Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

[JimConley]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

It's obvious from your "authenticity decline" poll that you don't feel like the hobby is heading in a direction authentic enough for you. If that's the case, it's up to you to change it.

Unfortunately, I don't think it comes down to stepping up and offering help online because ultimately I don't really see too many people listening.

But, I do have a few things up my sleeve, Mr. Chris Daley, and I think you will be very surprised to see just how much I really want to see this hobby progress beyond its current monotony.

[CJDaley]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

Unfortunately, I don't think it comes down to stepping up and offering help online because ultimately I don't really see too many people listening.

But, I do have a few things up my sleeve, Mr. Chris Daley, and I think you will be very surprised to see just how much I really want to see this hobby progress beyond its current monotony.

I think people do listen and do care. You started a thread with 97 responses and over 250 votes. That tells me people listen to what you have to say. Glad to see you've got somethings in the works, it's really up to young energetic people like yourself to be the future of the hobby.

[JimConley]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

I think people do listen and do care. You started a thread with 97 responses and over 250 votes. That tells me people listen to what you have to say. Glad to see you've got somethings in the works, it's really up to young energetic people like yourself to be the future of the hobby.

Yes, I was happy to see that there were some helpful and informative posts on that thread. But something like that only gets the wheels turning, and I hope that either my thread or Wickett's at least accomplished that. All I hoped to gain from ranting like that was simply to get people to scratch their heads for a minute and give an honest reply. I do fear, however, that despite whatever small successes came from those talks, these things lose fire just as quickly as they get started, and then it's back to the same old same old. Sooner or later, there will be a way to make it stick.

[DougCooper]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

Unfortunately, I don't think it comes down to stepping up and offering help online because ultimately I don't really see too many people listening.

But, I do have a few things up my sleeve, Mr. Chris Daley, and I think you will be very surprised to see just how much I really want to see this hobby progress beyond its current monotony.

Jim - honestly, had you been at BGR and some of the other bonafide campaigner events, you might have a different opinion, might have learned something and indeed might have contributed something valuable to the campaigner end of the hobby this year...in the field, where it counts.

I look forward to your ideas. We need input from everybody, and you have much to offer. I would love to see you and Sam step up and run an authentic COI for instance, or sponsor a preservation march type event. Training folks up to high standards is the only way we can change the hobby, and the only way you can do that is in the field. Nobody gets trained on the forum, you get informed on the forum.

Anyway, your audience and attendees are answering this thread and voting as Chris says - i.e., you have our attention!

[CJDaley]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

I do fear, however, that despite whatever small successes came from those talks, these things lose fire just as quickly as they get started, and then it's back to the same old same old.

Don't lose faith my friend. I think your comments on this thread and the "authenticity decline" are taken to heart and it will be the start of something. Keep moving forward and please consider my request to help out the online community as it'll certainly transfer to the field...even if in small numbers.

[coastaltrash]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

"Jim - honestly, had you been at BGR and some of the other bonafide campaigner events, you might have a different opinion, might have learned something and indeed might have contributed something valuable to the campaigner end of the hobby this year...in the field, where it counts."

Hey Doug,
If you would have bothered to look at the Vicksburg AAR (at least I thought it was a bonerfried campaigner event) then you would have noticed that Jim and his Dad manned the registration and hauled people to and from the camp sites all day (15 hours) after driving 12 hours straight. You should watch out where and at whom you cast stones.

I'm proud to call Jim my messmate in the field, and a really great friend out of it. He's probably one of the only people so not full of themselves on this forum that he gets begged by me to fill an NCO spot when I have a company or a say so in the formation of that company. He also hosted a great event at Chickamauga last year, he didn't have to pimp it or sell shit and or raffle tickets either. He has also someone I personally turn to for opinions on what should go on at an event. It helps when an organizer can turn to someone like Jim. AND to add something else rather than being a holier than thou and someone who shuns people (as I was by people on this thread) Jim is pretty inviting and willing to share knowledge that he has, and GASP admits when he doesn't know something and refers them to someone who does.

[JimConley]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

Landrum,
Thanks for stepping in and sticking up for me. You are a true pard.

Doug,
What's with the BGR comments? That's like the third time you've brought that up to me. I couldn't attend BGR because I had personal obligations and simply didn't have the money to go. I really haven't done much this year, I'll admit, but getting things together after graduation has been my primary focus for the last six months.

And what is this talk about me not attending good events? Let's see...2006:
Ft. Donelson LH
Land Between the Lakes
Goose Creek Bridge LH
Ft. Granger LH
Rich Mountain
Chickamauga LH
Perryville LH Group

The last two on that list were programs that I put together, basically by myself. And that also is not including the handful of weekends I spent at local sites working on documentary films and interpretive talks with hundreds of people, hours on the phone and computer communicating about events and programs, reading and attending collector shows and private collections to study original items, then going back again just to make sure I got it right the first time.

So what more would you suggest that I currently need to do in order to contribute in the field?

[CJDaley]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

Jim - honestly, had you been at BGR and some of the other bonafide campaigner events, you might have a different opinion, might have learned something and indeed might have contributed something valuable to the campaigner end of the hobby this year...in the field, where it counts.

Doug,
This isn't about Jim or BGR and I'm sorry if it appeared as if I was picking on Jim, the only reason I addressed him specifically is that I know him and I know his passion for making things better in the hobby. This isn't about what he's done or not done, heck, I didn't go to BGR either, in fact my work/family schedule has precluded me from attending any events sponsored by the AC forums over the last 6 years.

I think we need to call upon the youngest members of this forum to help out our hobby not only as event contacts, officers, NCOs, unit presidents, preservation leaders, but to steer the online community in the right direction. That was my intent with addressing Jim specifically.

We all know Doug that your efforts in the preservation and authenticity areas are amazing, but you and I aren't getting any younger (sorry to say) so we need the younglings to help us out. This way you can I can sit back and enjoy the 150th series as rear rank #2 soldiers!:)

[Charles Heath]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

"...in fact my work/family schedule has precluded me from attending any events sponsored by the AC forums over the last 6 years.

In that case, you have one heck of a Doppelganger in your sutlery.

Let's not turn this into a Chris vs. Jim thread.

[CJDaley]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

In that case, you have one heck of a Doppelganger in your sutlery.

I guess I should have specified that I've never attended an event as a participant vs. a vendor. I tried to do both once and I couldn't get out of 'work' mode. :tounge_sm

[paulcalloway]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

I don't know what this thread has to do with BGR or any other event.... I'm pretty sure nothing.

Stick to discussing the Approved Vendors label in this thread, please.

[paulcalloway]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

Nick -
The locking down of threads is for allowing an announcement to remain an announcement and not letting the thread get hijacked by superflous discussion which may or may not actually apply to the matter at hand.

It seems more reasonable to me, for those with sincere motives and honest questions, to create a separate thread for those sorts of discussions.

[6thLouisiana]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

I agree with the above post. There must me accountability of vendors. I have been waiting a long time for a pair of trousers, I hope to get them this week.
thank you,
Dirk Behana
6th Louisiana
SWB

[paulcalloway]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

I'm of the opinion that vendors can and should be available for questions about their reproductions. "Because I said so" is simply not a good enough answer.

That is a burden that authentic vendors in this hobby simply have to bear - but what they shouldn't have to bear is anonymous attacks from those just wishing to stir the pot. For that reason, we ask for real names on this site and we insist on a certain amount of decorum and proper deportment. By supporting this site financially, and by their contributions to the hobby at large, I think our AC approved vendors have earned the right to be treated respectfully here.

By the same token, those asking the questions also have a burden to be informed about the issues that they inquire about and they need to pose those questions in a manner that is fair -- not an attack, otherwise this moderating staff WILL close the discussion.

Curt has described in length as to why we simply can not evaluate every item a vendor has for sale - in the past when we attempted that, we had prospective vendors sending an A+ version of his products in for review but then a C- version to those who actually made a purchase based upon our recommendation. Approving Vendors is as much about their business practices and their stability as a business as it is the authenticity of the products they sell.

We are not Consumer Reports and we never will be.

[Drygoods]

Re: Approved Vendors label is NOT a rubber stamp

Mr. Calloway,

For what it's worth, and this is just a bit of joking sarcasm, I've always been of the opinion that instead of an approved vendor list, there should be an AVOID VENDOR list......makes the whole thing a lot easier don'tcha think?:wink_smil