<VV> VV & non-CORSA=Freeloaders??? Ya got it all wrong!

[Roger Gault]

Bruce (and all),
To me, the list is more like a good looking Corvair.  Say you had restored
your Corvair to concours winning condition and you found out that your
neighbors were looking at when you had it out in the driveway.  They didn't
contribute to the restoration.  Would you build a big fence so they couldn't
look at it?  Charge admission?  Refuse to talk to them if they showed
interest in getting into Corvairs?  Not likely.

Nobody's asking CORSA members to support a free email list "for
non-members".  CORSA is supporting a free list for Corvair folks.  The
non-members aren't costing CORSA a dime.  Banning non-members doesn't make
it any cheaper, it just makes it less interesting because there are fewer
folks on the list.

I've been driving my '65 convert for 25 years.  I dropped out of the local
club because I don't drink beer and that's all they seemed like they were
interested in doing.   I dropped out of CORSA because the boring magazine
didn't seem worth the dues.  Eventually, I found this list.  Cool!
Interesting discussions.  Interesting "characters".  It revived my interest
in working on my car instead of just driving it.  After a year or so,
discussions on the list made me realize there were more reasons to support
CORSA than the magazine, and I joined.

So, the list has caused me to support the hobby to the tune of many, many
thousands of dollars.  When I buy parts from the vendors, I'm supporting the
hobby.  When I bought an engine from Bob Coffin to use as a core for my 3.6L
project, I supported the hobby.  When I sent my heads off to Ray Sedman, I
supported the hobby.  When I get a roller cam setup from him, I'll be
supporting the hobby some more (a lot more).  The measly $35 a year for
CORSA dues is less than 1% of my "hobby support" for this year.  Without
this list, none of this interest and support would have happened.  My
insight into the hobby would still be limited to my Clark's catalog.  If the
list hadn't been free, I would have never even looked at it and a great deal
of my money would still be in my pocket instead of out "supporting" the
hobby.

Don't confuse CORSA membership with supporting the hobby.  It's only a small
part of it.  Keep the list free, except for one-on-one evangelizing, it's
our best recruiting tool for the hobby.

Roger Gault
OK, I'll shut up now (on this subject)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Schug" <bwschug@charter.net>
<Snip>
> To me, VV is like a piece of shareware software, or better yet,
> software that expires after a trial period.
>
> I think that with a tight CORSA budget, it's hard to ask CORSA members
> to support a free email list for non-members who choose to remain non
> members and won't financially support the hobby.
>
> Bruce