Ok, I will be the jerk.

[NeedOne]

New team member.. appreciate Screaming Eagle Boats for raising the point.
Have gained a wealth of knowledge from Scream and Fly, really helped thru my first go at outboard power.

Thanks..

[vnemous]

I would also think vendors, more specifically, guys who sell boats would be upset over the constant posting of boats on eBay and Craigslist. Obviously not paying to have their boat seen by the membership.

[Markus]

Is the original post about the posts about a boat builder whose name kind of rhymes with "Gay Bikini"?

[noli]

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When you read this thread ==> http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...8-15-400R-news

Do you think that the originator of that thread is promoting Mercury Marine? Do you think that the person is trying to sell you a $49,000 outboard motor? Should Mother Merc come on here as a Supporting Vendor? Or do we "excuse" Mercury Marine from this because we all love Mercury Marine.

Then it becomes a question of who we like and don't like.

Do you think Randy Scism of MTI Powerboats should become a Supporting Vendor here in S&F because we "don't like" MTI ==> http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...340X-Catamaran

Should we tell Peter Hledin of Skater Powerboats to also become a Supporting Vendor or should we "excuse" Peter because so many of us love Skater boats ==> http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...741-Skater-318


I spend hours and hours finding, compiling, uploading pertinent pics and info here on S&F, to tell about manufacturers' good news, and spend the same hours answering questions about them. Maybe we should start a new section called "Industry News" where people can go to find out the latest about what manufacturers are working on and their cutting edge technologies? That way we won't make Supporting Vendors uncomfortable about these "type" of threads.


If we choose not to disclose other manufacturers' News, then Facebook truly has won the battle. And speaking of FB, S&F in FB is named "Scream And Fly Magazine". Yes, She's an online magazine literature.


Please don't misunderstand my post, I support all paid Supporting Vendors here and they help make this site much richer in content. Over the years I have increased my level of paid membership on S&F and will most likely become a Supporting Member very soon. I encourage those who are able to, to do the same...I definitely take more than I give in this Forum.







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[Raceman]

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If we choose not to disclose other manufacturers' News, then Facebook truly has won the battle. And speaking of FB, S&F in FB is named "Scream And Fly Magazine". Yes, She's an online magazine literature.

I'll take a shot at this since the paying membership options were basically my brainchild here over a decade ago after seeing similar options on one of the car websites I participated in the time, and believing back then that this website had the potential for unlimited growth which wasn't practical to continue to support by one person's personal contribution and limited generic advertising income based on monthly hit count. In short, what had started as a handful of hobbyists had mushroomed into a huge group including manufacturers and other marine related businesses, and the site had developed a gargantuan appetite for bandwidth to accommodate the activity.

The original intent was to offer members the opportunity to VOLUNTARILY chip in on the overhead with 3 levels, Team Member, Platinum Team Member and VIP Team Member, all three which restricted buy/sell activity to disposing of personal surplus, no flipping or reselling allowed, regardless of volume. Originally any commercial or reselling activity required Supporting Vendor registration. Some members, especially those actively racing who have a tendency to swap out a lot of stuff as well as doing some on the side flipping to help offset the cost of their racing effort didn't have a good option because Supporting Vendor was too expensive for parts flippers or somebody that takes a boat on trade and wants to resell it. For that reason Supporting Member was added to the list for the small time flipper that's not in the marine business.

In my opinion, commenting that "I bought my Hydrostream from John Doe Boats and they were great to deal with" falls way short of violating the intent of the posting restrictions here, and is obviously an asset to the members, but full blown showcase and advocacy of a manufacturer's product line is over the line. If a manufacturer or dealer has a sellable product that fits within the interest range of a significant number of members here, our modest Supporting Vendor Registration cost is a lot of bang for the buck and should be a requirement for the exposure. There is no doubt a fine line between newsworthy & informative and promoting a business. If Mercury Marine comes with a new 500 Horsepower Verado it would certainly be of interest to members here for information to be disclosed, however if Brokeback Mountain Marine has a customer, employee or friend put a post here implying availability, then it becomes more than informative. Although this seems an overlap, I think a clear distinction is, does an information type post directly compete with any Supporting Vendor here? In the case of a Mercury Marine product update, the answer would be no. In the case of showcasing a manufacturer's product line, obviously yes. It has nothing whatsoever to do with "who we like and who we don't like". It's a simply matter of fairness and support for those who support us.

[noli]

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ok, I think I am beginning to see the light...thank you for clarifying.





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