Selling stuff

[steveb@falcon.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

Hi there Terry ...

It is a very thin line we tread.  Would you want anyone who has stuff to 
sell hawking it on the q-list?  To someone out to make a buck forums like
the quattro list are a boon ... all you have to pay for your advertising
expense is the on-line access charges.  Although I feel some get a little
vigorous in their defense, IMHO it is not totally unwarranted.  Any such
SPAMMING adversely affects the overall signal to noise ratio of the list ...
In the cases of people notifying the list of cars for sale, the poster 
typically has no interest in the vehicle, and will usually indicate this 
fact ... the q-list has my favorite acronym here ... IUD - (Insert Usual 
Disclaimer).  It may also be the case that the poster is selling a personal
vehicle.  In general, only unusual or special interest Audis are posted to
the list ... you don't see a lot of folks posting messages about seeing an
Audi 5000 automatic for sale ...

In general, the policy is that if you are a vendor with something to sell
and you see someone post a request to the q-list for information about 
something like your product then you can feel free to provide your infor-
mation to that person via direct e-mail ... posting the response to the 
list is frowned upon ... If that person buys your stuff and feels that it 
is the greatest thing since AWD ... they can post their personal experience 
to the list.  If you really do have a good product, then [electronic] word 
of mouth should be sufficient!  I think this is a very reasonable and work-
able policy ... and it provides REAL information to the list, rather than 
marketing hype.

... and if you are a vendor you can have your company products or services 
added to the vendors list on the quattro list homepage.  I peruse this list 
and have gotten names of good vendors through it ...

And yes it may seem that all the postings for things like getting calendars 
are a waste of bandwidth ... but you must keep in mind that in most cases 
they are acknowledging the gracious and unselfish efforts of others on the 
q-list.  

Remember that one of the biggest values of the quattro list is the high 
signal to noise ratio.  We should all strive to do whatever we can to 
keep it that way!

Have a great weekend!
Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose, CA (USA)