Re: Leica-Users List Digest V1 #301 / allowing "dealers" in the LUG

[Tom Hodge <thodge@charweb.org>]

Dear List Manager and fellow LUG's,

I, for one, vote to have the bylaws changed - if they're flexible. 

What can it hurt to let people such as Don C in?  Aren't we all here to
know as much about Leicas as we can?  I'd wager you'd find few people who
have touched as many Leicas as people like Don Chatterton, Tamarkin and so
on.  They have a WEALTH of things to teach us, show us, correct our
thinking. 

This is like buying a 911 and your sister marries a Porsche mechanic 
named Hans from Zuffenhausen or something .... manna from Heaven!  

Gee, what if Dan Goldberg or a crack repairperson were to join - clearly
someone Leica owners would almost KILL to be able to tap into their wealth
of knowledge?  Boot THEM out too....shooting ourselves in the foot?

If getting these prima-donna little boxes repaired and finding parts and
accessories for them isn't the crux of what the group does - beside snap a
few photos from time-to-time - what are we all doing here anyway? 

The biggest 'sin' would be if Don Chatterton - or anyone for that matter -
started using "the list" to at-large e-mail us tons and tons of commercial
business.  THAT I would find offensive.  Like.....the world has ENOUGH
junk mail as it is.  If I wanna see Don's current offerings, I'll thumb
thru Shutterbug.

LUG is about knowing and growing....learning and helping others....so I 
thought.

Kinda unwise isn't it - and discriminatory - to turn someone away who puts
bread on his or her table working at the very foundation of the business
that put the cameras we own in our hands? 

The day a group such as this turns a person like Don Chatterton or ANY 
well-respected Leica businessperson away is the day you'd slam the door 
in your own mother's face on her birthday. 

Regards,

Tom Hodge
PO Box 687
Davidson, North Carolina  USA  28036
thodge@charweb.org

(Down here, we practically INVENTED discrimination.  Trust me:  It's ugly
in whatever form you care to view it.)