Your self-promotion is starting to be too much...

This is worthless crap!

I actually became concerned about that once, and looked into the statistical reality of it.

This post happens to be my 15,001st post. Of 15,001 posts on this forum I estimate, based on the last time I actually did count them and look at them, that only 5% give or take were even product oriented. The remaining approximately 95% were non-prmotional/product oriented.

Click on my user name, click on "see users posts" and do the accounting yourself. You'll see that the statistical percentage of posts that promote a product- let alone my own business- are very low.

Compare that to posters on this forum who's only posts are promotional, or whose posts are 80%+ promotional- they only post when they promote.

It is neither factually correct nor fair to put me in that category, but I do rely on your commentary to maintain that system of checks and balances- so thank you for your candor.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Tom,

with a response like that, I think your talents are wasted in retail. You should be in politics... :-)

...in just over 3 years. Where do you find time to work ..??

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Member of the Litespeed Factory Team
www.litespeed.com

Please move this crap to the LR. Shouldn't we all have to play by the same rules regarding where we post OT stuff? This is obviously just a marketing ploy to get people to the website. I would be more likely to go to your website, if your headline said "new review on 2006 felt bike" rather than some bullshit about who lance is going to hook up with.

I have a suggestion. Why don't you try reading the review before you pass judgement. Then you can compare and contrast between the one by Dan Empfield on this website.

Who knows, you may learn something. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. For instance, before I researched the review I did not know the specific differences between a Shimano 105 rear Derailleur and Shimano Ultegra rear derailleur. That information is in the review- no purchase required- free of charge.

Oh, and in doing so, you may also notice I don't actually sell anything on my website.

There are a couple ways to look at this: A sales pitch (which it is) and also a free source of information on the web that is directly related to topics on this forum and, in fact, not off topic.

Might I respectfully suggest that you read the material- or at least the first paragraph- before your cynicism takes over. Additionally, no one seems to mind when I post about topics when they need technical advice, commentary on race tactics, insight on travelling to races, races courses, race preparation, training, or any of the other topics.

Some people view it as a imposition- some view it as a service. Ultimately, it's up to you. On the occasion that you do find my posts less than useful, when you see my name in by-line, kindly move to the next thread which may be more to your liking, with my compliments.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Tom,

Go to

www.livestrong.org



Over there they have a poll running too:

"For how long will Tom Demerly stay married?"



I hear they're doing it to promote their site over here on Slowtwitch.

Thank you for the link. While I didn't see the poll you mentioned, I did see some other interesting information, so I do appreciate it.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

keep it coming Tom...your website is one of the few that I will frequent for actual product reviews and useful information. There are a hell of a lot of people on ST that post for the sake of selling exclusively (or so it seems to me) and I would never, ever catgorize you that way - nor would most anyone else. I, for one, thank you for your candor and assistance with any one of a million things (or probably 15,000, I guess) that you have posted here. If I was still in OH, I would most likely make the drive up to MI to gve you my business for no other reason than that. Please keep the information coming, and rest assured many, many of us are quite thankful.

Thanks don. I appreciate your kind words.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Pauloito:

Take it easy, if you don't like it, skip it and go and read about it on people mag. Tom, you are nice, and write very interesting stuff. Thank you

Tom,
geeze, why should you have to apologize for promoting your business, when:
1) It's obviously your business to serve the tri community by providing them with the best service you know how to give, and
2) It's no secret that you're making a living doing so.

Now, if you were posting under some anonymous name like "Tri_dearborn" and every couple of weeks said something promoting bikesport as if you were an unbiased source, that would be out of line, and people would be right to call you on it. But people, there's no secret here. And nobody is forcing you to click on links authored by Tom Demerly!

I certainly appreciate much of the information you put up here and on the bikesport website, and I don't think you should be at all embarassed to think of this forum as a place to, if not exactly advertise, at least build your reputation and name recognition. Some of us play in the tri community; you work here--not that you don't have a good time, but you're a businessman and this is an important place for you in terms of exposure. And you obviously are willing to make a lot of information available to the community at large whether or not it brings people to your store. But I hope it brings people to your store, and you shouldn't be shy about hoping that, too.

Paulo is very crabby lately. I think SAC wants out again.

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

"Why don't you try reading the review before you pass judgement." I wasn't saying anything bad about the review. In fact, I think that would get more people to the website than stuff about Lance and women.

"Who knows, you may learn something. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. For instance, before I researched the review I did not know the specific differences between a Shimano 105 rear Derailleur and Shimano Ultegra rear derailleur. That information is in the review- no purchase required- free of charge."

I just read it and found it useful. I am just saying I wish your links to insighful information on your website was Titled as such, rather than some story about an athlete's social/personal life which I could care less about.

"Oh, and in doing so, you may also notice I don't actually sell anything on my website."

I never referenced actually selling anything in my OP. "Might I respectfully suggest that you read the material- or at least the first paragraph- before your cynicism takes over. Additionally, no one seems to mind when I post about topics when they need technical advice, commentary on race tactics, insight on travelling to races, races courses, race preparation, training, or any of the other topics." Also, I wasn't being cynical either. I find many of your posts and reviews insightful, and I enjoy reading them. All I was saying was your reviews can stand alone, and they will probably attract more attention with a title which explicitly states you have posted a new review. I normally would have skipped over this post without reading; however, if it said "new felt s32 review at bikesportmichigan", then I would have clicked right away. I wasn't so much knocking you, rather I was just giving some input.

Tom,

I've taken a few shots at you when I don't agree with something you've said, but I definately appreciate your contributions to this forum and don't begrudge you a little self-promotion -- or just a little fun. Heck, I was thinking yesterday after I finished looking at the latest issue of Triathlete Magazine that I probably spent more time on the ads than on the articles. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. So why should we object to a little promo work here -- especially from someone like you? I think you've always helped us dig below the marketing skin and get to the meat of what some products are about. And you add plenty of technical expertise.

Part of what makes Slowtwitch a great resource is the opportunity to gain insight from folks like Tom and Gerard and JoshatZipp and Dan and all the great athletes. Obviously, you're all in this business to make a buck, but your contributions here generally seem pretty selfless and genuine.

I appreciate all of you and you can post OT without offending me.

As for Lance, I think he should go back to his wife or go home to Mommy.

Bob C.

I think you guys are missing my point. I believe Tom will get more people to go to his site by merely posting something that says a new review of the 2006 version of the s32 is up on the site. I know he is in this for a business. He should have the goal to attract people to his site; however, he will get more people there from here by actaully telling us about the review in his headline. We could use more TDs in the industry. I just don't think he should mix LR titles into a post which clearly has much more information than something about Lance.

Tom--keep to the high road and know that your insight is extremely valuable and appreciated. I would bet at least HALF of the regular posters and many more of the trollers have your website bookmarked. in other words, you could stop mentioning your website updates and you'd still get a ton of hits. I check it frequently for updates in the editorial and review sections, as do most others. Since 95% of your website deals with reviews that a majority would find useful, I got no problem with the updates showing up on the forum (vs. the LR). To be honest, i've never gotten the impression that you were trying to sell bikes to people on this forum (you don't do internet sales on a lot of merchandise anyway, right?), but instead inform them about products they might be looking into. any sales pitches i've seen from you were in the classifieds (maybe 1 or 2 in the forum a LONG time ago, but I can't remember). In the ends, the ST community benefits much more from your participation than your store. oh, and i'm late as hell with this, but congratulations to you and your wife on what looked like a perfect moment in your lives.

Maybe Tom should just pony up and buy an add on the site...then his signature would not have to be an unpaid add....just a thought.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

I thought the reason behind his signature was that if someone were reading an opinion of his they would know (or know where to look) what brands he sells. In other words, is he pushing only the brands he sells? are his opinions biased? His signature says he sells tri stuff and if you want to know what, go to the website. That's what I take from his signature. Buying an ad is a good idea, but is irrelevant IMO because I'm sure everyone would still insist on his disclaimer. "pretty much a damned if you do..." situation. Am I thinking about this wrong? Not tryin' to pick a fight or anything with ya R10, as I think you're funny as hell and love reading your brutally honest posts.