It seems to me that it would be a valuable service to have certain members available to provide advice to members/guests on a fee basis.

I thought of this when xviper switched from admin mode to community organizer mode and mentioned that he didn't have time to respond to all the pm's and request for telephone conversations. He also mentioned that it was frustrating to have a time set up for a call and the person he was helping (for free) blew it off.

This would be easy to set up. Individuals could be identified based on expertise and a fee structure could be set up for each expert. Paypal could be used as a payment facilitator. You could even have a feedback section for each expert to be rated by those purchasing his/her service.

I think this would make an already useful site even more powerful. While there is a ton of free information available, it can often take a ton of time and searching to put together an answer to a broad issue that someone is working on. I, for one, would be willing to just schedule time with someone and have a conversation along the lines of "Here's what I want to do with the car/here is a problem I'm having/whatever - what do you recommend?"

I can't really see any downside. I'd just make sure that the experts set their rates high enough that it's worth their while. I'm in the advice for a fee business on a full time basis and I know from experience that it's always easier to lower rates than raise them. I also think that scheduling the advice could be easily facilitate either thru email/telephone/face to face/whatever and whenever it worked. So, scheduling should be easy. It would also be appropriate to have the person buying the service sign some sort of disclaimer eliminating any liability on the part of the expert.

Also, if I were an expert (and there's no way I would be here) I would expect the site owners to get a percentage of the fee for setting it up.

I'm a huge fan of this site and think it would benefit everyone involved to have such a service. The fact that this site has such a huge amount of internet traffic would indicate that there may be a demand for such an idea.

 

My input on this is one word which IMHO means it is a non starter. Liability.



Unfortunate but true

 

I can see a lot of areas where there wouldn't be any sort of liability at all.

"What do you think about this/versus that header?"

"I want to track my car, what is a good setup for me?"

"I have a problem with my dealership - what do you recommend?"

People who give advice for a fee always have ways to limit liability. You can easily have someone sign a disclaimer. If liability was that big of an issue, the owners of this site wouldn't have started it to begin with.

 

Since my name was mentioned, here's my 2 cents .............................

I contribute to this site and to the S2000 community in general via this site because it's fun for me and it gives me a sense of satisfaction to assist someone to resolve an issue with his/her car. I try to answer any and all questions that are within my realm of understanding on this board and also in PMs for anyone who asks.
If I were to be "commissioned" to do this for a fee, I would retire and basically not do it at all. I lend my time and expertise to any of the local owners who live around me. It started off doing this for "friends". I extrapolated this to the board and considered that I was giving of my time and knowledge to "friends" till they proved to me that they aren't my friends by being unpleasant or confrontational.

As long as I own an S2000 and as long as I remain on this board, this will continue as a "courtesy" service.

 

I totally respect that position. I just think that there could be a ton of people who would willingly pay for a very convenient way to get their questions answered in a more thorough way. If you're not available, or they don't feel comfortable asking you something in detail because there's no formal way to do that, something might be missing. I'm not really presenting it as a way of making money for anyone - it's more an issue of adding a more powerful service for this board.

If none of the experts are interested - then no harm, no foul - I just think it would be worth exploring.

 

xviper... it's people like you that make this site what it is

Keep up the good work!

 

I haven't looked at it from a profitability standpoint but my first reaction is that the idea runs contrairy to the mission of the site. Someone may pick up the idea and go with it but as a community our focus is on members helping members. It's not just about cars, it's about sharing your love for cars (the S2000 specifically) and meeting and getting to know people along the way.

 

In a way...you have already paid for this service by joining the site. Your membership fee helps maintain the vast knowledge (like xviper's... ) stored here. If you don't feel like using the search function for your answers or are unable to find what you need, why not try your local community? You may be surprised how many "local" members who will be willing help you (fee free! ).

 

Well I have to agree with Xviper, I think the site is mostly about helping other fellow owners/friends. I think if you started charging for the service, people really wouldn't have anything to talk about in "under the hood" as the real experts would no longer be chiming in for free.

I do think a better idea might be to setup local experts in each area who are willing to lend their services on a for hire basis (or for free if they so choose). I know when I wanted to do my valve adjustment I was more than willing to pay a local member for their time to help out. It could almost be a list of who is available per region. I realize you can make a post in your regional board, but it would be even better if we had a list (IE: Billlman in the NY, Xviper in Ontario, etc). Just an idea, either way I think people like Xviper are a TRUE asset to this site. People like him on the automotive boards are what keep them running.


This reminded me I had been meaning to get a paid membership, I just joined with a paid membership. People like Billman, Dolebludger, and Xviper have made this money well spent for me. Thanks guys!

 

Well that's not actually true. The experts are chiming in at the expense of the members who pay a significant portion of the site's operating expenses and upkeep (many of them the experts themselves). There is no such thing as free, somebody's paying. If everyone would kick in for membership we could buy more servers, better equipment and make the site faster and more functional for everyone...