Klarinet Archive - Posting 000444.txt from 1995/01

From: Martin Pergler <pergler@-----.EDU>
Subj: Thoughts on service providers on Klarinet
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 1995 13:49:10 -0500

Welcome Daniel Dorff. It's nice to have you on board. Your question
as to whether readers of Klarinet would like you to post lists of new
music is, I believe, a question we have to address more generally.

Klarinet subscribers are enlightened individuals who have a deep personal
interest in the clarinet and its music. Quite a few also provide valuable
"commercial" services for clarinetists, for instance Clark Fobes comes to
mind. Some also represent or provide an informal communication link to
larger companies which are of interest to clarinetists, for instance Mr.
Kaminsky of Leblanc. We are happy to have these people aboard, first as
aficionados of the clarinet, and second for the additional info or help
these people can provide because of the "services" they provide.
As the internet expands, I think we will start seeing members who
join primarily to establish a "presence" for their service, though
hopefully also to join in the discussion with personal interest.
This is not bad.

I think we should develop some guidelines to enable members who
are service providers to publicize what they do, while at the same time
prevent the list from being overloaded with advertising.

Comments?

Please note that I have no official position on Klarinet or on any
computer system on the Internet. These are just my personal opinions.
In the rest of this note, I thought I would outline my ideas on
possible such guidelines with a hope to encourage discussion.

1. All new members are encouraged to post a message to the list saying
who they are, including any services that provide or companies they
represent, formally or informally.

2. Adverising of services, or periodic infomercials are discouraged.

3. But exceptional news, even if related to a commercial endeavour,
is good.

4. We should somehow establish a LISTSERV-retrievable document, or
maybe a FAQ-type periodic posting, which would list members
and the services they provide. So if I want to find out if anyone
on the list sells reeds in Chicago, I can.
Maybe we could automatically archive the messages in point 1.
Perhaps we want to archive it for all members, not just for
service providers.

5. The info in 4. could say "email me to be put on a mailing list". This
provides a way to disseminate information which might be contrary to 2.

Examples.
Ms. X joins and does overhauls. She should post a message saying who
she is and that she does overhauls. 1. and 4. apply. She shouldn't
post messages that for-a-limited-time-there-is-a-20%-discount, or that
she has a special shipment of Buffet R13s. If she wants to do this, she
should set up a mailing list as in 5.

Mr. Kaminsky tells us that Leblanc is developing a new C# clarinet in
balsa wood. I think this is fine by point 3, price included, if brief and
only occasional. But if Leblanc rolls out a new clarinet every month, then
a mailing list (5) is probably better.

Daniel Dorff has 3 new releases a month from Presser. I think a mailing
list is appropriate, not regular Klarinet messages. But if Presser
becomes the U.S. distributor of Czech Panton sheet music, I think that's
news (3). Perhaps the operative question here is whether this can reasonably
be expected to provide a reason for readers to join his mailing list.

Setting up some retrievable list of service providers as in 4. is critical
here. If we don't provide a means for service providers to publicize their
services, we have no business telling them they should not advertize.

Comments? Again, I reiterate I have no official position and _this is
not policy_. It is my brainstorming on what I think policy could be.

-------------------------------------------------------
Martin Pergler pergler@-----.edu
Grad student, Mathematics
Univ. of Chicago

   
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