RC Car - Our First Hate Mail!

The RC Car and Radio Control Racing Web Site

Our First Hate Mail!

We have received hundreds of e-mails since we started this site at "Pro Racer Secrets" and for the most part, our readers seem to be very happy with the information we offer. I guess it had to happen eventually. Here is our first negative message, it is the closest thing to "Hate Mail" we have received yet. It was sent to us through our Survey. I have spoken with this person since and everything is fine, I just thought some people may want to see some of the reactions we get.

Survey Submission:	Enjoy Visit: No
	Read Content: Yes
	Rate Content: Terrible

Comments: I was very disappointed to find your site selling information that should be let free to the public. My own homepage has more information and I'm giving this info away free of charge. Pro's and top club racers shouldn't sell knowledge, they should help fellow racers out. My homepage is based on Tamiya ta03f's. I myself have been racing Tamiya on-roads cars for years and have come across other pages like mine which out class your page. I'm not saying your page is crap I'm just saying we give out info for free and this is why I'm disappointed with your page.

Regards xxxx xxxxxxxxx

Our Response: This was an interesting submission I just received. I take it you were not happy with your visit to my site. That is very surprising to me as I have worked very hard to make this a useful, information rich site that my readers can benefit from and judging by the other reactions I have received, most are extremely happy. I guess I can't please them all.

In the survey you submitted you said that you did not enjoy your visit to my site. You had read some of my articles but you said that they were terrible. I have to admit, you are the first person to offer a response such as this one to all the hard work I have put into my site content. It seems from your letter that you are bitter that I am selling information on my site. You failed to notice all of the free services that I offer to my site visitors.

I answer between 10 and 20 e-mails a day pertaining to RC car issues (these are not quick e-mails either, many of then turn out as long as this one will). I do not charge for this. I write fresh content daily and post it on the web for others to benefit. I do not charge for this. I have mailing lists in which I convey important upcoming information or "Hot Race Tips". I do not charge for this. I post my readers RC Car pics because some of them do not have access to a web page to show off their rides. I do not charge for this. I offer link exchanges as well as a complete manufacturers link page so that my readers can access almost any site they wish from mine. I do not charge for this.

I spend between 3 and 6 hours a day working on this web site to make it more enjoyable for everyone. I am still a relatively new site of a few months and I am expanding quickly as I continually add fresh, "free" information articles to my page. My initial reaction has been great. I truly enjoy doing this stuff and I think that most of my readers genuinely appreciate it.

You mentioned that "your own homepage" had free content. I visited your site and I thought that it was very well done. Your layout was easy to follow and there was much information available. I also noticed that you are using a FREE server. I, on the other hand, am not. I paid for my domain name, I pay for server space and transfer, I pay setup fees and service charges.

I am not forcing you to purchase my articles. Just like RC Car Action is not forcing you to buy their magazine. If you wish to browse my site daily without spending a cent, I would not mind at all. In fact, I have many daily readers that do just that. I will continue to add new reading material to my site for them as well as others. If some of these people wish to purchase one of my "pay" articles to receive a compilation of my work than great, but if not, I will not stop what I am doing.

I have been in this hobby for about 14 or 15 years now. Many of those years I have raced at an extremely competitive level in which I have learned much information that others do not know. I share a lot of this information through my regular writings but I also offer this knowledge in a mail order package. If this disappoints you, I am very sorry. Maybe you should write a nasty letter to all of the RC magazine companies for selling their content that should, according to you, be free. Actually, you should write a nasty letter to every service based company to let them know that they should all be offering their services for free.

If you don't want to buy my material, then don't. I don't care. I have many satisfied customers that will (Many of my customers e-mail me asking when I am going to release my next article, I am backed up on sales before I am even finished writing). You are still more than welcome to come to my site and enjoy it. You can even drop me a line on "ASK THE PRO". But please, do not send me a derogatory submission explaining how disappointed you are in me for trying to sell articles on my web site and then insult my intelligence by saying that my present content is terrible, too simple, not as good as yours. I can give you a long list of loyal readers that would seriously argue your points. I have built up a very strong name for myself over the past many years in this hobby and there is nothing you can say to harm that. Maybe you are not as secure about your hobby knowledge and you must insult others to feel better yourself.

Maybe I am just a little more mature than you. If I did not like your site, I wouldn't visit it anymore. End of story. I receive many e-mails with good constructive criticism. I like those ones. I enjoy debates and discussions that have a positive outcome. I don't enjoy petty knocks at an individuals work.

Out of the thousands of good e-mails I have received I guess I was bound to get a bad one eventually. Well you are the winner. You sent me the worst comments yet. I guess that isn't too bad! I just want you to know, I am going to continue doing what I was doing before I heard from you. I will continue helping people, they will continue coming back, we will all learn something and have more fun in this great hobby of ours.

Come back and visit anytime.

Let's take off a few tenths per lap,

"PRO"
Pro Racer Secrets

He Responded The Next Day: I'm sorry that my e-mail come across so blunt , the content wasn't terrible it's just that your survey didn't take into account that maybe the content is good but some of us already know about the stuff posted on your site.

The information I came across was good but since already knowing all this I couldn't say I learnt something as your survey goes "Okay - I learnt a bit" or "Terrible - didn't learn a thing" .....Your site is up there with the rest of the good sites on the net in information content. I'm sure you know this by the amount of hits to you site.

I wasn't aware that you had paid for you site domain either. Sorry I come across the way I did, realizing now that the pay content of your site is to keep it there .

Regards xxxx xxxxxxxxx