Re: What is sell-3d?

[P3D John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 17:11:03 -0600
>From: P3D dalia miller  <dddalia@xxxxxxxxx>

>Would it be too much to ask for the person/s responsible for the decision to
>create sell-3d, to please provide us with the reasoning and guidancde behind
>that decision.

>I ask these questions, because I am having a difficult time knowing where to
>post my messages -- on photo-3d or sell-3d.  I have some interesting tales
>to tell about some of the items that I have for sale, but if I post it on
>photo-3d, it may be interpreted as commercialism; yet to post all the
>"interesting" information on sell-3d is somehow inappropriate and out of
>character with the postings there.  

That's very easy. Is the "interesting tale" only interesting because the item
is for sale ("this Revere was owned by a little old lady, who only used it to
take pictures in church on Sunday"), or is it something that would be of
interest to any stereo enthusiast apart from ownership ("this Realist was
owned by Adolph Hitler - he used it extensively to plan his invasion of
Poland - you can still see the dent where he hit Hermann Goering with it
in a barroom fight")? If the former, it belongs in S3D, if the latter, 
mention in P3D would be appropriate, with reference to the price in S3D 
or by direct contact.

>I would truly appreciate some feedback from the decision makers. 

Since your message was posted to P3D, I presume that feedback from the 
general P3D readership would also be welcomed.
   
>Should I post the "info" part on photo-3d and say - "go to sell-3d to find
>out how to buy this item?"  If this is the intent, then absurdity is alive
>and well in this part of the 3D world. 

Is the objection that in order to get your free advertising out, you are
asked to follow guidelines that were requested by the people who kindly
provide the mailing list free of charge?

>If I post the entire thing on
>sell-3D, most readers aren't going to see it since the sell-3d list is much
>smaller than photo-3d.  

Just possibly, that means that most of the P3D readers don't *want* to see
the advertising. (Or it could be a matter of confusion, as you mention - more
on that later - there may be a fix.)

>And if it were to grow to be the same size as
>photo-3d, aren't we being redundant?  

If it were to grow to the same size, and if the readership were identical,
that would be redundant.

>For my 6-1/2 cents worth, please get rid of sell-3d!!  It may have started
>out as a good idea, but it's time has come -- to go.  I feel that it isn't
>necessary; it's confusing and time & space consuming. Commercial postings
>can be prefaced with FS, etc.  That way the reader can scan the messages,
>knowing what to expect from the "noted" message and decide whether to stop
>and read.

Alternate proposal, in three steps:
 1) S3D is eliminated.
 2) People posting things for sale on P3D put "SPAM" in the subject line.
 3) People posting things for sale pay the same per-word rate (to ETSU,
      or to the moderators, or to a stereoscopic public service fund) as
      they would pay to advertise in Stereo World.

:-)   :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)

>So this has become a call to arms to rid of the world of sell-3d. I have
>learned at least one lesson in life, if it's confusing to me, it is
>confusing to a lot of others as well.

If the low readership *is* a matter of confusion and not of people being
reluctant to receive the ads, there are two possible corrections, that
could be used together:

 - Announce on P3D that as a correction for confusion resulting from the
   split-off of S3D, everyone on P3D will automatically be subscribed to
   S3D on a certain date (i.e. 2 weeks from now) *unless* they send a
   request to Dr. T (or whoever) that they do not wish to be subscribed
   to S3D. It's been a short enough time since the split that most of
   the people on P3D signed on when there were ads. This way it takes an
   explicit action not to be subscribed, so all the confused people will
   get S3D. :-)

 - Inform new subscribers to P3D that they will also be subscribed to S3D
   unless they ask not to be subscribed to S3D.

This would be reasonably consistent with the policies used in mail advertising,
where people normally get advertising but can specifically ask not to
receive it. And it would let whoever wants (or doesn't object to) the
advertising receive it, while keeping a "commercial-free" forum available.

John R


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