[jml1952]

Attention, please, all of your lurkers out there.

This forum thrives on speculation, rumor and innuendo. We need your input. We want your input. We value your input (unless you disagree with us ).

Some of you have broken your vow of silence and joined the fray since taking delivery of your car or in response to our thoughtful examination of dealer behavior or whatever.

What about the rest of you? You must have an opinion on some of these topics. Sign up and share them, please. We won't bite. At worst, you may feel insulted by a bunch of people that you probably will never meet, so what's the problem? At best, you will learn something and enjoy exchanging ideas with fellow enthusiasts.

Membership is cost-free and risk-free. Sign up today.

 

[Randy Chase]

rotfl

It's all the employees and managers of dealerships.



It is funny. Some people are not as comfortable posting publicly. I get some emails from people saying they read the forum everyday. And then they ask me something.

 

[James A]

Randy, you are at least partically accurate, it seems a lot of Lotus employees monitor the forum, both in the UK and Atlanta. Seems a lot of dealers do also, I get calls/e-mails from two of them.

 

[NtflBlueLiz]

rotfl

It's all the employees and managers of dealerships.

I have been thinking about this very subjet for a while now. I remember the Mini salespeople used to check out the Mini2 site, than I went to the Porsche dealership and the salesguy was online posting at Rennsport and than the Lotus sales person at Matheny told me to logon to the "other" Lotus forum when I placed my deposit. So here goes my "CONSPIRACY THEORY"
- I'm sure more than one person posting and giving opinions here at Elisetalk either works for Lotus or dealerships and post pretending to be customers such as ourselves trying to "influence or direct our opinions" with their posts. Sort of like the kid who used to do Day trading but who also used to go to the online trading web boards and boast and hype the stocks he was about to unload, it worked and he made a bundle of money till he got caught by the Feds! I know its probably just my dellusions of persecution at work here but I still think this is probably true. I also think the web has been a blessing in disguise for car makers who can hype new cars which haven't even been launched and gauge interest before making a final decision wether to bring a car into production and these boards also allow them to build waiting lists and create interest in cars such as we have been having for the past few years for many new models coming out such as the boxster, mini, Elise, etc. Any opinions on my theory out there?

 

[roadrunner]

I think I have seen at least one...

...I'm sure more than one person posting and giving opinions here at Elisetalk either works for Lotus or dealerships and post pretending to be customers such as ourselves trying to "influence or direct our opinions" with their posts... Any opinions on my theory out there?

Based on the posts I've read, I'd have to say Reddirt14 seems like a shill for FVMC.

 

[Randy Chase]

Not opinion.

I know for a fact that our forum is read by high up folks at Lotus UK and Lotus USA. In some cases, daily. I was told some very important person spends 1/2 hour every morning reading the posts. I won't say who. But assuming he reads this... hi!

I am sure that things posted here do get some consideration. In some cases, it's not good. Specially if someone from Lotus knows your name and it's not positive.

A car company would be silly to not pay some attention to the most vocal part of the market. We did a survey here about a price increase. I was told "your free survey came exactly to the same conclusion that a market study we paid A LOT of money came to." Nice...

I will admit, I often post knowing that they will read something, assuming that maybe we can provide a little influence in decisions. Such as that survey.

Yes, more than one person is registered here that works for Lotus UK and Lotus USA. In one case, there is someone that also posts but not as an employee. I respect his or her request for privacy. There is a very real likelyhood that someone will soon come out in the open and post as an employee... just not with a real name.

One concern I do have, a negative... is that people can post here as private individuals on the waiting list, when in fact they are employees of dealers. That would open the door to all kinds of slimey things I would rather not see happen. For what it's worth, I have some tools at my disposal beyond simple IP checking to verify identity and locations, ISPs.

 

[Randy Chase]

Re: I think I have seen at least one...

Based on the posts I've read, I'd have to say Reddirt14 seems like a shill for FVMC.

"Seems" are "is"...is of course quite different. Other than his enthusiasm for defending FVMC, I have no reason to suspect anything. And he admits in one post that he is a friend of Frank's (??) and on the list there.

P.S. You weren't the first to say that-

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3665

 

[Patricko]

 

[Patricko]

I heard that Elvis reads Elisetalk everyday.

True but this thread is boring him to tears. The king is not a big Oliver Stone fan

 

[smura]

Just remember, there was a time when Chrome Orange was not going to be a color choice. I would like to think the people at elisetalk had some influence on this color being added.

Also, if you remember, we were originally going to get the lotus badge on the back of the car, as the europeans do today. There was an outcry for the lotus lettering.....and someone listened.

There may be other examples than these two, but someone is listening....sometimes.

 

[Joetz]

By now, I'd think many people would have picked up their cars. I wonder why these new owners are so quiet. Any theories?

 

[smura]

yea, they're not losers like us and have life's that don't include surfing the internet.

 

[roadrunner]

Re: Re: I think I have seen at least one...

...
P.S. You weren't the first to say that-

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3665

But I believe both of our comments were based on the original play by Eugene Ionesco...

 

[X000000101]

- I'm sure more than one person posting and giving opinions here at Elisetalk either works for Lotus or dealerships and post pretending to be customers such as ourselves trying to "influence or direct our opinions" with their posts.

And to think all this time Chris had us fooled...critical care RN...uh huh...

 

[jml1952]

Based on the number of people responding to polls, I believe that only a fraction (15-25%) of deposit holders belong to Elisetalk. So although Lotus no doubt can learn something from our opinions, they must be taken with a grain of salt considering the silent majority.

I wish that Lotus had listened to the request for Ice Blue. Too late now for me, in any case. C'est la vie.

 

[Reddirt14]

Re: Re: I think I have seen at least one...

"Seems" are "is"...is of course quite different. Other than his enthusiasm for defending FVMC, I have no reason to suspect anything. And he admits in one post that he is a friend of Frank's (??) and on the list there.

P.S. You weren't the first to say that-

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3665

Not that it matters, I'm just a satisfied customer of FVMC. I also love the Elise, I can't find a thing wrong with it. But now that we know Lotus reads the post, I'll pipe down about being able to raise prices. Or at least my official statment is: "they could certainly increase prices AFTER they fill their 2005 demand. A price increase prior to delivering those first 2,200 +/- cars would flop because there wouldn't be enough cars to drive the enthusiasm" Yeah, that's what I meant to say.

Randy you said that I said I was a friend of Frank's and actually that's not true. I don't know him personally and he'd never recognize me. I've had one conversation with him a few months ago - seems like a nice guy and seemed honest to me at the time. I think you might have picked that up when I created one of those wild conspiracy stories in frustration of answering a few of the others. Some of the stories have had such gaping holes in them that I couldn't resist shooting them down. They were pretty far flung.

But, I'm all game for having some fun with a post of conspiracy theories. Hear, hear! So let's hear some conspiracies. I wrote a couple good examples (IMHO) in previous strings.

 

[Randy Chase]

You are now saying you ARE NOT his cousin???

(yeah... someone else posted they were a friend.. don't recall who..don't care enough to search)

 

[Reddirt14]

You are now saying you ARE NOT his cousin???

(yeah... someone else posted they were a friend.. don't recall who..don't care enough to search)

Cousin? Brother Frank ain't my cousin. Just kidding. I totally missed that post. Too funny! By the way my spelling is English, that's why it looks a little funny to you americans... I'll try to edit it for american english.

 

[Gromit]

- I'm sure more than one person posting and giving opinions here at Elisetalk either works for Lotus or dealerships and post pretending to be customers such as ourselves trying to "influence or direct our opinions" with their posts.... Any opinions on my theory out there?

Hmmm. And the best way to conceal yourself as a customer would be to use misdirection. Like posing the question 'Who f4rted ?' after crop dusting your workmates.

Therefore, I deduce that it is YOU, Fred, who is the Lotus employee who has infiltrated these boards and planted the seed of influence !!

 

[NtflBlueLiz]

B U S T E D! not really!

I wish I worked for Lotus like Chris! than I would also have my Elise by now instead of having this incessant urge to check Elisetalk to see if something new is happening!