Henry Schmidt...
 

Many of you have posted in another thread in the forum about "where is Henry Schmidt".

I have had numerous conversations with Henry in the past regarding this forum, and have given him distinct guidelines for posting here as a commercial enterprise (which he is). I have specifically stated that he is allowed / permitted to promote his engine rebuilding services (which he does), but is not allowed to promote the selling of products that compete with Pelican.

There are several other members of the Pelican Parts forums that do adhere to these guidelines and do not repeatedly violate them. I have exchanged many emails with Henry "reminding him" of this and letting him know that I will remove his posting ability if it continues. Adding a signature to your profile with a URL link to a website that sell products that compete with Pelican is also not allowed. I have informed Henry of this, and has repeatedly changed his signature back after waiting a while. I have also told Henry that if he wants to sell product on our forums, that he can only do it by pointing people to his products contained in our catalog. Other members have adhered to this policy and respect it too (like Chuck @ Elephant Racing, and M&K's mbs911).

Pelican is a business. I pay thousands of dollars each month to support and run this forum. While I welcome people like Henry (and others), I *will* not use our money to support free advertising for people who compete with Pelican. The latest flurry of complaints about Henry's recent posts was the "proverbial straw that broke the camel's back." As a result, I have temporarily suspended Henry from the forums, as he does not appear to listen to my reasonable requests. For some reason, I don't have a problem with other people who use the forums to promote their own business - the problem only appears to be with Henry.

I know for a fact that Henry gets a tremendous amount of business from this forum - I would think that he would want to play by the rules (like everyone else), and respect the fact that Pelican is a business. I have received many "comments" from people who see Henry's self-promotion as so egregious, that they believe that he should be paying Pelican advertising each month. I don't require that - Henry is free to post here at any time, as long as my simple, easy-to-follow rules for commercial businesses are followed.

Indeed, Henry has a huge wealth of knowledge regarding Porsche Engines. I acknowledge the fact that he is an important and valuable cotributor, and these contributions benefit the site. I have not had any complaints about his business practices and I have not had any complaints about problems with his engiens. I have nothing against him personally (actually, I've never met him in person). I actually applaud his aggressiveness in promoting his own business - this is an excellent place to do that. However, Pelican is a business too, and rules & guidelines in this "partnership" must be followed in order to gain the benefits from posting. If this were another forum site on the Internet, Henry would have been forced to buy supporting advertising a long time ago.

I have given Henry a week and change "timeout". I probably would have reinstated his account sooner, but I have just been too busy this week (just got four new servers in!). I will send an email to Henry, re-instating his posting ability while reminding him of the guidelines that he must adhere to, being a commercial enterprise.

I have sent an email to Henry outlining these requirements, and I have also reinstated his account, which I intended to do all along.

Thanks,

Wayne

Happy Thanksgiving Wayne,
That was a well thought out response and should put the matter to rest. Thanks!

Cheers Wayne,
Good response and explanation. Glad to see Henry will be back as well.
I am hard pressed to find ANYONE on this board that I respect more
than Henry Schmidt, particularly if the subject is early 911 engines or
MFI. Sure Henry is a bit gruff, but as a Pelican poster said before he was not looking for a girlfriend to be kind and friendly with him, rather an AUTHORITY on 911 engines. Not so sure I would want to deal with Henry day in and day out, but when the topic turns to 911 engines---There is no Substitute. There are probably 3-4 posters who have almost as much knowledge as Henry, but as soon as the subject heads towards early 911 engines there really is NO question----Henry is the man, and thus he should
wear his well earned nick name "YODA" proudly. Thanks, Henry for your incredible knowledge which we all very fortunate to be able to access here on Pelican Parts!!

THANK YOU , Wayne......and is there really anything that Henry sells that should NOT be in your catalog? Again, Thanks Wayne, and keep up the
good work.

Bryan Beaumont

Well said and I agree. Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)

Eric

Thanks Wayne for the update, and I appreciate your position.

Here's my position.

I never knew I was in violation of any rule.
It seems we have a problem of perception.
Wayne perceives Supertec as a competitor.
I on the other hand do not.
We build engines, Pelican sells parts.
Please call Pelican for your parts needs.
If they don't have what you need call a parts house. There are many. Supertec is not one. The parts listed on our website are primaraly a search engine lure.
We have some used parts that may fit your needs and we make some specialty parts that with luck will be offered through Pelican but I have no control over that.
We have offered all of them to the Pelican Parts department more than once.
The problem seems to revolve around a link in my signature so I will not replace the link, but in all fairness to suggest in public that I deliberately ignored your rules or that we have had numerous conversations about this issue is inaccurate and unfair.
I understand that by stating my side of this issue I run the risk of being banned permanently but I will not trade my integrity for the right to post here.

Henry, I have reviewed my previous emails sent to you, and I'm not sure how they could have been misinterpreted. I do not seem to have this particular problem with other people on this board. This post, and the email that I sent to you should clarify Pelican's position on this issue.

That said, after many years of being married, I understand that communication is a two-way street. If one person communicates and the other does not understand, it is the fault of both parties - not just one or the other. In communication, it's important to speak your words, and then receive confirmation and acknowledgement from the other party that they were perfectly understood. I did not do that in this case (confirm that you understood), and if there were any misunderstandings or miscommunication on my behalf, then I apologize.

That said, I consider this issue closed and done with. My requests are very clear here and there should be no more confusion on the issues here. Keep in mind that I do enforce this policy for *all* commerical vendors who post on these boards - I am not singling anyone out here.

I'll repeat myself again just to be clear: Indeed, Henry has a huge wealth of knowledge regarding Porsche Engines. I acknowledge the fact that he is an important and valuable cotributor, and these contributions benefit the site. I have not had any complaints about his business practices and I have not had any complaints about problems with his engiens. I have nothing against him personally (actually, I've never met him in person).

I welcome all to participate in the Pelican Parts Forums and encourage the growth and prosperity of complementary businesses as long as they don't compete with the core parts catalog business of Pelican.

Thanks,

Wayne

Wayne, thanks again for hosting this forum, u do us all a greater favour then anyone posting here.

i rebuild my car using your book and parts almost entirely assembled from your site.

bascially it is less likely that i would be driving a IMO beautifully rebuild 911 if not for you, your book, your parts, and the forum u support.

and i 100% agree that you should not allow competeing vendors on your forum, and even though i really like henry, and take his word to heart, i would be far less tolerant in your position, which is not one where , if you didn't want to, would have to suffer from errors of communication.

this situation seems to be over with, and it was amoungst the most diplomatic, responsibly handled issue's ive seen.

thanks

very well said ! And thanks Wayne...

Thanks, Wayne... Henry...I wish you both the best in the coming New Year... I know I speak for for so many others, too. I will always consider you first for my parts, etc. Gordon

I also say "Thank you" to Wayne for posting his "fog cutting" post. It has laid the foundation for ALL users on this board to clearly know where Wayne is coming from.

To Henry and all others, if you have any doubt or questions about the policies for this board, please call or email Wayne to get your question(s) clearly answered.

We "ALL" can and do benefit from this board. I for one have been able to make one of my lifelong dreams come true in restoring an 82" SC Targa... getting parts and tech info from Pelican and answers to my "dumb" questions from this boards members. As the expressions go, "there is no dumb question" and "shame on the one who dosen't ask"... lets move on and if anyone has any question(s) or dosen't understand something, ASK THE QUESTION - DON'T PRESUME ANYTHING!!!

I am psyched that this issue is over and we ALL can move on to working together on these awesome Porsche uber-machines.

Thanks again Wayne for clarifying this "fog" and thanks Henry for replying & seeing where Wayne is coming from. I hope you will continue to contribute to this board Henry... we ALL can benefit and learn something about Porsche and life from this board.

Thank you!
Bob

I figured you two were jusat arguing about whether or not to use RSR rocker shaft seals ;)

With respect to the seals, I don't see any downside to them, other than the small additional cost.

-Wayne

Henry says "You either love me or hate me". Not really, as I just like you a lot :). In the words of a song by Lady Soverign, a rapper from England my daughter likes, "Love me or hate me that is the question, if you love me then... thank you, if you hate me then... F#ck you" :)

Glad that's over.
Now, back to motors....

Amen

Nuff said.

Pass the bottle.

Just a side note:
While browsing the Supertec Performance website I noticed a link on the front page linking all who want to visit Pelican Parts straight to their website.

I would think that if Supertec thought of Pelican as a competitor that they would not have such a link.

Go figure.

Welcome back Henry and thank you Wayne.

I bought my supertec headstuds straight from Pelican - that should count as something. Henry - I appreciate your approach - at least you know where you stand.