First off, the poll is to see how CUEMAKERS and REPAIR guys feel about whether the rules in the ask the cuemaker section should apply everywhere on the site, Are you Either? If not, thanks for your comments, but....
This poll isn't about the site making money, it's about protecting certain aspects of a small, one man ownership type of company which is a big part of our forum community, and a large part of our industry of cuemaking. If the forum doesn't help to protect it, it will effectively stifle and chase away most cuemakers/repair guys that actually know what they are doing from sharing, carefully...., and only leave the hacks that don't give a crap about the ramifications of giving out bad advice or using sup-par supplies.
My comment of 'one dimensional' was aimed at the people that seem to be only looking from their own point of benefiting from the revealing of sources, not from the side of those that have actually spent hours, days, even month/years to find certain sources of products that they use for their cues to produce a very quality product, nor are they looking at it from the point of the customers receiving such products from those makers. Hence...1 dimensional, imo. When you have invested time/effort to find and nurture these suppliers, you share it carefully and expect it to be respected when you do share it.
The theory that a business will grow big with the exposure sounds great, but, as explained very well by Chris Hightower earlier, that can cause a supplier to, either, no longer be able to supply the demand and goes under, or in order to try to supply, the cost goes high, and quality goes lower which kills it for both the cuemaker, and eventually the supplier. The cuebuilding industry is not a big player in the overall wood supply world, so what is allocated can dwindle very fast.
HOW MANY MEMBERS ARE AUTO MECHANICS ????? I know several Makers/Repair guys here that are, and so I ask them...do you reveal to your customers that you get your parts from XXX auto parts store locally, and at 20% lower than they can get, and you do the job in about 1/8 the amount of that time the 'book' says ....BUT you charge full retail for parts, plus markup, and go by the book charge for labor for the job??, OF COURSE NOT, Would you be happy if that info was splayed all over the auto forums that you guys AND the GENERAL PUBLIC belong to? Detailing the name and website of the suppliers? How about posting it on facebook?? Usually, that leads to customers calling them and demanding the same deals, which usually pisses the suppliers off...no joke. So why should it be ok for Cuemakers to have their sources outed by a bunch of people in a forum, not realizing the full impact it will have over everything?
I have had a couple people literally demand I build a cue and only charge exactly what they read here on AZ what the prices for such woods and supplies where, and only charge for the 'by the hour labor' to build.
Dave
