VOA/UOA Fund?

[ABerns]

Perhaps this has been posted before and I missed it. Has anybody ever thought about a fund where members donate some change, and the board re-imburses people for VOAs or UOAs that are of general interest?

I imagine it would require a chairperson and some volunteers to "manage" the fund - decide what VOAs and UOAs are worth it, and then give approvals to people that offer to do them. Once the results are posted, a check or PayPal amount can be sent to the poster.

I don't know if anyone is interested in such a thing even if possible. I don't want to make the decisions/be on the "board" or anything - I just have thought multiple times on this website "Man, I'd throw in a few bucks to see an analysis of that oil!"

 

[PandaBear]

VOA: oil companies should pay if they want to use it for advertisement.

UOA: those who are concern with their own vehicles and want suggestions should pay.

+ those who are curious of what would happen if they run x oil at y miles interval in z condition should pay.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Sounds like an interesting idea, but I'm thinking that managing of this fund and donations would take more time and effort than what a VOA/UOA costs.

Most of us interested in a particular VOA just go ahead and do it. It's not that expensive.

And I agree with Panda - UOA is very much vehicle/engine/driving conditions specific, so it really is mostly beneficial to the one person that performs it on their vehicle.

But that's just my take on this. I have no problem with such fund being operated.

 

[ABerns]

Ah, these are good points. A UOA is nice to see how an oil wears assuming the engine is in good shape. But, something I skimmed over - if the engine is bad, the UOA will be bad, and we can't tell if the engine or the oil is the culprit. These are good points that (surprisingly) I overlooked.

 

[oilboy123]

Originally Posted By: ABerns
Perhaps this has been posted before and I missed it. Has anybody ever thought about a fund where members donate some change, and the board re-imburses people for VOAs or UOAs that are of general interest?

I imagine it would require a chairperson and some volunteers to "manage" the fund - decide what VOAs and UOAs are worth it, and then give approvals to people that offer to do them. Once the results are posted, a check or PayPal amount can be sent to the poster.

I don't know if anyone is interested in such a thing even if possible. I don't want to make the decisions/be on the "board" or anything - I just have thought multiple times on this website "Man, I'd throw in a few bucks to see an analysis of that oil!"


Good thinking out of the box. It's not a bad idea in theory. Problem is would it work. Maybe even a partial reimbursement would make it worthwhile to someone on the fence that's thinking about doing it.

 

[tinmanSC]

Lets just hope and pray OVERKILL doesn't stumble across this thread.

 

[Papa Bear]

Is OVERKILL drinking again ?? .....

 

[Hokiefyd]

I love the idea. I think it'd be very difficult to administer. You'd have people who pay in who don't think enough UOAs are done, or too many UOAs are done. There would likely always be more demand for money in the fund than supply, so you'd always have "discussion" over which UOA to do first, this guy's or that guy's.

I think a modified version of the idea might work better: have a UOA request area, or a UOA offer area. In this way, specific UOAs could be requested or offered. Such as: I'd like to see a UOA of , and here's 3 bucks to get that going. Or: I have oil in my car and don't plan on doing a UOA, but if anyone wants to see one, I would accept a donation.

The modified version of the idea would require a high level of trust among users, but would remove the "collective ownership" nature of the fund, making progress forward more likely.

 

[ABerns]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I love the idea. I think it'd be very difficult to administer. You'd have people who pay in who don't think enough UOAs are done, or too many UOAs are done. There would likely always be more demand for money in the fund than supply, so you'd always have "discussion" over which UOA to do first, this guy's or that guy's.

I think a modified version of the idea might work better: have a UOA request area, or a UOA offer area. In this way, specific UOAs could be requested or offered. Such as: I'd like to see a UOA of , and here's 3 bucks to get that going. Or: I have oil in my car and don't plan on doing a UOA, but if anyone wants to see one, I would accept a donation.

The modified version of the idea would require a high level of trust among users, but would remove the "collective ownership" nature of the fund, making progress forward more likely.


Ooh, I like this. We could still try to get some volunteer to administer the payments, but having a section where each post is requests for UOAs or payments, and once enough people forward money to the admin, they send the money to the person after they post the UOA. Good point.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

I remember when there was a fund collected to get a complete VOA of German Castrol.

After the VOA was completed, only the members who contributed to the fund were allowed access to the information. Some members who had posted many VOAs and UOAs were po'd about this and left the board. These were excellent contributors who stopped providing useful information.

This idea is really walking a tight wire above a high canyon.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
After the VOA was completed, only the members who contributed to the fund were allowed access to the information.


Was this agreed upon ahead of time before the contribution and VOA?

 

[Quattro Pete]

I believe it was, that's why I don't understand why anybody would be ticked off by this, especially to the point that they would leave the board.

Who specifically left as a result of this? I don't recall anyone.

 

[eljefino]

I like the idea. I brought home a truck with two crossed spark plug wires. The oil was grey with trouble. If a few people chipped in for a UOA they may have found it amusing, without the drama of it being something that happened to their own precious cars.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
After the VOA was completed, only the members who contributed to the fund were allowed access to the information.


Was this agreed upon ahead of time before the contribution and VOA?



I think it was decided just about at the end of the collection.