iATN membership

[John Larson <jdlarson@ix.netcom.com>]

George, and the list. I'm a sponsoring member of iATN, and have been
since there were about 1400 members. It's a technical resource list for
active techs, enabling us to seek direct help/advice for technical
problems encountered during the course of our jobs. Posts are done in a
controlled format, requiring the VIN, mileage, and other trackable data,
and you are expected to have done your homework, exhausting local
knowledge and expertise, doing all the normal tests, and being at least
somewhat scientific in your approach to the problem. There is a
continually growing archive, and posting accurate descriptions of the
fix is , more or less, required. Fix posts are peer rated to make the
use of the archives easier. There are various forums on trade related
topics, some technical, some related to topics of interest to those of
us running a shop, some on tools and equipment, A/C related issues, and
smog control legislation and testing.
This is NOT a website set up for amateurs, and was never intended to be
so. There is a quarterly fee for sponsoring members, and many areas of
the site are only available to them. There are also a number of industry
sponsors. Some areas are open to the casual visitor, including an
extensive listing of member shops and techs all over the country (and
even the entire world). 
This organization is large enough and becoming influential enough to
have a substantial presence in the trade. They cosponsored the So Cal
ISC Convention this year. I consider it a significant tool in my
toolbox, especially as the prices and availability of technical
publications for German cars are just not where we'd like them to be,
and good training is just not available to independents.
I have occasionally forwarded posts from iATN members to this list as
there is a considerably body of knowledge here relating to Audis in
general, not just Quattros, and some listers have been of significant
assistance to techs drowning in some Audi problem. I consider that to be
a contribution of another source of help to a fellow tech. Your ego gets
stroked when you render this help and it helps him do his job. BTDTs are
a wonderful thing.
Thanks for listening, and I hope this helps. John