Yeppers In the last couple years......... Hell just in the last few months I have spent alot of time with Scott (of course in the company of others) & when the G5 comes in to play he just gives us then expertly moves on to another subject.
The last time I was hanging out with Scott this board came up & he was upset at alot of the guys demanding information on the G5. I knew he was planning on dropping this board.

As Jason & I both said (of course you guys dont listen to me) he's risking his job & what he loves just being here on the boards.

I am going to say this once & for all & sorry Scott if you see this & get ticked off, rant at me in my email you know the address. They have the right to know what kind of troubles you can get in if you get caught on here.

No one from GM is allowed on the boards with out having GM legal beside them telling them what to write, If they are they can get fired.

 

Perhaps, but as it's been noted, most people weren't aware of that. I'd bet the majority of the people who posted these pics on message boards did it without that knowledge. And when told to remove them, most people did. The ones who did not were clearly in the wrong.

Only to the people they were actually given to, which is not the majority of the people who posted them.

At some point a website such as this one needs to ask itself who it's in business to serve: the manufacturer or the customers. If it's to serve the public, then it should definitely post such information. If it doesn't post the information, then many hapless folks will purchase the '04 GTO only to see its resale value fall and the owner become unhappy. The website will have served the interests of the OEM, not the customer. If the OEM is going to do something to affect the happiness and value of a customer's investment, perhaps they should bear some of that cost, in this case by offering incentives on a model that both they and their customers know has lost some of its value.

Aside from maybe the commercial website owners, I don't think anyone posted these pics for their own benefit. We're all enthusiasts and are excited about future cars, and some folks naturally wanted to share with others.

 

So what, GM is going to crack down on promoting it's cars to the people who want to buy them?

That's so stupid that it sounds like exactly what GM would do. I really hope for GM's sake that they come around and start treating their fanbase with a little bit of respect, otherwise we won't be here much longer.

GM is a victim? A victim of what?!

A bunch of Corvette and Camaro fans looking at a picture of the new Z06 talking about how awesome it is....sounds like a good thing for a car company, no? But now it's turned into "you're not allowed to do that! I'm sueing you!"

You want to talk about poisoning a well? GM is poisoning the well of it's fans.

GM is going to realize we're important someday, one way or the other. Sadly, I think the company is going ot have to learn the hard way what happens when you decide your fans are the enemy.

 

Nope I know guys of guys that go hunting for the Test zones just to get Spy photos on the cars. Believe me They dont care what they have only that they are the first ones to post it on the net.





Yea & most of them know that its wrong to share photos of a car that is at a test sight or filming Commercials before the car is out.

I think that some people even on this board dont care that the one GM contact that is on this board would lose his job if he said the G5 is coming out Jan 1st 2005 (by the way that is NOT the date) without having been ok by GM to tell them.
They act like a bunch of spoiled brats not getting what they want so they throw a fit & if they dont get what they want then they go else where & then btch about the car that they claim to love so dang much.

 

Once again my point is proven

I think that some people even on this board dont care that the one GM contact that is on this board would lose his job if he said the G5 is coming out Jan 1st 2005 (by the way that is NOT the date) without having been ok by GM to tell them.
They act like a bunch of spoiled brats not getting what they want so they throw a fit & if they dont get what they want then they go else where & then btch about the car that they claim to love so dang much.

 

Its not that they are sueing the people that are looking at the pics they are sueing those that TOOK the pic, & trying to find ways around getting the spy photos off the net because at the same time they are leaking information out to other companies.

My god you are talking about allowing GM to sit back & take it up the butt while people are out there sabataging their company & be happy about it. I dont think so.


Do you understand whats going through Bob Lutz mmind when he is trying to run his company?

I dont think so & if you did then even the other guys would & they would take everything GM is making & make it themselves & have it out a head of time.

 

It's not my job to understand Bob Lutz, it's his job to understand me, the car buyer. How is a bunch of enthusiasts debating if a Z06 picture is real making GM "take it up the butt" exactly? God forbid people actually see their cars and want to buy it. I remember the DigitalCorvettes thread, with replies like "If it comes out like that, it will be in my driveway." Sounds like the kind of promotion GM would WANT.

Red would lose his job if he told the fanbase about the fifth gen? Maybe, and thus he has a very good reason for not speaking about it. The underlying problem is that he would lose his job at all. Us, the enthusiasts, we're just begging GM to tell us what they have to sell us, because we want to buy it. And company policy is to not let us know about it, and threaten us if we happen across the information even accidentally.

I haven't had customer service that bad since the last time I went to Wal-Mart.

 

Yea but you are one of only a hand full of people any car company is trying to reach they are trying to reach the DRIVERS first not the enthusiasts. Man get off your flipping high horse & this "ME ME ME ME Give me what I Want I dont care about anyone else!" trip as I said you sound like a spoiled bratt & the longer you keep it up the longer its going to take for the car to come out. & thats the Same with any Company that does business today not just the car companies.
You know nothing about business.


You are not getting to what I said I am saying they are Sueing those that TOOK the Damn Photo & are spreading it on the Internet. Most of the test sights of all car companies are top secret from us & other car companies that way no one knows & can sabotage the production or the testing of car. Let alone take photos of it & post them on the net.

Yea & if you go to Ford & ask them what they are testing or whats the plan for the next 10yrs for what they are building they will tell you They CAN NOT & WILL NOT SAY.Do you think its just GM doing this? If you do you are a total idiot & a MORON.

All Car Company has a toy box & whats in those are only on a need to know bases.


OK I am off to work so flame me as you wish, I dont care. Just Remember this I dont put up with childish behavior even from my own kids.

 

Oh, I agree that those who simply linked to the photo are not the one's to blame....how would they know?

As for the websites that took it down, mucho kudo's!

To the people who bash GM for protecting themselves instead fo blaming the person who broke the law....try having your business violated and let's see how big of an e-thug you are then....

To the MORON who posted the picture in violation of the embargo....thanks for NOTHING. you've just screwed it up for ALL of us....now go play in the highway....

 

Jason,

I think you're missing the point...it's NOT the enthusiast that GM is after here...it's the "insider" who violated their rules and has compromised their ability to control product information.

GM has all the ability to let us know what they want to let us know when they want us to know it. But somene has stolen their (copy)right to do that.

GM ain't mad at us..it's the thief they're after....

 

Yeah but if the guy's story is legit at Corvette Forum he is just an enthusiast like you or me who posted the link without knowing better and got rabid GM lawyers thrown on his front porch....

I can't blame GM for being irate about this...but again I think they need to attack the source(s) of the leak and not the giddy enthusiast.

If GM isn't mad at us per se I don't think they'd be telling people like Red Planet that he can't visit/post on these sites anymore. Seems like all RP has been doing lately is keeping the fire lit and hope alive anyway....that's a really good thing for GM.

 

Let's not jump to conclusions.

No one said that Red couldn't post here any more. He made that choice himself. If I worked my entire life to be where he is, I wouldn't either.

It looks like GM is going more after those who are willfully and intentionally allowing the spread of information that was not intended to be released. Just because it fell into the wrong hands does not mean that it is okay to be exploited. There are some very serious reasons why GM didn't want it released before a certain date. If you know anything at all about marketing and advertising, I shouldn't have to explain.

It was mentioned somewhere that VWVortex.com and VW have teamed up to help each other. In this world, you really need to be able to work closely with a certain degree of trust in order to do that. After this debacle, do you think GM will be willing to work with ANY site? It is doubtful, IMO.

 

Sounds like you are the only one flaming

I think GM has a right to protect their property but sending lawyers to an enthusiasts home is a little overboard IMO. Like alot of others, I just assumed it was a photoshop and didnt give it much thought.

 

similar thread:
http://www.z06vette.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70390

what hasn't been mentioned is exactly how GM tracked him down...I'm curious to know

EDIT: so far, the sentiment on the corvette boards seems to be 90 percent "GM-is-the-big-bad-corporate-entity-flexing-its-muscles-on-the-little-guy"
Far be it from me to actually defend a major company in most circumstances, but the vette crowd needs to grow the hell up

 

well Red, you had a good run. i guess we'll see you at the Camaro release.

but all aside like i said before. they underestimated their internet fan base and it backfired in the worse way. if they gave guys like red and maybe Hill or their co-workers a little more leniency on the net, then maybe none of this would have happened.