[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by vikrantj

Sorry to be the Devil's advocate here but I am seriously against anybody using Team bhp brand without the forum knowing it. This is a open community and not a personal brand.

If the manufacturers approaches any member of forum , it should be for his personal knowledge of automobiles and not because of affiliation to the community. If any manufacturer approaches a member because of affiliation to team-bhp then all the feedbacks and suggestions should be made public.

For example if somebody officially reviews a car it's review is posted online for everybody to see and comment.

I understand feedback mechanism is for the good of customer but then team-bhp as a brand is a community propriety and not individual.

Very good point. As far as I can see there is nobody that can speak on behalf of Team-BHP. There are no polls, no governance amongst members about what they feel is relevant in cars or whatever. So at the end of the day it's just someones opinion, nothing else. Could be very interesting, very relevant for respective members, but nobody on Team-BHP represents any other member than him/herself I believe?

Jeroen

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by vikrantj

Sorry to be the Devil's advocate here but I am seriously against anybody using Team bhp brand without the forum knowing it. This is a open community and not a personal brand.
...

Very interesting point.

Just to expand upon what GTO said, even if we're invited to offer feedback, ideas and criticism, its not presented as "Team-BHP has said this...".

Naturally it would be presented as "GTO from Team-BHP has said this..."

cya
R

[vikrantj]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Very interesting point.

Just to expand upon what GTO said, even if we're invited to offer feedback, ideas and criticism, its not presented as "Team-BHP has said this...".

Naturally it would be presented as "GTO from Team-BHP has said this..."

cya
R

Exactly my point, if it is his personal opinion it should be "XXXX (whatever real name is ) thinks this is a good feature in the car" and this should be stressed to the inviting company , to be printed verbatim.

If Team BHP as a community does not have any knowledge of the feedback then it should be made sure by the one who gives feedback that Team BHP name should not brought in the quote. It actually should be his responsibility.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by vikrantj

Exactly my point, if it is his personal opinion it should be "XXXX (whatever real name is ) thinks this is a good feature in the car" and this should be stressed to the inviting company , to be printed verbatim.

If Team BHP as a community does not have any knowledge of the feedback then it should be made sure by the one who gives feedback that Team BHP name should not brought in the quote. It actually should be his responsibility.

Fully agree, should be done under own name with no reference to Team BHP.

Jeroen

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Fully agree, should be done under own name with no reference to Team BHP.

With no reference to Team-BHP? Aren't you being a bit unfair here? Besides, the car makers seek GTO's personal opinion because of his role in Team-BHP.

If the newspaper says Mr.Subbarao thinks economy will slowdown for the next one year, nobody will attach any importance to that personal opinion. However, if they say Mr.Subbarao, the Governor of RBI, thinks economy will slowdown for the next one year, people will certainly take notice. If you read any news item, you will notice this pattern. Even if the opinion is personal, the affiliation is necessary to give credence to the statement.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Samurai

. Even if the opinion is personal, the affiliation is necessary to give credence to the statement.

Actually that is exactly my point. I don't think it is appropiate to have the affiliation in the first place!

GTO, with all due respect, does not represent me. Nor does he, as far as I'm aware, represent Team-BHP as such. He might have a tremendous reputation within the auto industry, due to his knowledge, experience and his role within Team-BHP.

But I believe GTO is simply not in a position to make statements that affiliate Team-BHP in any way. Exactly to your point if it does add credence to his statement that would be inappropiate use of Team-BHP.

Let me give you another example: For years I have been on several boards of car clubs in Europe and the USA. Typically board members on clubs get formally elected by the members and the board tends to have formal mandate from the members laid down in some sort of Statuary Rules and Regulations.

That gave me the authority and the mandate to represent the club in a formal capacity. So for instance when we got invited by Alfa Romeo to test their new Spider. The news article stated "Jeroen D of the Alfa Romeo Spider Register test drove the car and commented etc. etc". So in this case the affiliation was highly appropiate and correct.

The board rules stipulate:

QUOTE:
4a. Strictly NO marketing on the forum for automotive goods / services. Also, no third parties are permitted to make any commercial offers to members, via the Private Messaging (PM) or email facility. Note that Team-BHP does NOT accept a single marketing / advertising rupee from the Auto Industry. Vendors are free to use The Team-BHP Classifieds to sell their wares.
UNQUOTE

My interpreation is that Team-BHP wants to be completely unattached from the Auto Industry. I applaud that approach, because it is the only way where you can have a proper publice debate about cars and or manufacturers.

So following that same logic, I think it is inappropiate that Team-BHP affiliation is used in public statements by individuals. Its exactly what you don't want. What individual team members think about a car needs to be vented on this board. Outside this board you are on your own, you could still have the same opinion, but none of can claim leveage or use affialiton with this forum to lend credit to our statements.

But it doesn't keep me awake. There are far more important things in live than cars or forums. Even though I spend a considerable amount of my income and time on them.

Enjoy your car and this forum!

Jeroen

[MaxTorque]

One of my friend forwarded a power point presentation on sales performance of various automobile brands in Indian market. The mail was forwarded to him by his boss, they are working with a renowned automobile brand. Surprisingly all graphs were water marked by Team-BHP. Obviously there was no source link/disclosure.