Wanting to set up as a Vendor

[Power Hungry]

Good morning...

Looking to get set up as a Vendor. I sent a message through the "Contact Us" link, but nobody has responded. So, I figured I'd try here.

Thanks.

[EastCoastCB]

a vendor on the site? We don't have those, thankfully.

[Power Hungry]

Okay. I was trying to make sense of this under the Community Rules:

"Participants may not advertise, post affiliate links or links to direct others to any pages at their own commercial website or website in which they have a commercial interest, including informational pages unless a vendor account has been established."

We have a product we are hoping to be releasing soon and are looking for Beta Testers to provide feedback. Most other forums require you to be a sponsor/vendor before allowing you to discuss any specific products, so I'm just trying to figure out if it's cool to discuss this or if I need any sort of authorization. Just want to avoid getting on anyone's bad side, if you know what I mean.

If it's cool, I'll post about it in one of the groups. If not, please let me know how to proceed.

Thanks!!

[EastCoastCB]

Yeah, we have commercial sponsors, but the forum doesn't have "vendors" per se.
I think its mostly meant to keep people from selling things and posing as regular consumers.

We've had miracle oil salesmen, cell phone spammers, people selling services, etc.


From a quick google search it looks like you're a Ford/Powerstroke products company?
I don't see why that would be any problem. But don't be mad when I emphatically plead with every noob not to buy those in the first place lol.
Good luck, and hopefully you'll hear from an admin and get the answers you need.

[Power Hungry]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

But don't be mad when I emphatically plead with every noob not to buy those in the first place lol.

I can appreciate your position, and I certainly don't take offence to it. I'll hold off until I hear from the Admins. I know we can provide a wealth of information and service to the skoolie community, and we might even be able to change your mind on what the benefits are of what we (specifically as a company, not as the industry in general) can do.

Thanks again for your help.

[EastCoastCB]

Body has to come off a van to do a total job on one. Not for me, I'm a cheapskate.
But there are enough folks buying them blindly then asking "how'd I do" that you'll likely get some business.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Yeah, we have commercial sponsors, but the forum doesn't have "vendors" per se.
I think its mostly meant to keep people from selling things and posing as regular consumers.

We've had miracle oil salesmen, cell phone spammers, people selling services, etc.


From a quick google search it looks like you're a Ford/Powerstroke products company?
I don't see why that would be any problem. But don't be mad when I emphatically plead with every noob not to buy those in the first place lol.
Good luck, and hopefully you'll hear from an admin and get the answers you need.

theres a lot of IH here.. perhaps he has products for the IH 7.3 and 6.0 along with Cummins which are common here..

I know PHP has been around for a long time.. i juyst decided to hack the computers and soup up the engines on mty own instead of buy stuff

[Power Hungry]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

theres a lot of IH here.. perhaps he has products for the IH 7.3 and 6.0 along with Cummins which are common here..

I know PHP has been around for a long time.. i juyst decided to hack the computers and soup up the engines on mty own instead of buy stuff

This is exactly what we're addressing. We've developed a hardware/software package that will reflash the 1998-2006 International Medium Duty (3000 and 4000 series) which will work on the T444e, DT466, DT530, VT365 (6.0L) and VT275 (4.5L V-6).

I don't have anything for Cummins, which is a completely different platform and I don't have any inroads to working on those.

Hopefully this will get addressed soon. Looking forward to helping out the community.

[Janet H]

We currently don't have a vendor program and don't allow commercial content in posts including markety posts or "I can help with that" posts. If you want to advertise you can target the site via google ad program.

[Power Hungry]

Originally Posted by Janet H

We currently don't have a vendor program and don't allow commercial content in posts including markety posts or "I can help with that" posts. If you want to advertise you can target the site via google ad program.

Wow, that's unfortunate. Lots of Navistar folks missing out. I guess that settles it, though.

For what it's worth, Google will never see a dime of our money for advertising. Would have rather supported a site like this directly.

Thanks for your time.

[cadillackid]

What do you have for navistar NavPak gen 1? (Not 3 box)

[Jordanrctm]

I have a 99 3800 with the T444e that I am interested in talking to you about. I will hit your site up. I had good luck with your 7.3 SOTF set up.

[Bon Voyage]

Hey that’s my kind of company that won’t advertise with Google. Too bad I have a Cummins...

[TinTapping]

Originally Posted by Janet H

We currently don't have a vendor program and don't allow commercial content in posts including markety posts or "I can help with that" posts. If you want to advertise you can target the site via google ad program.

Apologies for this being my first post--we've struck a deal for our first bus which we will take delivery of in the next week or two and the family and I have a year of planning and design into our bus build--I'll promise it's not my last and this won't be the tone of future posts...unless required by context again.

I have to say, when people/companies approach a group, such as Skoolie.net, with honesty and sincerity of intent to bring service and product to market and they are met with a blind closed-door policy...and actually, to deal with the unfolding facts here, this isn't a closed-door policy it is a negligent and flippant denial of what SOMEONE previously decided were in fact the policies of the forum: namely, to permit vetted vendors to be active in the community...well, it's simply off putting to those of us who know that community is the bedrock from which economy emerges.

Someone like myself--a life long builder/fabricator, general contractor, trained as an architect, urban planner, and landscape architect, and who current operates as a designer/builder--has a lot to offer. But reality insists that given how the larger world organizes itself nothing but the opinions of my experience can be given away for "free". Given how some of the most technical threads here often end with a "Hey, PM me and we'll talk." this seems to be true for not just me.

So for how long can one just hang out and give away their knowledge for free? And at what point is it permissible to take an exchange to another level and actually be remunerated for knowledge, goods, or service? And why couldn't such "business" be conducted in the public realm of non-PM deals? And why should such interactions be stifled through bald face denial of a black and white policy people are asked to adhere to?

I'll have plenty of "free" opinions and experiences to share, lord knows I'm the beneficiary of the immense generosity of this forum, its users, and many others like it, but I also have ideas about what it is going to mean for me professionally to enter into the Skoolie community through my own build and travels. I very much intend to "make some money" off of what I learn and what I can offer. Why is that unsupported?

I'd like to ask the community at large a few questions that occur to me as I ponder the response the OP received from admin. So in the interest of wanting to be a fully active member, beyond just posting my build as it unfolds, and more into the deeper aspect of growing through innovation and testing, I offer a few questions I don't know the answer to:

• How much of an impact on member retention/participation do blind closed-door policies such as the one the OP has encountered play?

Asked a slightly different way:

• How can a community grow and remain resilient if new members are encountering obvious misinformation such as that that the OP was genuinely attempting to adhere to?
• If a community as diverse and committed as Skoolie.net can't invent a way to collectively moderate how "business is conducted" on its site what does that say about the larger project of civilization?
• Skoolie life, as far as I have experienced so far and gleaned from others, is by its nature a subversive lifestyle. How does limiting access and exposure to products, services, and relationships fit with such a radical self actualizing adventure as converting a school bus to a new purpose?

Thanks for letting my first post be more of a rant than I would have wished. I simply want to enter this community with the knowledge that it is a place that not only will I find support and camaraderie during my build but that I too can grow into and offer back to. And this ability to "offer back to" only ever comes from those who have found the security of stable relationships that support a generous life, be they personal relationships, or gawd forbid, business relationships.

With the best of intentions--Chris

PS I've lurked around Skoolie.net long enough to know the first question coming...

It's a: 1998 Thomas MVP with a RE CAT rebuilt 3126 (not the B), 3060 transmission, hightop: cab=5'11" pax=6'3", 40' 14 window-84 pax with doodads like: air brakes, auto-chains, under belly through storage, and I think blinkers too! The rebuilt engine and transmission have less than 100K on them and all the HEUI updates were completed very early in the bus' pampered-rich-school-district-life. Roof raise should begin in early September...I'll make a proper intro then!


*edited for punctuation--CT

[EastCoastCB]

Dude's free to start a thread about his product. Skoolie.net is a privately owned site and they have their reasons for not having embedded vendors.

[syntel]

People make product recommendations on here... especially if it solves the problem/request. It would be safe to recommend your product where applicable, but no one likes spam.

[Power Hungry]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Dude's free to start a thread about his product. Skoolie.net is a privately owned site and they have their reasons for not having embedded vendors.

Originally Posted by syntel

People make product recommendations on here... especially if it solves the problem/request. It would be safe to recommend your product where applicable, but no one likes spam.

Here's the problem I have with the whole thing. Clearly stated in the "Community Rules", bullet point 10:

NO SPAM! Our user base is not a resource to be "mined" by individuals, groups, or businesses, for profit or not for profit. Commercial posting and fund raising solicitations are not permitted except by PRIOR arrangement with Social Knowledge LLC. Participants may not advertise, post affiliate links or links to direct others to any pages at their own commercial website or website in which they have a commercial interest, including informational pages unless a vendor account has been established.

This tells me 2 things...

1) No commercial posting unless you have a Vendor Account.

and

2) They have the option for setting up a vendor account.


Having been in the performance tuning industry over 24 years, having been involved with MANY different forums as both a regular user and a vendor/sponsor, and having also run my very own successful forum for many years, I find it almost unheard of to see a forum that does not have sponsored vendors. So I don't know if the response earlier was possibly misinformation, but it would appear to me that the owners of the forum aren't directly involved. I may be wrong.

So that puts me in a situation to have to make a choice...

1) Just ignore the policy on commercial interest posts, with the idea being that if the part about accepting vendor accounts is inaccurate, then I'd assume the rest of it is inaccurate as well. What I'd like to discuss is not spam, and is in fact something that would be of great benefit to the skoolie community that runs Navistar-based applications.

2) Talk to a few folks behind the scenes, and help out where I can.

3) Just say screw it, drop the whole thing, and move along.

I'd honestly to see an option 4, where we can support skoolie.net, openly discuss our coming products, find some folks who would like to test a few things, and eventually help out a large community of folks who are at the mercy of the dealerships for anything relating to PCM flashing/modification. I like to play by the rules, but at this point it's not completely clear what the rules even are.

I'm going to try to contact Social Knowledge LLC directly and see what they have to say, but I'm not feeling very confident that it will go anywhere. On their own site, to do not acknowledge control of this forum so I'm wondering if they are even involved anymore. I guess we'll see where this goes or if it continues to fall on deaf ears.

On Edit: I did find where they are still managing the forum. Hopefully they'll get back with me this week.

Anyway, I appreciate the thoughts and opinions. Sure I run a business, but I'm a lifelong enthusiast in all things motorized and I like to see people get the help they need.

Take care.

[cadillackid]

personally ive heard othese guys before.. they have been around a long time.. glad they posted here as they have taken what I did with navistar to a whole new level beyond and it rocks...



ehats the difference between them coming on and sayin g "hey try this new nasvistar performance prodiuct".. and me coming on saying "wow this new allison tuner im using kicks ass... ".. people mention products by name here all the time. my redbyrd thread never got deleted and I minetioned allison transmissions and EFIlive and servicemaxx numerous times in there...



what about the guy coming on and offering to unlock people's 6th gear for a fee.. whats the difference bnetween that and a "vendor"? they didnt get flagged and several people have used the service..



I say post away about the various performance products options
-Christopher

[EastCoastCB]

If you were here to be part of the community then folks that want a product like what you sell would probably ask you questions and maybe you'd sell some.
If you're only here to sell stuff then this probably isn't the forum for you.

[cadillackid]

people learn of products all the time in forums.. I know i have.. if I wanted to make good $$ fixing bus air conditioners im sure I could put an ad out here somewhere saying "ill fiix your A/C.. " I choose to do it mostly for free but dont we all share products and names? from natures head to bluefire to reflectix.. what if the bluefire guy came on and said "I have this great didgital dash device.. " or the reflectix people came on with a product designed perfedctly to insulae bewtween bus ribs,, whats the difference between them posting about their own product and you or I using it and then posting that we found a product that can help people?



I realize there is a difference between creating a post about your product and a vendor account where your ads end up in the mix but still there is a lot of product info that goes across these posts.. find me a longer build thread where specific product names of some sort arent mentioned by their brand name