The dead horse thread

[David Ilvedson]

Well written Israel...

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044


----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Israel Stein" <custos3 at comcast.net>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Received: 9/2/2006 10:20:55 PM
Subject: The dead horse thread


>At 08:01 PM 9/2/2006, pianotech-request at ptg.org wrote:
>>"An Associate is a member who has not passed the RPT examinations. 
>>Associates may be studying piano technology and working toward RPT 
>>status, or may be piano retailers, rebuilders, refinishers or other 
>>specialists. They may also be outstanding tuners and technicians 
>>with many years of experience who have not, or not yet,, for a 
>>variety of reasons (some petty, some legitimate), taken the RPT exams."

>Ah, yes. Of course you would then have to add something to the effect 
>that some may have failed the examination, and some lack the skills 
>to pass the examinations. Absolute truth in advertising, buddy, is a 
>two-edged sword...

>It seems that some people fail to see the difference between the PTG 
>and the Yellow Pages. In the Yellow Pages, you pays your money, and 
>you can present yourself as anything you want - whether or not you 
>have any skill. When you use the name or logo of a skilled trade 
>organization in presenting yourself to the public, that constitutes 
>an endorsement of your skills. And such an organization has all the 
>right in the world to require that you demonstrate those skills 
>before it allows you to use its name or logo in advertising your skills.

>This organizational right is clearly established in US trade 
>legislation and under anti-trust law - including the right to have 
>different classes of membership, with different rights and 
>obligations. The only proviso is that the classification be conducted 
>in a legally acceptable manner - and the PTG testing process and 
>membership structure complies with all such legal requirements, and 
>we work very hard to see that it continues to do so.

>So before anyone starts bandying around words like "Discrimination" 
>they ought to familiarize themselves with the law governing trade 
>organizations.

>And if anyone else has anything further to say about this, I suggest 
>they subscribe to the PTG-L list and raise  all the political waves 
>they wish - because that is the purpose of that list. The PTG 
>welcomes such discussion - as long as it is done in the right 
>place.  The Pianotech list exists for the purpose of technical 
>discussion, many of the subscribers here are not interested in 
>political discussions, many are not even PTG members - this list is a 
>forum for the entire worldwide piano technician community, and is not 
>the place to discuss internal PTG concerns. This is why separate 
>lists have been established for different areas of discussion. But 
>the party who started this thread has been told of this once already, 
>so which part of this policy can't they understand? I'll spell it 
>out: Politics on PTG-L, technical topics here.

>Israel Stein