RE: AROC,NYET!

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@xxxxxxxxx>]

geez, leave the country for a few minutes and miss out on a perfectly good
flame war.  a few comments..

>         After seeing this small scale flame war on the digest,my AROC
renewal
> notice just went into the garbage can.I won't be renewing it;AROC sends me
a
> magazine each month that has 1/10th of the info contained in one
installment
> of the Alfa digest.The digesters helped me put my clutch master cylinder
back
> together in a panic situation through quick,friendly and USEFUL advice and
> tips (God bless all the digesters who sent help, I am eternally
greatful);the
> magazine collects dust.And, the digest is simply more timely.

you're not taking advantage of one of the clubs best benefits, imho.  the
tech hotline could have provided you similar information, perhaps even
sooner.  for the cost of membership you get the home phone #'s of people
like fred dimatteo.  ara provides a similar benefit, although you'd have to
deal with east coast/west coast time differences.

in support of the digest, however, and another reason why clubs should
support it, is that people like fred can respond to tech hotline type
questions on their own time, and without the interruption of a phone call.
i seem te recall fred mentioning at one time that he could handle more tech
calls via e-mail, and that it was less disruptive.

>              I applaud and congratulate Mr.Welty on his efforts for the
> digest;I think the gentleman who aired his displeasure regarding lack of
> response to the banner request should offer quick and sincere apologies.My
> AROC membership money is available to get Mr.Welty a nice,well deserved
> gift.The man has certainly earned each of our thanks,a gift would be a
nice
> token of appreciation...................

there's no question, richard is a god.  don't come down too hard on bernie,
however, aside from this lapse in judgement he's got good intentions.  i was
there during some of the aroc on the internet discussions a couple of years
ago, and bernie was instrumental in changing the attitude of many.

however, a year and a half ago club support of the digest was already
overdue.  since then, an entire year and a half has gone by without the club
supporting the digest.

which brings me to the real reason for my response.

why is it that only aroc-usa seems to be expected to support the digest?
the digest, which has an international presence, could use support from
aroc's all over the world.

also, i find it interesting that more of the businesses with some presence
on the digest choose not to support it (although maybe some of them have
been trying during the past five months).  every week, on the italian-cars
digest, we get a weekly mailing of the supporting business(es), and every
week there's exactly one name on it.

>       I would venture to say that perhaps the monies spent on memberships
to
> AROC could be better used through their technical support phone lines,a
> comprehensive library and the remaining monies be spent on the individual
> chapters,rather than on an expensive magazine and a board of directors.

the tech support lines are well manned, the library is comprehensive, all
the local chapters are in the green, and every survey seeme to indicate that
the alfa owner is the most appreciated resource amongst the membership.

bs

p.s.  i'm surprised that nobody commented on bernie's second blunder -
publicly copying the entire bod in his initial e-mail.  i think there are
some that prefer to keep a low profile.  i'm sure he's heard about it
off-line.

------------------------------