Forum News If a new vendor shows up. How you can help.

[The Kap'n]

Ok, so kavasutra showing up was a complete disaster. I'm rather disappointed in the way it was handled. Can we agree on doing one thing the next time a possible vendor posts on our forum? Before we pull out our pitchforks and before we aim for the jugular, please let us contact them and get them up to speed on what's going on here and what we stand for.

I completely understand your enthusiasm to throw our questions at them first off, but when we go too heavy on them they may turn out like this one did. In my eyes we never gave them a chance to even begin to explain anything. For all we know the man could have completely changed the way he does business.

Lets from now on have an unwritten, but understood rule that if a vendor randomly pops up, give them a week. Give us a week to contact them and get them up to speed. After a week you can throw whatever questions you want at them.

Also just to reiterate that our members are #1 here. We are the kava consumers. We are the customers. We are the kavasseurs. It's our place to have our questions answered, but in order to do so we do need to practice tact. Even if you might personally think there's nothing good about the vendor, they still have answers to our questions. I want you to have those answers.

Anyways, keep on keepin' on, fellow kava lovers. It would be an awfully lonely place here without you!

-Kapm

 

[verticity]

What if the first thing the vendor does when he "pops up" here is insult us? Just ignore them, I guess you're saying.

 

[The Kap'n]

This is the first thing he said.

http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/new-york-city-kava-bar.5572/

 

[The Kap'n]

And @verticity I'm not pointing any fingers, and I definitely don't blame anyone for standing their ground. I'm just asking that we give them a week before any of the hard questions. You know what I mean. The ones with the accusations for selling other things and whatnot. That seems to be the reason he/she popped off at us.

Also I figure he could have read the other posts we made a while back, and there's nothing we can do about that. I just hate loosing a source of eyes on the fronts of the kava business.

 

[verticity]

This is the first thing he said.

http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/new-york-city-kava-bar.5572/

True, but this is the second thing he said (of only two things he said):
http://www.kavaforums.com/forum/thr...ocation-in-nycs-east-village.5198/#post-65124
The above thread existed long before Kavasutra arrived. Should we not criticize any vendors who might possibly show up later?

 

[The Kap'n]

Criticize away, just give the admins a week to get in touch with them. More so if the vendor in question is one of the vendors we've issued warnings about in the past.

Say if Kona Kava shows up. Please please let us get with them first before the fireworks show. After that....proceed with the show.

 

[verticity]

So in the initial thread on Kavasutra, are you saying we should have tried to contact them before saying anything not nice? Did you read the whole thread about the "drinking games" they had at their bar?

 

[verticity]

I agree about the hypothetical case of Kona Kava showing up.

 

[The Kap'n]

So in the initial thread on Kavasutra, are you saying we should have tried to contact them before saying anything not nice? Did you read the whole thread about the "drinking games" they had at their bar?

Basically yeah. I've learned through experience that it's best to contact them personally first. This has happened before and the vendor in question was actually really really nice, and had no idea why we were going after them. We never think that they may have NO idea why selling kava and k*atom along side each other is anything other than perfectly ok. Of course we all see these transgressions against kava, but they might not. It's better for us to get them up to speed personally first. Just so they know where we're coming from.

Edit: Also this whole PR thing is new to me, so bear with me as I learn the ins and outs of carrying the positive name of kavaforums.com

 

[Deleted User01]

I agree in principle to what you are saying Kapmcrunk. All you are saying, "Is give peace a chance". However:
New vendors better not get dodgy when we respectively ask them about the nobility and quality of their kava. They need to answer truthfully and without getting agitated. This is a very important topic to us. This is the difference between buying tainted food versus fresh wholesome food. If they are not up to our standards, they can easily say "We are working on our sources to bring you the best product possible". Geez, that's all we want to hear and we are happy to wait.

So we ask them questions in a very respectful and inquisitive manner and they should show us the same respect. If they don't show us any respect, then I would say we ignore them instead of agitating them for being evasive.

 

[Deleted User01]

Ok, I thought some more on it. @Kapmcrunk, perhaps you could have an hand out you can give to prospective new vendors. Just warn them that we are sensitive to things like Tudei, Kava mixed with other botanicals, and so on. They can make a decision as to whether they are prepared to answer "hard questions" or not. You know, at Club Bunga Bunga, @HeadHodge has a notice on the front door that says, "This establishment is frequented by hard core pan-fried Kava drinkers. You have been warned." See, that's the type of "heads up" we should give the new vendors.

 

[HeadHodge]

We're our own best worst enemies of kava.

 

[Deleted User01]

(@HeadHodge). Hedgie, I guess we must try not to get combative if they are selling tainted kava or adding LSD do their Kava drinks or any other stuff of which we don't approve. We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard then even the vendors. We need to be perfect Gentlemen and refrain from jumping on them like "Stink on Sh__" when they give us answer we don't like. We can just tell them, "Oh, well we don't approve of that sort of thing but each to his own". Then we sic Frosty the Zombie Snowman on them.
It's 'bout time you guys saw things my way. Leyme at'em. You guys be perfect English Squires and leave the dirty work to me. Heh, heh, heh.

 

[Deleted User01]

So I googled KavaSutra and came up with the link below. Yeah, they serve stuff we don't approve of. One of the reviewers say, "I don't know why someone posted that they were rude?". Oh man, that was rich. So maybe KavaSutra is a bad example but @Kapmcrunk's example of a future reseller of kava powder would be a better example. I would say that the good Kapm is prepping us for the next vendor. Like, "Guess who's coming to dinner". I hereby swear an oath to be on my best behavior when that happens ... and I mean it.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/kavasutra-west-palm-beachhttp://www.yelp.com/biz/kavasutra-west-palm-beach

 

[Deleted User01]

Geez @Deleted User, what you said wasn't even that bad .... by @Deleted User standards. I guess I missed all that hoopla back when but these guys are definitely not our cup of tea and they are going to get the FDA on our case if they encourage the abuse of Kava. So I think your post was perfectly all right. It wasn't demeaning. It was both truthful and funny. @Kapmcrunk, if we get a real serious kava supplier here, we will take your remarks to heart and be very respectful and welcoming. And they in turn must promise not to call us "bad names".

 

[TheKavaSociety]

I see your point, @Kapmcrunk . At the same time I believe that we are at the point now where new vendors need the forum more than we need the new vendors. Thanks to you and everyone else here this community has grown into a very powerful platform that has a strong voice and influence in the kava industry. I am very happy to be a part of this great community and I am also happy and proud that we stand for responsible consumption of good kava. I am also glad that we firmly stand against certain bad practices that can give kava a bad name and/or ruin the kava experience for many new and old users.

In my view, this forum is large and visible enough that I cannot imagine any serious kava vendor who wouldn't be aware of our existence. In this context it makes me wonder why some choose not to join us. Perhaps it is because they find some of us rude. But more likely it is because they are worried about meeting the standards set by this community. I find it hard to believe that any serious, US-based kava vendor would be completely unfamiliar with this forum and that he or she would require some kind of a special introduction/summary/brief. Yes, there might be some small, local vendors from the South Pacific who could perhaps be unfamiliar with this platform, but if a big chain of kava bars in America says it doesn't know anything about this forum then it can only mean two things: they have never googled kava or they are lying.

A few months ago I had a private conversation with a kava vendor who isn't present here. I was trying to encourage him to join the forum, but he told me that he was worried that he wouldn't be able/willing to answer some of the questions about his products that the forum members might ask him. He was afraid that his lack of good answers would be visible online for anyone googling his business' name and that is why he prefers not to establish any kind of presence here. While I appreciate his honesty, I think this is a very clear indication that some vendors might be choosing not to be active here because they know that their products' quality could be questioned here. At the same time, it seems obvious to me that anyone who can stand 100% behind his or her products' quality, would be more than happy to estabish his or her presence here.

 

[HeadHodge]

I see your point, @Kapmcrunk . At the same time I believe that we are at the point now where new vendors need the forum more than we need the new vendors. Thanks to you and everyone else here this community has grown into a very powerful platform that has a strong voice and influence in the kava industry. I am very happy to be a part of this great community and I am also happy and proud that we stand for responsible consumption of good kava. I am also glad that we firmly stand against certain bad practices that can give kava a bad name and/or ruin the kava experience for many new and old users.

In my view, this forum is large and visible enough that I cannot imagine any serious kava vendor who wouldn't be aware of our existence. In this context it makes me wonder why some choose not to join us. Perhaps it is because they find some of us rude. But more likely it is because they are worried about meeting the standards set by this community. I find it hard to believe that any serious, US-based kava vendor would be completely unfamiliar with this forum and that he or she would require some kind of a special introduction/summary/brief. Yes, there might be some small, local vendors from the South Pacific who could perhaps be unfamiliar with this platform, but if a big chain of kava bars in America says it doesn't know anything about this forum then it can only mean two things: they have never googled kava or they are lying.

A few months ago I had a private conversation with a kava vendor who isn't present here. I was trying to encourage him to join the forum, but he told me that he was worried that he wouldn't be able/willing to answer some of the questions about his products that the forum members might ask him. He was afraid that his lack of good answers would be visible online for anyone googling his business' name and that is why he prefers not to establish any kind of presence here. While I appreciate his honesty, I think this is a very clear indication that some vendors might be choosing not to be active here because they know that their products' quality could be questioned here. At the same time, it seems obvious to me that anyone who can stand 100% behind his or her products' quality, would be more than happy to estabish his or her presence here.

True enough @Henry BUT... The reason I joined as a member is because it's an easy, mello, forgiving site without bashing or flaming. We should be better than that and strive for civil discourse and civil agreement/disagreement, and some Friday Fun!!

If I was treated the way @Kavasutra was as a member after 2 whole posts, I would run away and never be here again. Even if he turns out to be the evil encarnate, it's better to have a dialog than an enemy.

Simply put we shouldn't treat our fellow members the way we did. They join for a reason, so let's hear them out.

 

[TheKavaSociety]

Ok, @HeadHodge we might have been too harsh. My questions were genuine though and I really did hope to engage in a dialogue.