New Advertiser

[mhb285]

I just noticed that when you click on the GL pix that there is a SS in the GL link...
Must be a $$$ per click... I won't use the SS link. Sorry.

 

[surpdlr]

The ones that seem to be howling the most are vendors or resellers it would appear. How come they do not get all bent out of shape when GL advertises in the MVM or the publications of the MVPA? How come? I for one like to see all the options available and I will mike up my own mind. I do not see only one advertisement per page in any of the publications I subscribe to, Why here? What ever happened to "if you cannot handle the heat in the kitchen get out of the kitchen" Enough, time to put it to bed folks

You must have never noticed, Saturn Surplus STOPPED advertising in Military Vehicles magazine when GL started!!!

I am only upset because I payed for MY pop up ad to be the only one on the page when it came up!! That is what I was promised a year ago. Now GL’s ad is there also even tho I payed to be the only one. And your right, I guess the answer is to take my advertising elsewhere.......


Oh and I wonder about the point I brought up before:

After all this site in the past has been the GL bashing Club. I guess that will have to change now, since anybody bad mouthing GL, will be attacking a PAID advertiser!!

 

[hndrsonj]

There have been two ads on the page for a long time (to my knowlege never one). Now there are 3. Maybe they have two because they paid more? It seems everyone that is complaining either does MV's parts for a living or is looking for the 50$ jeep (or duece) in a crate and feel it is now gone. It's good for SS so I don't see a problem.

 

[54reo]

I wholeheartedly concur with Mr David Doyle. This site is THE GREATEST asset to anyone who owns a MV, specifically a REO (2 1/2 ton) based one. The amount of FREE information available to the hobby at SteelSoldiers is something that is making said hobby what it is today. Ask yourself how many other hobby sites are this "family friendly". All of the people that make this site happen (mods) work very hard to make this site available to those of us that couldn't go very long without it. There are many things that go on "behind the scenes" that most of us have no clue about, and sometimes, the whole picture cannot be seen from one point of view.

While it has been mentioned that "money is the root of all evil", that statement is not applicable here! As this site grows and improves, money will inevitably play a more critical role. Most of us have contributed in the past through donations as we could, and most of us will continue to do so. But this is undoubtedly a "drop in the bucket" of what it takes to make this site what it is.

While I am a fairly new member here, joining last April, I feel that we all owe the people here a degree of respect. The people that post MAKE this site, but the SITE would not be if it weren't for the people behind the scenes; if they (Chris, Mods) feel that something is needed here, then I respect them enough to stand behind them.

I am NOT trying to flame anyone here, I just feel that we owe a certain amount of respect here in , as Mr. Doyle so eloquently put it, someone else's house.

Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

January 20th, 2008.

Gentlemen:

Forgive me my two cents worth, but I do have to concur with Mr. Doyle above in regards to the GL advertisements. The UNFORTUNATE FACT IS--- IT TAKES MONEY TO BUILD THE PLAYHOUSE, and for us, I 'd rather have the Steel Soldiers site available at any reasonable cost to GL, then to not have access to the people who are the intellectual reservoir here. If the man needs money to maintain the site, then we all either step up to the plate like men and pay, or just say, well, you gotta do what you gotta do, Chris.
I am not wealthy enough to equal whatever GL's paying, and the general fact is, BOYS- your M35's are going to be the next wealthy whiz kid's playtoy, and the price IS GOING TO GO UP.!! Personally, I'd rather be holding the bag that boy's gonna throw his money into, then have someone else get all the lettuce. It happened with private railroad cars in the 1980's and 1990's, it's going happen at GL in the 2000-2015 period- bet on it.
The other reality check for us is the door sticker the Army puts on these vehicles, The US Government NEVER DEPRECIATES ANYTHING- No matter how old or inoperative it is. Uncle's happy to get more then scrap for some of this stuff, and that's what GL's here for. If you can figure out how to turn back time, you'll be a millionaire just on movie stars alone, forget OD iron collectors. I remember M211 GMC's for $150.00, and I wouldn't give $150.00 for an M211 as against the average M35A2, which is a generally better designed machine for hard work.
We ran the 211's into the ground in construction work and then sold them for scrap, as they had earned their money for us.
A lot of these trucks are likely going to go for scrap sooner or later, and like the caboose, the more the numbers thin out, the more the remainder are going to be worth . You will benefit when they become "Antique" or "Collector's" trucks, versus just old Army trucks, if you happen to own a nice one.
Anyway, to Mr. Chris, do what you have to to keep the site open.

Sincerely,

Kyle F. McGrogan

1963 Mercedes Benz Unimog S404.114 Swiss
1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 Wo/W "Saddam's Nightmare" (Suffering from the cold as) a Vietnam and Desert Storm
Veteran Deuce.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Must be a $$$ per click... I won't use the SS link. Sorry.

Are you saying that if it were $$$ per click, you don't want to support Steel Soldiers paying the bills? If that is your thoughts, that's pretty self centered considering how much one gets for free from this site. If not I misunderstood your post.

 

[sprucemt]

Re: GL

Greed/Money are the root of all evil Thats my last comment on this.

I have tried to "sponsor" this site for 3 or 4 months now. I would much rather, as a business, buy a banner ad, than to donate money. I was not contacted till the other day, after Mike Maynard deleted two of my post's on this subject.

Saturn Surplus, one of the original "sponsors" was never contacted in regards to the new ad position that has been created.

Frontline, also was never contacted in regards to the new ad position that was created.

Good business ethics this is not. Deleting my post's is not a good business ethic.

But I will say, change is good. And there will be change.

 

[mhb285]

Must be a $$$ per click... I won't use the SS link. Sorry.

Are you saying that if it were $$$ per click, you don't want to support Steel Soldiers paying the bills? If that is your thoughts, that's pretty self centered considering how much one gets for free from this site. If not I misunderstood your post.

I don't like being tracked on my spending habits. If they are getting "paid" for every click/linked visit using this site let us know.
What really bothers me is the "former" punishments metered out when ever anybody mentioned GL auctions. So now we can talk and now try who's bidding on what... Lets do that and try to keep the prices reasonable, or is that a problem?

 

[2027Deuce]

RE: Re: GL

I may have a different point of view here; I have to wonder how much GL is going to benefit from an ad here because everyone already knows about them!? I understand how other advertisers may be upset but I can't blame SS for taking care of business. Also I should mention that money is not the root of all evil, the LOVE of money is closer to the root of all evil.

Scott

 

[mangus580]

Re: GL

I have tried to "sponsor" this site for 3 or 4 months now. I would much rather, as a business, buy a banner ad, than to donate money. I was not contacted till the other day, after Mike Maynard deleted two of my post's on this subject.

Yes you have tried for the last couple months. And you were told we were in the middle of revamping the system, and we would contact you as soon as it was ready. The new system went online friday, and is now ready. You WERE contacted within less than 8 hours of it going active, and were provided the information.

I deleted ONE post of yours, and I took it as a personal attack towards me, and was something that I felt should have been handled first in a PM. Please PM me about the second post, as I did not delete 2. I would like to know what it said, and I will ask the other moderators if it was them? Keep in mind, any of the mods will delete what appears to be a personal attack.

Saturn Surplus, one of the original "sponsors" was never contacted in regards to the new ad position that has been created.

Frontline, also was never contacted in regards to the new ad position that was created.

I doubt whole heartedly that either of these business is willing to pay the amount that is being charged to GL for a dedicated advertising space. I didnt feel that it was necessary to contact them regarding this. I seriously doubt that any other 'publications' or advertising companies get permission from all the advertisers before they bring a new one on board. Keep in mind that Frontline SERIOUSLY balked at the original advertising rate, to the point where I had to give him a slight discount for buying a quantity of months just to get him to buy any.

Not to mention... ALL of the original advertisers have been getting FREE advertising for at least the last 3 months, if not more, because the old software did not have a good method of tracking the run of ad length and expiration.

I just noticed that when you click on the GL pix that there is a SS in the GL link...
Must be a $$$ per click... I won't use the SS link. Sorry.

Do you know what happens when you assume?

The only advertising that we have here that is Pay-per-click, is the google advertising. Its that way because its all they have to offer. Any SS driven advertising is a monthly flat rate.


Now... lets move on to statistics.. (someone asked.. yes it does tell the click rates and such)
Advertiser------------------views------clicks----click through rate
Front Line Military Vehicles--5,654-------361---------6.38% - -
Google------------------------18,464--------76----------0.41% - -
GovLiquidation --------------19,099-------266---------1.39% - -
MVPAL--------------------------2,359--------10----------0.42% - -
OD Iron------------------------5,618-------397----------7.07% - -
Saturn Surplus----------------5,616-------384----------6.84%

Proof is in the pudding. This is as of this post today. GL has had almost 20,000 vies... but less clicks than any of the other sponsors. Quite honestly, Saturn, and FLMV should worry more about ODIron than anything. Isnt he DIRECT competition to them? I understand peope have a big ethical dilemma with GL, and thats what this is really about.

 

[mangus580]

RE: Re: GL

FYI, my comment about the 'free' advertising above, may be incorrect... as like I said I have no way to track for sure. I may have found one of the group who is still paid up.

 

[mangus580]

I am only upset because I payed for MY pop up ad to be the only one on the page when it came up!! That is what I was promised a year ago. Now GL’s ad is there also even tho I payed to be the only one. .......

No such promise was made, I checked the email correspondance. It was said that your ad would be in the rotation at the top. Yes that means that yours would be the only one shown at the time, but there was no agreement that a new advertising location wouldnt be created.

After all this site in the past has been the GL bashing Club. I guess that will have to change now, since anybody bad mouthing GL, will be attacking a PAID advertiser!!

Actually, this is un-true. I let my contact at GL know, that their advertising here would not have any effect on the postings in the forum, and that there may be some GL bashing.

Furthermore, its part of the agreement, that they will provide a rep to monitor a specific forum. This will be set up soon, and I feel is a major bonus to the members of this forum.

 

[mangus580]

A further dig into statistics shows this...

Since the GL ads were brought online, the click through rate of the other advertisers has not changed. If anything it went up slightly.

 

[mangus580]

So now we can talk and now try who's bidding on what... Lets do that and try to keep the prices reasonable, or is that a problem?

this will always be a problem. It is a legal issue. it is ILLEGAL to fix bids like that in any way. This is what the rule currently stands at.

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

I don't think that prices will go up as a result of the advertising. Everyone on this site has seen the posts about GL, so they are getting plenty of press from our discussions of GL. SS does a great job of advertising different folk that aren't even paying for advertising as well. Prices go up and that's the cost of exposure and more interest in the vehicles, etc.

Quite frankly, where could you get a truck like a deuce for 2500.00 on the regular used car market? These trucks are quite incredible and the value is excellent. Never again will they be 150.00 and the fact that some were able to get trucks at that value is fairly amazing to me. Feel awfully blessed those who were able to get those sorts of deals.

I'm all for the advertising...it's the American way

 

[hndrsonj]

Mangus, thanks for the info I believe that the majority of us believed this to be the case in the first place. I for one am glad that other vendors have not dragged themselves into this mess. Things like this do affect peoples spending (change-as I believe it was stated above works both ways). GL having ads here will probably get them at least looking periodically here and I know just because they advertise here will not change people from "bashing" them if it is warrented. Hopefully they will respond to some issues in the future. Keep up the good work and do what's best for the site and it's members.

 

[mhb285]

I never "assume" anything anymore.....

 

[ida34]

I have no problem with the add. I barely notice it. I pay more attention to GL when I am surfing for the next purchase. The adds are not telling me anything I do not know. I also remember the days of driving on base to the DRMO auction. I used to take off from my unit to preview and bid on items at Fort Campbell. No doubt prices were better then. The price of scrap is running the cost up also. Many of these trucks are worth more melted down then they are going for. This is why all the scrap yards are selling them instead of keeping them to sell parts off. End result is, the more GL gets for the trucks the more the government gets. This site is a privately owned entity. If there was an agreement that is breached as to the advertising I do think that would be wrong but that does not sound like the case here. The advertisers are going to have to work that out with the powers that run and administer the site. I want SS to stay up so we can get and give knowledge. If they raise the money from advertising I think we will all benefit. If the GL link pays each time I use it I will click several times just to get the click count up and raise the SS revenue stream. To the other advertisers I say that when I look for stuff to buy I recognize that you have supported the site and will get from you as long as your price is competitive. I did not see the problem with talking about auctions but a lot of people say that getting an agreement with someone as to bidding on an auction is a crime. I think it violates the bidding agreement but I doubt there would be any sanction other than barring future bidding. I may be wrong but I doubt any criminal prosecution would happen if two guys agreed not to bid on each others auction. I have read the stories some have posted contradicting this but sometimes people repeat stuff and it is wrong. I have not looked up the actual law on this. I am just going from my experience dealing with the law. People always say that messing with a mailbox is a federal crime but I guarantee that a postal inspector will not come out to take the report and the US attorney general will not prosecute this. Point is, the law may be there but it is not enforced. Now if several companies got together and bought a lot of trucks fixing the bidding price then I could see some sort of prosecution. Either way I promote following the letter of the law and if there is such a law this site should try not to facilitate the crime.

Again, I have not read the law on this. If someone posts a link to the actual law regarding this I would like to take a look. Until then I will just keep preaching about Michigan motor vehicle law.

Cool. Check out the PU-406b/m coming up for sale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


No flame please. This is not a personal attack on anyone. These are my personal views and do not represent those of my employer or the City of Ann Arbor.

 

[DDoyle]

I did not see the problem with talking about auctions but a lot of people say that getting an agreement with someone as to bidding on an auction is a crime. I think it violates the bidding agreement but I doubt there would be any sanction other than barring future bidding. I may be wrong but I doubt any criminal prosecution would happen if two guys agreed not to bid on each others auction. I have read the stories some have posted contradicting this but sometimes people repeat stuff and it is wrong. I have not looked up the actual law on this. I am just going from my experience dealing with the law. People always say that messing with a mailbox is a federal crime but I guarantee that a postal inspector will not come out to take the report and the US attorney general will not prosecute this. Point is, the law may be there but it is not enforced.

Chuck,
Great post! But, I'd like to correct the point above. Collusion on goverment surplus sales is prosecuted.

Here are a couple of links:

http://149.101.1.32/atr/cases/f0300/0388.htm

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/Pre_96/September95/483.txt.html

Regards,
David

 

[m16ty]

In a way I don't really like it but I can't afford to donate as much money as the GL add brings in, I can't offer a better way to raise money, and it's not my site so I'll live with it.

I think I was trying to say what DDoyle said. I do think having a GL rep that monitors the site will be a big help. Those of you that have had problems with GL know what I mean.