Re: Freeloaders (was: RE: AROC-USA, etc.)

[Ian Lomax <sfalfisto@xxxxxxxxx>]

I see both sides of this issue (as I usually do).  I
will gladly help any Alfa owner that asks for help, I
don't care if they are ARA/AROC members or not.  But
where I DO draw the line is in giving away other
people's hard work for free.

I spend 10-40 hours a month trying to keep the ARA
running, and I'm up against all kinds of competition,
mostly from the internet where information is readily
accesible and free.

Club dues pay for our website and for the publication
of the newsletter.  If you want it, you gotta pay.  I
think that's fair.  And I would never ask our
technical advisors to ask people if they are members
or not before helping them.  But I would also hope
that the people calling realize that these resources
cost money, and do the honorable thing and join the
club.

Sorry for the rant, but it's a touchy subject for
those of us who volunteer our time to help the clubs.

Cheers,
Ian Lomax
ARA President



--- John Hertzman <johnhertzman@domain.elided> wrote:
> In AD9-490 Brian Shorey mentioned that "On the New
> England site, we've noticed
> a lot of 'freeloaders', content to download the
> newsletter every month, with
> seemingly no interest in joining.
> 
> "It would be nice to be able to recognize some small
> stream of revenue from
> some of these people."
> 
> Without meaning disrespect for either individual or
> either position, I would
> just mention that this position is diametrically
> opposite from the late
> Fred's. He had arguments year after year with
> members of the AROC Board of
> Directors (and with some other AROC Technical Hot
> Lines) over whether the Hot
> Line advisors should get membership numbers or
> otherwise verify current AROC
> membership before helping Alfa owners who phoned
> with problems, sometimes
> literally stranded at roadside. Those who disagreed
> with him had some logic on
> their side, as AROC was footing the monthly phone
> bills for the Hot Lines so
> there would be no conflict with other family members
> tying up the single
> family phone. Fred's position was that he would help
> anyone who needed help,
> and that in the long run anything which helped one
> Alfa owner would eventually
> help all Alfa owners and eventually help the club,
> as some of them responded
> to our more fraternal instincts. He tried to justify
> it as a recruiting tool,
> but it was really more of a personal quirk, (of
> which he had his full share).
> 
> Which reminds me of his first visit to our home. He
> was in his Milano,
> tail-down with the back seat filled with all the
> stuff one would expect to see
> in the trunk. The trunk had a big toolbox and a
> collection of parts one would
> not expect to see in a Milano (or a GTV6, for that
> matter -) - I remember a
> Spica pump toothed drive belt, for example, and an
> I-4 water pump. I must have
> looked puzzled, because he said something like "You
> never know when you might
> see an Alfa stranded by the side of the road -" I'm
> pretty sure he wouldn't
> have asked to see the membership cards, and driven
> off if the hapless strandee
> couldn't produce one. Many people found Fred - well
> - brusque - perhaps
> idiosyncratic - but I consider myself fortunate to
> have seen one of his better
> sides - as I know Brian has, probably more than I
> have.
> 
>  John H.
> --
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