Jim Swartout has contacted me regarding my post on Commercial Messages
which I have attached below.
He objects to my following statement:
> I don't think anyone selling products should make disparaging
comments > about competitor's products. Comments that sound like: Well
if you're > having a problem with that product maybe you should have
bought mine.
Jim's post in regard to a reported problem with a competitor's product
was as follows:
> Interesting,
>
> Would any Creative Engineering & Design, Inc., Roller Rocker owners
> care to interject?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Jim Swarthout
In my opinion, Jim's post can be taken in many ways. He said it was not
intended as I took it, and has asked that I retract my statement. I
believe his point is that he made the statement because his Roller
Rocker Kit included instructions on how to deal with rocker to valve
misalignment and was simply suggesting that buyers of his products
respond with what they had learned from his instructions.
I think everyone should be given the benefit of the doubt. I retract my
statement in so far as it was a reflection on Jim Swartout.
Don Malling
My original post.
===================
I hope we're not getting the messenger mixed up with the message on this
one.
I see a lot of commercial messages on the list, and no one seems to have
a problem with them. I also see non-commercial messages that people have
had problems with in the past, and I am one of those people.
I don't think anyone selling products should make disparaging comments
about competitor's products. Comments that sound like: Well if you're
having a problem with that product maybe you should have bought mine.
I also don't think anyone should attack another list member or make
"smartmouth" remarks about the value or accuracy of another members
suggestions. If you think another member's suggestions are inaccurate,
the correct response is to put on the table a list of technical reasons
why it is wrong and to do it in a professional way -- as if the other
guy is your best friend, but just happens to be wrong in this case.
I do not mind commercial messages on the board. I think they can lead to
trouble if not done well or carried to excess. But lots of messages on
this list can lead to trouble if they're not done well. That's why the
board needs a moderator. We have a good one.
There seems to be a certain individual who is at the core of this
controversy. I would caution him not to assume that support of
commercial messages means support of the tone of his commercial or
non-commercial messages as they were in the past. I also think this
individual has a lot to offer. More than most and certainly way more
than me. I welcome his presence on the list, and would view his absence
from it as a loss.
Lets not confuse the message with the messenger.
Don Malling
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