants as far as a "hookup" goes. He just wants me to blindly say yes? LOL! Why should I or any of us lift a finger to help him?

As far as I know he is not a sponsor on MBworld and only gets his products distributed through a sponsor (Jlevi?). Powerchip and EVO seems to have some sort of beef against him and Jesse claiming they stole the Powerchip software. Vadim (MBLN) knows the situation all too well and I'm sure you know Vadim well enough where he would be willing to tell you more about it.

It’s too bad for him if he has his doubts about the forum. When one runs a business, isn’t marketing considered a gamble anyway? There are no assurances it will ultimately lead to customers but it is still done. He can marinate in all the doubt he wants because that just serves as motivation for us to make this forum better than the rest. I’m done with him and will focus on the others that have already expressed interest and are jumping at the bit.

Next subject:

-Revenue vs no revenue:

I don't see why we shouldn't do revenue based since there has been interest from a good number of people. It isn't like we NEED the money to survive but why turn it down when they are willing to pay which could fund future server upgrades and events/meets so nobody pays out of pocket? I know some of you are more than willing to fork out money for things but something about that just doesn't feel right especially when it doesn't need to be that way. :dunno:

If revenue-based fails then open system it is. I don't see the necessity of making it a free for all to start things off when not warranted. It will just make things more chaotic and the rules that much harder to enforce. We need to start things off slowly versus having a mad house especially in the infant stages of allowing sponsors on board.


Arjang: Please elaborate on how you wish to challenge other vendor's prices. I hope it is not by jumping on the threads they create because that will ultimately lead to conflict that most of us here would rather not deal with or clean up after. You will also be a sponsor here so that is poor etiquette if that's what you had in mind. Doing so will just turn everyone off to MBONLN and give us a bad reputation in general. Here are two paragraphs for the basic sponsor guidelines and I would expect that all sponsors to abide by. It applies to everyone including SDCrew members who are already “sponsors” or those who might be one in the future.

-Do not jump on another sponsor’s thread claiming to have a better price to undercut them (aka price bashing). If there is a problem with pricing, please PM the posting sponsor letting them know of the issue. This will be strictly enforced and there will be zero-tolerance for this type of behavior. NO EXCEPTIONS.

-To avoid any type of potential conflicts with other sponsors, a sponsor shall refrain from posting in another sponsor’s thread offering of products or services unless the sponsor who originally created the thread gives permission to do so.

Again, as I have said in my previous posts regarding sponsorship, we need to keep anything that can be construed as a conflict of interest separate so it does not become an MBW situation (shop running a forum and shooting down its competitors when they surface). That is the last thing I want to have happen here.

Sorry for the long post but I thought it need to be addressed.

 

[jangy]

Thanks for the thoughts ling. I have no intentions to compromise the integrity of us. To that point, i definitely have no intentions to openly call bs in any way.
Revenue vs no Revenue: If you take money, there is an inherent responsibility to comply with THEM. If you do not take money, they comply to you.

By challenging them, I simply meant to have the opportunity to openly discuss the advanteges and disadvantages of a particular project. That's it. I have no intention to undercut, but if a higher quality porduct is offered at a better price, why not bring it to light in a professional manner? In the end, our member base is our strenght and not our sponsor base. i do not want to become a biatch to sponsors. As long as the members benefit, i am fine.

Here is an example. I am now working to sell [email protected] parts. what if my prices were higher than wht an individual could get direct? Why not allow them to say that? It keep sme honest.

Just some thoughts. i would be happy to Follow up with Vadim, but I agree with you treating him with the same respected that was presented to you.

 

[SDSilverM3]

Arjang, I am certainly in agreement with you that nobody is here to compromise the integrity of anyone. However under certain circumstances one may think about it and, if one thinks about it, that means the possibility of it happening is always there. We need to be proactive to eliminate that possibility. Maybe it's just me being overly anal as an IT guy but again just want to make sure all bases are covered in case such a situation takes place.

If we do take the money we are only complying with providing a place and allowing them to post what they want to offer to members. That is it. If they don't want to cut deals then they won't be competitive, simple as that. They still need to comply with OUR rules and that doesn't mean they run our forum. Again, we do not need their support for this forum to survive, unless of course, J tells us otherwise.

However, that doesn't mean we can just call out a sponsor if we see a price we don't like. Many of us here have been on multiple forums long enough to know what could happen when someone brings up "I can get this for cheaper" in public (can turn quite ugly). If there is a problem with pricing, PM them. There are other ways to keep people honest. I just don't want you, as a sponsor, doing that in public on their thread because that could develop into bad blood. We probably never really cared before because we didn't have a forum to run but I guess some view it in a different light now.

Challenging the advantages and disadvantages of their product is not a problem at all. However, as a sponsor you need to be careful that you don't do it on their "offering" thread. Some will take offense to it and interpret it as you shooting down their business. Obviously you won't see it that way but some may. That will cause conflict regardless of whether we make them pay or do the open system. What you can do is let the other members do it since many are just like us, they want proof and want to know the advantages and disadvantages as well. All it takes is one misunderstanding to have things blown out of proportion and I don't think any of us want that no matter how entertaining it may become (some have been real opcorn: material). If you wish to discuss in further detail just create a separate thread in the technical forums where it belongs so that there is no misunderstanding as to what your intent is.



Another idea that was brought up by another SD Crew member recently was creating "virtual store fronts" (forums) for sponsors. A good example of it can be found on www.supraforums.com. The storefronts are in various colors. Good idea bad idea?

 

[SagaSupra]

looks like this guy is trying to slang works now!

 

[SDSilverM3]

Yeah well he has about 10 days to sell all the Works he wants. Then it is clamp down time. He either commits or he quits.

 

[jangy]

Ling: you are not being too anal. You are being responsible. I love the attitude and I am happy to fully comply with all of it.

I LOVE the store front idea, as that is what I was hoping this forum would become for me.

Lets talk more. I do think a nice quiet sit down will be worthwhile as I want to make sure that the forum side (you and Mr J) have a chance to air your thoughts and concerns so that I can get the ground rules fully clear. I can assure you that my mouth is more under control than it sometimes appears and that my persona (Jangy) will not be the same here as it was there. Being a sponsor and having a vested interest in SDCrew carries that added responsibility and I have been around the block. By now, I would hope that you have gotten to know me enough to know that I am old school. I don't shaft strangers, much less my own boyz. Those that need a wooping get it, but that is part of my protective nature.

On a bright side, MY CAR IS LIVE!!!!! The wizard is a true magician!! See you all at Fusion.

 

[SDSilverM3]

Arjang, we should definitely do a meet sometime next week before 1 April. Fusion isn't a great place to do that since we can't hear shit most of the time.

So fill us in on the car situation. Did you get a complete transplant? :clap1:

 

[SagaSupra]

On a bright side, MY CAR IS LIVE!!!!! The wizard is a true magician!! See you all at Fusion.

woooooooooot!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jangy]

Yes, it has a remanufactured engine. I already kicked a Trans Am's ass on the way home!! I can't wait to have mymbonline all over that bitch.

 

[SDSilverM3]

Hahahah so much for break-in. :drive:

 

[jangy]

I just couldn't hold back. I didn't keep it floored too ong, if that helps?? HAHA!!!

 

[JmanE55]

Did I hear it right? Your CAR is ALIVE? Lets RACE Arjang. :rofl:

 

[jangy]

I'm down!! I want to know what this new motor puts out. My old one was a real beast. i hope I didn't get a dud.

 

[EMPIRE]

amen, amen! fuck the break in, AMG motor is built to get abused.

 

[EMPIRE]

Please exuse me for tonite's meet. It's been a long day, I'm just gonna eat some rice with fish at home and play the F1 racing game I just got for PS3. Have a good time out there yall.

 

[jangy]

We missed you Jay. See you soon. hope you had a chance to relax.

 

[JmanE55]

Please exuse me for tonite's meet. It's been a long day, I'm just gonna eat some rice with fish at home and play the F1 racing game I just got for PS3. Have a good time out there yall.

Did you do some GOW last night w/the crew?