"happy To Be Associated With..."

[mongoose1983 3335]

Hey y'all fellow TCers,

I've been scratching my head for months over the main TC page feature called "Happy to be associated with...". I would like to hear your opinions on this one.

Very often I receive "Happy to be associated with..." requests from people that I've never heard of. So I am wondering what's the idea behind this feature? I mean, some of the guys sending those requests are people I talk pretty often and have exchanged parts, but some of them never even said HI to me or commented any of the models in my showroom. It's not that I am looking for people to do that, but it makes me wonder why people would turn to my showroom asking me to acknowledge that I have anything to do with them? To me it is pretty strange.

Sometimes I question myself why I do accept these requests as I am only a humble person from a poor country on the other side of the world. Many times in the past there's been some people who would refuse to sell or exchange parts with me because I am poor and living in Chile. I feel it has taken me lots to get the trust from fellow TCers in Europe and the United States, and I don't know who these people sending requests are. Now don't read this as if I am not interested in talking about my (or your) Tamiya cars or exchanging parts, or just being friendly, it's just that I have read on the TC forum about people who are scammers and I sure wouldn't like to be linked with them.

I wonder (and would like to know) what you all think about this "Happy to be associated with..." feature, and what was the idea when making it available on the main site.

Hope to read your thoughts and opinions on this one.

You all have a great Sunday!

[JeepnMike 150]

I haven't been here long enough to have any clout, but I would take the requests as a compliment if I were you. As for being from Chile, I assume most of the people here are smart enough to see you post thoughtful and intelligent replies and are genuine so your location and income do not matter. I can't imagine anybody's opinion of you would be swayed by where you are from. Now if you you were American... That is another story. haha. Anyway I think it may be your screen name that people like.. Sure reminds me of BMX back in the days

BTW, Nice EB!!

Cheers!

[twisty 8]

Hi EB,

i have had similar requests from people i don`t know,have never spoken to etc,personally i tend not to add them.

I tend to only add folks i have communicated with and/or have had good deals and coms with or actually met.

Sometimes i have asked them directly and had either no reply back or they have said they hit the button by accident,they tend not to get added,sorry.

Caution is the key here IMHO,if something doesn`t sound quite right,i walk away.I have sometimes suspected they could be trying to find some sort of credability by association

and could be trying to use my reputation/history etc for some sketchy or dubious deals,i have a naturally suspicious mind,some might call it paranoia but they can call it what they like if it isn`t going to affect them.

I would advise you to do what you think is right.I wasn`t really sure about this fairly new feature when it was started and actually started a thread called "Little black book" about a similar space or feature being made for people you would rather not have anything to do with,maybe even a "hidden from public" space only viewable by you and your friends,but that idea kind of got shot down in flames straight away.

TBH i`m still not entirely sure about the "Happy to be associated with" feature,but all the folks on my list,i HAVE actually had deals with or very good coms with or met in person.

Anyway,the sun is shinning and i`m out the door to go racing,have a good day yourself squire and speak soon.

BR,

T.

[Hibernaculum 933]

"Happy to be associated with" is just a way of showing which members you have had good dealings with.

It's a way of showing who you trust, so that others may consider those people to have a nice reputation. It's not exact science at all, but hopefully it helps establish good reputations for the right people

As a community, where trades are often made based on trust, it's in everybody interests to behave ethically. Good people deserve credit, bad people deserve to be weeded out.

H.

[Swarm 242]

Well said 'H' .

I get the requests sometimes from people I dont know as well EB I do the same thing as you wonder why they have made such a request as I dont know them having said that I do find it an easy way to communicate with members rather than going to "Find a member" and typing in their name its easier to go to my home page and find them that way.

It dosent matter that you come from Chile actually I didnt know it was a poor country ,Mate you could come from Timbuktu and all that would matter to me was if you were an approachable and nice person (Which you are).

I sometimes had wondered if some people think its a contest to see who can have the highest amount of "Happy to be associated with" .

Your a great guy and thats all that matters

Stuart.

PS: By the way EB please accept my " Happy to be associated with" request

[kstar 0]

I see it as a sort of rating system. "Being associated with... someone" is like I have done business with this guy and trust him. Looking at it now I only have 5 people who are happy to associate with me. 3 of them are swedes I have done business with or talked allot with. The other two are well known members. Well they all are.

What I say is don't threat this place as it's myspace.

[Mad Zero 316]

Well I just sent a request to anyone who's ID I recognised that I'd either met, known or had (positive) dealings with through TC - some added me some didn't it's no big deal imo. When I get requests I just add them and take it as a compliment!

[Henk4Focus 0]

I am honoured by every request I've received from fellow members. Being in SA I don't get to meet anyone. Ok not yet anyway. Every person who has send me a request are on my contacts in my emails. I would send a "Howdy do" to them personally if I see something that they've added in their showrooms that I like and would discuss said model with them by email rather than a page long comment on the showroom page. I would also contact them for advice on how to's etc. I don't know how I would be trapped into a scam by any of these individuals as they are all long standing members of TC and some not. Not being a member of the club for more than a year doesn't make you any less worthy of someone who has been here for 10 years. Just check some of the new members posts and you'll see some pretty awesome builders and collectors there.

I hope that none of the members are being pulled into a scheme by such a simple thing as an association button on our homepage. I also have to agree that it might be that some are just there to see how many people they can get as "Associates".

SO ALL WHO READ THIS GO AND ASK TO ME TO ADD YOU AS AN ASSOCIATE!!!!!! Sorry had to do that!!

This tendency I have found is directly proporsional to the amount of comments per post in the showrooms. It seems to be a preference to be associated with someone who'll get 30 "Wow, Whopee, well dones" for the purchase of a drive shaft than someone who scrath build a Chevy suburban out of plastic, cabbage leaves and wood and only got one "You are an artist bar none. Please join the Chevy Crew SIG" comment. A trend very obvious on TC unfortunately in mu humble opinion. I really feel that some people do not get the credit they deserve for their efforts.

So what I'm trying to say in with this mumbo jumbo, it is nice to be associated with a def4x4, mrmarui22, Wyoming, Scollins, _MIGA_, Tamiyaonebay, CASE1, DeeMiller, OCD, BiggusDitchus, Loaded, Hoppin mad 74, Berman, Steelrat, Dr.Roberts, Japper 7, Kalsh, ............................this list is endless. So take it as a compliment when someone asks to be associated with you, it means they appretiate your work and see you as someone to look up to even if they don't know you or has never met you personally. Bask in the glory of being a person liked by someone else.

Then there are the SIG's. I take it as a honour to be associated with all the members of my SIG "The Chevy Crew" and that they would choose to be associated with me. When I see a Chevy, no matter what it looks like I would asked the member who posted it to join the SIG. If they accept the invite I take it that we share a common interest and would ask to be associated with the member. I do not know if they accept these "Add Me's" or not as I do not go and check but thanks to all who do accept, I appretiate it.

We also have a whole bunch of new "Faces" on TC. They see the posts and would pick up quickly the who's who in the TC zoo. So they to would now all of a sudden want to be associated with who ever they see as the main stream big names on TC. Again, take it as a compliment and not as a scheme to defraud you or take you for a ride in a trade.

Any comments on my rant?

Henk

[loaded 4]

It is tricky the Chile bit, as with the exception of France (where parcels haven't been delivered, but have ended up returned to me) South America, including Chile, Mexico and Argentina are the three countries I have had difficulty shipping to. It might have even been to you (not accusing, by the way, it isn't an accusation!)

The trouble is partly my fault regarding recognition. You see I deal with so many people, some I would define as good buyers who are polite and pleasant, but they don't want to enter into a 'friendship' so to speak, just maintain good terms. Others are frothing at the mouth to talk about Tamiya (I won't name any names Badboy...!) and others just want an arms length community, which is also fine, we can't be friends with every single person when there are 10s of thousands. Others are good mates I have met, or chat to regularly about this and that and occasionally Tamiya. The problem with recognition is some people have one Tamiyaclub.com sig, another eBay one, an email address that is similar to neither and a normal human person name and connecting the dots is sometimes hard - for example, someone I have known for years, I only recently joined the dots and realised what his eBay username was. You see, I knew his first name (he signs off this way) and I knew someone with that name buys loads of stuff from me on eBay (but lots of people have that first name) and his email address had nothing to do with his TC sig or eBay nick for that matter (does this make sense?)

I am sure I know all the peeps on my list (by the way, you MUST ALWAYS RECIPROCATE, it doesn't automatically do both lists) and even more sure there are loads of great chaps I know who aren't on it, which doesn't mean I am not happy to be associated with them

When they were thinking of implementing it, the powers (OK, well, close enough, Andy!) told me that it was an attempt at a sort of 'backdoor eBay feedback system' if memory serves, so the idea is that you should only add those you have good relations/dealings with and not just try and get a big long list!

Over all the time and all the people I have annoyed over the years (!) I am pleased to say I have only had one major falling out and although I am sure the other chap feels differently, that was all a misunderstanding and I felt I sorted it out.

Paul.

[Jonny Retro 12]

I don't have many people in my "happy" list - I've restricted it (both incoming & outgoing requests) to:

- people I've met, and should a bar brawl breakout in our presence, would consider it my duty to at least hand them a chair to break over someone's back, and

- people I've had positive trades with, and should someone impugn their reputation, would be happy to join a flame war on their side.

There are a couple of outstanding requests in my list ... that doesn't mean they couldn't ever be in one of those categories, so I've left them as outstanding rather than decline them.

[Origineelreclamebord 45]

I mainly use the 'happy to be associated with'-list as a list of people who I had positive trading experiences with And people who I've had good contact with in general sometimes as well...

As far as I know I've never met anyone from TC in real life, and as such I don't have any real life friends to add on TC either

[Mad Zero 316]

I don't have many people in my "happy" list - I've restricted it (both incoming & outgoing requests) to:

- people I've met, and should a bar brawl breakout in our presence, would consider it my duty to at least hand them a chair to break over someone's back, and

- people I've had positive trades with, and should someone impugn their reputation, would be happy to join a flame war on their side.

There are a couple of outstanding requests in my list ... that doesn't mean they couldn't ever be in one of those categories, so I've left them as outstanding rather than decline them.

...thatks for the tip mate - if a brawl breaks out at Eastern Bash then, you're on your own!!

[mongoose1983 3335]

Thank you all for sharing your opinions on this subject. All perspectives are interesting, and myself I was interested in knowing what were other TCers opinions about it. Anyway, many times, not just three or four, I have found TCers not wanting to ship here, even though I was willing to pay the shipping costs. Just a couple of years ago I discovered that I could get parts and complete cars from abroad, but before this I have been buying and exchanging vinyl records from Europe, Japan, and the States, since 1992 and it has never been rare to find people to refuse to deal with me. I am not blaming these people, it is actually frustrating to me, but I understand where they come from. So this is the reason why I was asking myself what can be behind having, all of a sudden, people that never even said HI to me sending "happy To Be Associated With..." requests.

...I would take the requests as a compliment if I were you. As for being from Chile, I assume most of the people here are smart enough to see you post thoughtful and intelligent replies and are genuine so your location and income do not matter. I can't imagine anybody's opinion of you would be swayed by where you are from. Now if you you were American... That is another story. haha. Anyway I think it may be your screen name that people like.. Sure reminds me of BMX back in the days

@JeepnMike: Actually, I made up the nickname thinking in what used to be my favorite misery, a 1983 Mongoose BMX bike. I was a BMX racer in the early 80's, and sometimes I think had I have THAT bike back in 1983 would have changed my life forever. Oh, and by the way, I have nothing against Americans, or your ex-President either. I'm a hardcore Country music fan, and I almost married a wonderful woman from GA not too long ago

Anyway, you all have a great Tuesday!

[JeepnMike 150]

@JeepnMike: Actually, I made up the nickname thinking in what used to be my favorite misery, a 1983 Mongoose BMX bike. I was a BMX racer in the early 80's, and sometimes I think had I have THAT bike back in 1983 would have changed my life forever. Oh, and by the way, I have nothing against Americans, or your ex-President either. I'm a hardcore Country music fan, and I almost married a wonderful woman from GA not long ago

I, too had a "rad" Mongoose I raced back in the '80s. I will never forget that bike and the cool colors and the "stripes" on the back half of the frame (down-tube). I later moved on to GT and eventually to motocross bikes, and on to the hospital with the broken bones.. 14 times. LOL Sure was a lot of fun though and wouldn't trade it for the world!

BTW, I went to your youtube page, I was giving you a thumbs up on the Early Bronco (EB). I assume that is your initials too

[fatboyslim 11]

I, too had a "rad" Mongoose I raced back in the '80s. I will never forget that bike and the cool colors and the "stripes" on the back half of the frame (down-tube). I later moved on to GT and eventually to motocross bikes, and on to the hospital with the broken bones.. 14 times. LOL Sure was a lot of fun though and wouldn't trade it for the world!

BTW, I went to your youtube page, I was giving you a thumbs up on the Early Bronco (EB). I assume that is your initials too

I've only got one person in my 'associates' list!!

Maybe I should add you Erich??

I had a 'real' Bmx in the 80's, a DiamondBack!!

As you're probably aware Mongoose were set up as direct competition to DB

[mongoose1983 3335]

@JeepnMike and @fatboyslim:

Yes, those are my initials. Ain't it cool the classic mid 60's-early 70's Ford Bronco is named the same way. I believe the Bronco must be one of America's most characteristic 4X4 ride ever -along the 1951 Willys. Oh, yeah. I sure know the DiamondBacks. I remember a chromed one, with yellow pads, from back in the day. Eye-candy at the San Carlos' race track.

ANYWAY, I had to start another tread on Vintage BMX bikes so we can keep this one about Tamiya RC and the TC Club, okay.

Here's the link to the BMX one in case you feel like checking it out: Classic BMX - TamiyaClub.com

See ya there guys!

[kstar 0]

Bart Taylor!