Believe it or not, there is at least one person on this list that finds
value in some of the "sugar-coated over-the-top" vendor messages that appear
on this list.  For example, I didn't know Mann and Mahle both make OEM oil
filters for the vanagon and they are available at half of the price of what
I paid for a VW oil filter at the dealer.  I also didn't know I could add
headrests or a middle seat to my westy if I want to (something I may do in
the future).  Vendor "spam" sometimes provides uninformed vanagon newbies
like myself with both useful information and a place where I can save some
money or get a hard-to-find item.  Maybe one day I'll know everything I can
do with my vanagon and all the places that I can get parts at better prices
than the dealer.  Until that day happens, I will continue to subscribe to
this list and hope to continue to pick up tidbits of knowledge from the
relatively infrequent "spam" that shows up.

Steve

1989 Westy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
> Of Tim Smith
> Sent: Monday, January 18, 1999 10:12 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Bus Depot SPAM, again!
>
>
> Jezuuz H...
> (or pick a diety of your choice)
>
> Kent Christenson sent a nicely phrased message a couple of weeks back how
> this list was "over the top" as far as advertising goes, and this latest
> spamming from Salmon (below) is typical of the worst of it!  This is a
> blatant plug for his business, sugar coat it however you want to. It was
> NOT a kind little PSA to illuminate us into the intricacies of vanagon
> filters, it was a plug, plain and simple.
>
> I too subscribe(d) to other lists, Audi, Porsche, and Off-Road, and the
> vanagon list is the worst. Please don't reply with some anti-elitist crap
> that 'perhaps you should stay on the LandRover?BMW/etc list, since you can
> aford dealer parts"  There IS a problem with spam on this list, more than
> any other list I've been on.  Something needs to be done, either go
> commercial, charge the vendors for access priveliges and monthly
> advertising rights, or simply put a block on vendors posting to the list.
> I hate to advocate a moderated list, especially due to the workload this
> imposes on any listmeister, but uninformative posts designed only to sell
> product or bring attention to a vanagon related business have no place on
> the list and need to be moderated.  Perhaps if vendors policed
> themselves I
> wouldn't have to bring this non-vanagon issue up again.
>
> pissed off again by sales weasels, XOXOX, Tim Smith
>
> .......  the offending article (see at end also)
>
> Date:    Sun, 17 Jan 1999 12:44:07 -0500
> From:    The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
> Subject: Re: Oilfilters 1:st oilchange
>
> Regarding the question of economical cross-references for the expensive
> Dealer oil filters for your Vanagon:
>
> The two original oil filter suppliers to Volkswagen are Mann and Mahle. I
> stock them under the actual manufacturers' names, rather than the
> Volkswagen
> name, for much less than the dealer price.   I variously ship
> either Mann or
> Mahle depending on which I can get at a better price at any given
> time. They
> are interchangeable in terms of quality, and both feature the correct flow
> characteristics for the Vanagon engine. Not all aftermarket filters do.
>
> For the watercooled Vanagons, they are $4.29 each.  For the aircooled
> Vanagons, $3.99 each. Minimum purchase is 4.
>
> - Ron Salmon
>   The Bus Depot
>
>
> and a final note.....
>
> Just to put this deal in context I buy my wasser Bosch oilfilters for
> $4.99Cdn at my local hardware/FLAPS store. This is ~$3.25US for Bosch
> filters in a Bosch box, so $4.29 is a rip-off, and I don't have
> to buy 4 at
> a time nor pay shipping.  Wake up folks, he's only in it for the money,
> yours!
>