Posts by WERA689

You guys were right. No longer in Daytona, and won't be participating here any further. But you guys were definitely right.

Thanks, Rab. I don't expect there to be much change in our section going forward. Honestly, Bill had to convince me that deleting that thread was the right thing to do, as I feared the pushback more than pretty much anything. And I didn't fully realize I would be recognized as "that guy from the other site" when I posted here yesterday. I probably should have more fully explained that initially, but hey, we live and we learn. In any event, I think everyone is clear on my role with Hahn now, and that should be a solid basis for everyone to work from.

Looking forward to getting to know the guys over here as I get more comfortable in my new role with Bill and his company.

Oh, let me address the decision to remove that thread from view while I'm at it. Bill and I discussed it before deciding to do that, and I brought up the likely fact that there would be pushback on the decision. Here's my take:

The thread still exists. In fact, it could be restored with a simple click of the mouse. But neither of us saw any reason to do so. The thread was almost entirely negative, and had devolved into merely piling on to a long-dead horse, continuing to beat it relentlessly. Also, there hadn't been a new post in it since several months ago. That thread had been allowed to stand for quite some time, allowing more piling on to occur, and for everyone to continue to read, despite all the negativity! Bill chose to leave that thread up that long precisely because he felt that much of the grousing was justified! The decision we reached to finally remove it from view was based on the fact that we're getting close to being up and running again, and because I'm here now to address these issues personally. As such, it seemed that the right time had come to remove it from view, and concentrate on restoring the shop and the business in a more positive way. No doubt some will (or have) seen that as 'censorship' or 'unnecessarily removing complaints'. But the fact that it remained there as long as it did speaks more to Bill's willingness to accept legitimate criticism than it does to his desire to censor anyone! You're certainly free to second-guess that decision, but ultimately that's all it is--second-guessing.

Let me put in my two cents worth here. First, and most relevant, is that I was laid off at Vertical Scope back at the end of August. Without going into proprietary info that I'm still not allowed to discuss, I'll just say that a decision was made to downsize their resources and that I was included in that downsizing. I had worked for them, and their predecessor, Forum Foundry, for somewhere in the neighborhood of ten years. VS left my admin tag and privileges in place entirely out of respect for the effort and time I'd put in on those sites over that time. But bottom line is that I'm no longer a paid employee of Vertical Scope, and haven't been for a few months now. I have asked them to remove my Admin tag and privileges from the other Slingshot site, and that they be replaced with the Supporting Vendor tag and access to the Hahn section there that is granted to employees of vendors. To be clear, I work for Hahn Racecraft now, not Vertical Scope. While my Admin tag will probably remain on the several dozen other VS sites I was admin for, it will NOT be so on the Slingshot forum.

That said, having found myself in need of employment, things evolved that put Bill in touch with me, and as it developed, he decided to hire me as an employee of Hahn Racecraft. Obviously, that's a good thing for ME, and I hope to prove it to be a good thing for Hahn as well. The truth is that had he not known me from that site, the connection that brought me here would probably never have been made. That it did is one of the more positive aspects of social media, and one that I certainly didn't expect, but one that I'm definitely grateful for! When Bill first reached out to me, he didn't know I had a degree in Journalism and Communications; nor that I had over 30 years experience in retail sales and department management in the powersports industry. Once those details came out, the perfection of the fit between us was immediately obvious to both of us.

In any case, I can't say I'm surprised to see the connection noted, nor that it's a source of potential conflict among the members of either or both sites. Given that no announcement was made about this, you guys had no way of knowing, and I get that. All I can say is that my loyalty is always to those that put food on my table, and make it possible for me to live. That's not Vertical Scope any longer. I'm not here as a spy or anything of the like. I'm here strictly as a representative of Hahn Racecraft. I'm not interested in, nor affected by any conflicts these two sites may or may not have with each other. I'm aware of them, and that's about it. You guys obviously are too. I'll leave it to you to decide, over time, whether what I have said here is true.