This is a very straightforward issue and has come
up several times before. The process is simple, but unfortunately no one
sends out a copy of the rules when you join the user groups.
There are two DKV user groups. The Disklavier
Users Group (this one) is tied to/and or supported by Yamaha. It's not set
up for file swapping, and since they see price information and piano resales as
a conflict with their retail dealer network, they ask us not to discuss those
with this group. Agree or disagree, it's their group and they're
allowed to set reasonable rules. There is a huge amount of very useful
info in the traffic from this group, and I'm glad to have Yamaha supporting
it.
But as Carol Beigel points out, there's a second
group ("Diskliavier File Swappers") at Yahoo which has no such
restrictions. (Join up at http://Yahoogroups.com/group/disklavier/join). They encourage sharing of (public domain) files, and they encourage
discussion of price information and pianos for sale/wanted. They even
maintain a database called "What I Paid for my Disklavier". Many of us are
members of both groups, and often send our e-mails to both. So we've
got the best of both worlds - we're just being asked to use a little discretion
in our choice of groups when discussing price/sales info.
And regarding Tim's question about
subgroups, there's an easy answer. It's fine to post a "piano
for sale" notice should to the entire (Yahoo) user group, but any
subsequent e-mail traffic is of no interest to 99% of the group and should go
instead directly to the individual who did the posting. After hitting
"Reply", just delete the user group as the addressee and type in the individual
who sent it. Voila!
Jerry Dutcher
----- Original Message -----From: Henry J. BoitelTo: dug@...Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 11:20 PMSubject: Re: selling baby grand disklavier- regrettablyReplying to Tim Steele:
I am not sure how a subgroup would work within the context of this list - sounds like you are suggesting a separate group simply to discuss purchase and sale.
What can work is the use of a classification system in the subject heading of postings. For example, if "P&S" (for Purchase and Sale) were included anywhere on the subject line, members who do not wish to receive such postings could simply put a rule in their email client that such emails should automatically go into the trash. If that member later wishes to receive such postings, they would remove the rule.
The same method might also be applied to various other topics that are of limited interest, but that regularly arise.
Your point about going to ebay does not quite resolve the need for meaningful discussion concerning value - dollar value and the related aspects of differences in substantive technical worth. I followed your thought and went to ebay while writing this. There are six Disklaviers on offer there. Two are by piano dealers and three or four are by not piano dealers. Only one appears to be to be selling a piano used in his or her home. There is no discussion of worth or comparison of features. I suspect that non-dealer sales are primarily by persons who have inherited or otherwise have fortuitously come into possession of the Disklavier for reasons other than a desire to play it.
It is clear that postings related to sales can get out of hand, but it seems to be overkill to bar all discussion without first giving the good sense of the members an opportunity to give it a try.
BoiTel
TimSteele@... wrote:
Personally, I'd rather not have discussions of purchase/sale of Disklaviers on this site. I'd fully support the idea of a subgroup for this type of discussion. I'd rather not have to plow through a lot of messages about pianos for sale - I can get the same information about this at places like eBay.So, I support the decision to keep this site about discussing the use of the piano/technology and not to allow postings for buying/selling them.