Plumber-L PDL (Plumbers Discussion List)
Plumber-L PDL (Plumbers Discussion List)
The PLUMBERS-L group email list is an un-moderated open discussion list for
all plumbers and plumbing contractors. The List also welcomes plumbing
manufacturers and suppliers to join in an atmosphere of open, non-commercial
communication. The PLUMBERS-L is intended to be a forum for free-flowing
conversation and shared experiences that benefit our trade and our livelihoods.
PLUMBERS-L will only accept mail from subscribers and, of course, it's FREE.
To subscribe send an email to Plumbers-L+Subscribe@MyPlumber.com
To contact the PDL Group List Owners Plumbers-L+owner@Myplumber.com
You can view the message archives at https://groups.google.com/a/myplumber.com/group/Plumbers-L/topics (private list, membership and login required)
Visit our Facebook page http://Facebook.com/PlumbersL/
History:
Since October 2011 this as been new location of the original PDL, which was hosted on AOL's listserv for close to 20 years.
"I'm Kathy Love, list owner of the Plumbers Discussion List. I am a Master Plumber in South Carolina, 1995 President of the Midlands Master Plumber Contractors Association and 1996 Secretary/Treasurer of the Midlands Area Mechanical Contractors Association of South Carolina. Since 1981, my husband and I have owned a plumbing service company. Last year, I got interested in this wonderful internet medium and worked for months to create an on-line discussion list for plumbers and plumbing contractors. The Plumbers Discussion List (Plumbers-L) is finally a reality. In just a few short months, Plumbers-L has grown to over 100 subscribers. Those of us involved in this list are committed to maintaining the integrity and professionalism of the plumbing trade. I invite you to join us as a subscriber."
History of the Plumber-L PDL (Plumbers Discussion List) by Robert Alen
It was back in the early 1990's. I don't have accurate
dates anymore on this. I was becoming sort of a celebrity on a discussion group
hosted at a university in Turkey. The group was called Homefix, and it still
exists today, on a yahoo group. I would give consumer advice, and yes, DIY
plumbing advice where I knew I could be descriptive enough to inform them how to
do it themselves safely. I always told them when it was time to call a pro
though.
Anyway, one of the members of that list, Kent Frutiger, of
Aball Plumbing Supply in Portland Oregon, was starting a website called "Plumbnet.com"
(which no longer exists). On this site he wanted to have a regular column by a
licensed professional on issues that affect our business. He asked me if I would
be willing.
"Me, I said shakily? I'm just a one man shop!" "You seem to
know a lot and you are very articulate in sharing your expertise, I'm sure it
would bring traffic to the site" kent said. I reluctantly agreed, and you have
to understand at this point I only just purchased my dads business and was
unfamiliar with a lot of the plumbing world, outside of my little corner of it,
the repair work my dad taught me and what I learned in the union school and
working for a large company while an apprentice. In the words of Kathy Love, "I
didn't know what I didn't know" .
So being a skilled AOL user, I had learned to search user
profiles and found 16 Plumbing contractors. I bulk emailed them all and asked
them to help me write my columns by way of a "Cyberplumber Poll". I would ask
them questions, and get their opinions and benefit from their expertise. I many
times got ideas for columns from their responses. Little did I know at the time,
that those original 16 gentlemen, would become the basis for something much
larger, much more life-changing.
Anyway, one of those 16, was Kathy Love of Gene Love
Plumbing, in Columbia, S.C. Her and I became email buddies of sorts, as she can
be very opinionated on the issues. She mentioned to me that she wished there was
more resources on the internet for Plumbers. I agreed we should try to start
something. With the Homefix listserv being sort of a second home for me, I
thought a listserv for plumbing professionals would be useful also. Kathy and I
share credit for that idea, as we were working as quite the team, she reviewed
and signed the contract with aol, and I handled much the technical issues with
the listserv setup. In those days, my naivety led me to think that the PDL would
be used primarily to help a plumber find parts, or share how something comes
apart for service, or that new tool they just invented (you go Parr!) . Little
did I realize that there was such a vacuum in our trade in BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE.
Kathy knew it, and she had the friends in high places in our industry to invite
to the PDL. That kind of information; How to know your cost, Flat Rate Pricing,
how to hire employees, how to maintain a accurate stock, and many other business
related topics dominated the PDL early on. And we changed lives for the better.
There are many who owe much of their success to what they learned on the PDL.
That is a legacy that lives on today.
Sadly though, like anything good that is free, eventually
greed takes hold. Websites of success groups that touted they will make you rich
sprouted up. Most of them have a rule that you don't share what you've learned
there to other plumbers, or you will be kicked off the group. Knowledge is
power, but now power has a price tag. I don't belong to any of those groups as I
am morally against sequestering knowledge away from others simply because they
can't pay the 1000.00 to be a member company.
The PDL stands for freedom of information, integrity, and
because "Ya don't know what you don't know!"
It has been and will always truly be "The knowledge base of
the Pro's...The PDL!"
Bob Allen
since October 2011