Manufacturers on the list [RE-wrenches]

[Michael Welch]

Hi Wrenches. Please contact me off-list if you have any questions or comments. 

First let me say that Home Power is proud to be a part of this important community-building and technical service to the RE professional installers community. And I personally feel highly rewarded in my work for the list. Its success and its helpfulness to installers has gone a long way toward our mutual goals of increasing the use of RE.

As many of you know, I usually work on list issues behind the scenes (off-list), so you usually do not see my little reminders and nudges that are intended to keep the list as useful as possible. But I want everyone to know that I hold the rules you reached consensus on, a few years back, regarding manufacturers on the list, to be close to sacrosanct.

I interpret those rules to mean that it is not OK for folks to use this list to either comment on their competitors or their competitors' products, or to promote their own products. I consider both of these things beyond the intent of the rules set up by you Wrenches. By my interpretation, manufacturers are here only to answer the Wrenches' technical questions about their products, and to receive feedback about their products. (Of course, we have many manu reps on the list that are extremely knowledgeable about the RE field; and I see no value in denying Wrenches the benefit of their responses to other technical questions -- as long as they are not taking undue advantage and promoting their own products or discussing competitors' products.)

I also want you to know that as part of the listserver software, I as list manager have the opportunity to require that an individual's postings be approved before they get sent to the list. I have used it extremely sparingly, and only in cases where there have been repetitive issues for the list that I could not deal with else wise. Probably have used this under 5 times since the list started over 8 years ago. I err hugely on the side of trust that individuals will do the right thing. 

On another note, there are a couple of times (that I have been aware of) where we have ended up with more than a single employee of manufacturers on the list. For example, a former practicing wrench may have gone to work for a company that already has their designated manufacturer's rep on the list. Generally, if a qualified wrench has gone to work for a manufacturer, I have not denied them a continued presence on the list. And of course, earlier this year we all agreed that anyone that was NABCEP-certified would qualify for the list; so that is another doorway for a manu to potentially have more than one person on the list.

I have pasted below the email I send to manufacturer reps that wish to join the list, which includes the terms that Wrenches reached consensus on. 

If any of you Wrenches feel that we should revisit any of these rules -- strengthen, weaken, add to, or otherwise change -- please let me know off-list. If there's enough interest in changing, I will start an on-list discussion. Specifically, the questions in my mind are: should we change things so that each manufacturer may have more than one rep on the list, and should we start allowing manufacturer reps to comment on other manus or promote their own products?

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Hello. Either you have requested to become a member of the RE-Wrenches mail list, or someone has recommended you to us. Home Power is sponsor of the list, and I am the manager of the list. But the list is run democratically by the professional installers on the list.

The RE-Wrenches is an email list for folks doing hands-on professional installations of RE systems. Nearly all of the more than 230 members of the list are the installers for the businesses they represent.

We have had requests from people that work for manufacturers of RE products to join the list. Originally, we required even those folks to have the kind of experience that a professional installer would have. But, we have decided we would like to accommodate manufacturers on the list in order to both get Wrenches' questions answered and to provide feedback to the manufacturers about their products.

Toward that end, we have relaxed the requirements a little bit. We are now allowing manufacturers to pick one person that is technically knowledgeable about their product to join the list.

Please discuss it with the appropriate persons in your company as to who qualifies and who should be the single representative from your company, and then let me know what you have come up with, and let me know that you agree to these conditions.

Here are the requirements for manufacturers joining the RE-Wrenches email list, as approved by its members:

1.  Keep the discussion technical.
2.  No press releases or any other public relations.
3.  One technically proficient representative from each major manufacturer may participate.
4.  The manufacturers must understand that although Home Power sponsors this list, they also allow the list membership to control the list direction. Thus, if the list's Wrench members find that a manufacturer is not abiding with the above, they would be dropped. This would not be a reflection on Home Power magazine, only a reflection on us individual wrenches.
5.  The Wrenches on the list would continue control of list direction, not the manufacturers.
6.  This policy could be changed later.
7.  We (via the list manager) still determine who gets on the list. No one has a "right" to be on the list.


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Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com
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