re: Welty Fund, confused? (kinda long)

[TJCallahan@domain.elided]

In AD v7n536 Scott wrote:

>>Still confused about this welty fund, dose welty go out and find old
alfas in barns and rescue them?
<snip>
I really don't know what welty dose, just making statements on
observations), hey if my view of what welty dose is completely wrong
steer me in the right direction, I just don't what to turn the "alfa
thing" in to the "vespa thing".<<

HISTORICAL NOTES
- -------------------------------
First, Scott, please read the top of your Alfa Digest that hits the old
mailbox every day.

Welty, aka Richard Welty, is the server administrator (and Digest Coordinator)
that hosts the Alfa Digest (amongst others). That means he owns and operates
the computer that we post to and spits out those posts in some coordinated
way. He does it because: a) he is an individual interested in providing a
forum for discussion of these cars; b) he has the knowledge and training to
make it work; and c) he's just a darn nice guy.

What Richard does NOT have is unlimited funds and the internet connection
costs money. You'll notice that this digest is free from paid advertising.
That keeps a huge amount of independence and freedom available to us all.

Some time back (1997?) there was an initial discussion about helping Richard
defray the costs by making t-shirts/hats/etc. and selling them to digesti.
There was a flurry of exchanges on the subject, but I'm not aware of any items
being produced or sold. I am embarrassed to say that I did not contribute
directly to Richard at that time.

Then, late last year, AlfaBill suggested we buy Richard a car and present it
to him as a token "Thank you." Richard politely responded that he already had
a very nice Alfa that would need some work, but had no room/time/spousal
patience for another car. Bill then suggested we contribute to a central
account and let Richard spend the funds on whatever he choose. An estimate of
about 1000 digesti at ten dollars each per year seemed to be an adequate
amount to cover Richard's expenses and say "Thank you."

Bill, who became well known to the digest during his "One Lap of America" tour
last summer, took a fair amount of ribbing concerning being the administrator
of the "Welty-Fund" and the chance that he would abscond to Tahiti with the
massive amount of money donated. We even kidded him about doing the "One Lap
of Tahiti" while he was there. He is, to the best of my knowledge, an honest
and hard-working individual.

Bill went out to the other digests on Richard's server and was soundly
criticized for his efforts. Apparently the Alfa Digest is the only digest
contributing positively to Richard's expenses.

Bill also went to a lot of effort talking with a bank and making the fund a
reality. Banks are not known to be the most altruistic entities in existence,
so finding one that would work with you and one that would deal across state
lines for such a small amount (and 10k per year is less than what they lose in
rounding errors every year) is to be applauded. As should AlfaBill. Bill, you
can stay with me any time you want to visit Seattle (you have to show a round-
trip ticket before boarding, however). :-)

I can proudly say that I sent in my contribution shortly after the address was
posted (pre-web site, I think) and have been repaid by seeing the AD delivered
to my email address every day.

BLATANT OPINION
- -----------------------------

I, for one, think that the fund is necessary, because:

I get more than $10 worth of info out of the digest each MONTH.

I get less than that out of the various car clubs to which I belong (but I
still belong because there is a camaraderie there that is priceless and I have
some unfinished voting to do later in the year).

I am fortunate that I won't miss the amount I sent in this year (a bit more
than the $10 requested) and will continue to send it in every year for as long
as I can and need to.

I would hate to see the Alfa Digest go "commercial" by having ads purchased
and posted (the occasional postings by Bruce, Bill, etc., are OK -- I mean big
nasty ads by beer companies, or worse).

The current nit-picks and personal attacks are worthless and was the primary
cause of the BMW Digest getting its plug pulled. I would hate to see that
happen here.

Richard really allows an open forum, there are VERY FEW things that he doesn't
allow. The rest of the civility here is because of community, we're all
orphans together (OK, sorry, USA-centric there).

WELTY-FUND ADDRESS
- --------------------------------------

You can find info about the fund, and the snail mail address, at the
following:

http://members.tripod.com/alfabill/weltyfund.htm

- -- or --

You can just send your $$$ to:

Welty Digest Fund
c/o Bill Harkell
13413 Forest Hills Dr.
Tampa, FLA  (USA) 33612-3339

ONE LAST COMMENT
- ----------------------------------

You all should be proud of the way you reply to posts (the mechanics of
replying, if not the content), I used to belong to a digest related to certain
British produced cars (characterized by a leaping cat) and very few of those
guys know "<snip>" or any other method of reducing unnecessary verbiage. They
reprint the original post(s) only to reply "Yeah, happened to me, too." What a
waste of space. Darn nice people, though.

Occasional trips down memory lane can be helpful. Next week we consider
updating the acronym list, the week after we restart the "Real Alfa" thread
...

ciao

Tom
'63 Alfa (3-D puzzle)
Seattle

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End of alfa-digest V7 #539
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