90p Admin

With our members who also happen to be vendors (DSD, SWK, Bly, IBN, CompuData, Azamba, etc.) does it make sense to have an area only for members who do not also happen to be vendors in SocialCast?

For what purpose? So we have a private place to post openly about them/their products?

Yes, but I think I'd word it more like: In order to freely speak frankly about products and situations that individuals have had with vendors and their products.

Plus we need a place to talk smack about Jim.

Let's see how the Fusion thread pans out. SWK is pretty quick to the defense. Let's see how it pans out. I don't think there is an issue ....... yet.

There is. There are folks who won't post questions or respond to questions expecting that those vendor members may hear what they have to say.

So you are suggesting that we set a private are that excludes four members on the admin team and about a third to over half of the regular membership? I don't see how this would work. If I want to say something that I don't want a vendor to see, I use regular e-mail.

That was the big question about letting vendor members in - would it limit discussions? Have people contacted you directly about it Robert?

It's a combination of conversations I've had with a few folks, some different posts on SC, and conversations we've had in the Admin group over the last year or so.

@JeffSchwenk do you not feel like you're limiting your responses that way?

Or not reaching out to the masses sufficiently @JeffSchwenk ? I'm not sure how the private group would work. What would you call it - Non-Vendor Member Discussions? How do you define a vendor member? What about the Blytheco members?

I think some self censorship is a good thing. Requires one to be civil with others. I really don't think I hold back that much. Seldom do I post anything in the private groups. And as I said, if I have something sensitive, I will just use regular e-mail.

@ThereseLogeais No clue. It's just an idea that I had. I haven't really developed it much at all. I guess I'm looking for feedback and suggestions.

It seemed like an interesting idea to talk through. If no one else is interested, I'll drop it and go back to my corner and mumble to myself.

If you think of any other interesting ideas back in the corner, let us know!

This is definitely an issue as it relates to products which are also resold / produced by our members (vendor other otherwise). But it's generally only an issue for the problem products where members have experienced issues - Time & Billing , Point of Sale , Job Ops, One thought is to have these become surveys where people can anonymously contribute. The downside of course is that it often takes more time to create the survey than it might be worth. The only other suggestion that I can offer is that these types of ""hey anyone have experience with .... "" be managed by asking for email replies.

I think Jeff's approach is the best and I think each individual can adopt it or not as they see fit. I think that some people prefer to voice their concerns (ie complain) when there are problems and the forums are a great place for that. Each individual will decide if what they are saying is appropriate or not. Knowing the vendor members are present might curtail it but maybe (hopefully?) it will also lead to healthier discussions where the partner reaches out to the vendor in a constructive way offline or the vendor takes their lumps and comes back with a workable approach that satisfies the partner. I think there is too much cross-pollution with members + vendor members to restrict things. If anything, I would lean towards more open-ness as I think it will lead to stronger conversations and helping everyone advance the ball downfield faster.

I'm just going to ask people to email me directly with positive or negative feedback.

@PeterWolf there is a difference about a complaint session and someone asking for feedback before jumping into something.

Agreed.

So if someone asks for feedback on a specific vendors product, if I've had a good experience, I'm going to share it. If I haven't - and I know they are going to see it - I may think twice but more likely, I'm going to soften the criticism to something palatable to the vendor. Of course, it would depend on the vendor - if I truly don't like them, I may just let 'er rip. I guess you never know....