OK, heres the deal; Mark Boyd is an automotive digital marketing success story that I have not only befriended over the years, but whom I have come to admire and respect. So, when he recently posted an article on ADM as a blog, I did something that I reserve for only the best authors, topics and relevant issues of concern or interest. I used the ADM membership list to invite over 2,500 ADM members to comment and respond to Mark's ADM blog posting... Many of you responded to Mr. Boyd's Blog article seeking comments regarding Craigslist, or you attempted to do so.
I WANT TO PERSONALLY AND EMPHATICALLY THANK THE DOZENS OF ADM MEMBERS WHO RESPONDED OR ATTEMPTED TO RESPOND AFTER MARK DELETED THE ARTICLE.
However, it turns out that Mark Boyd's posting of his article on ADM, and subsequent deletion of the article after the ADM member invitation was sent out was a mistake.
As are many other ADM members, I am a member and supporter of David Kain's KainAutomotive.com Idea Exchange, and I know in my heart that David Kain would never waste his time facilitating a process of diverting ADM member traffic to his site, because he already has it! In fact, the ADM Tool Bar which members can install for free has links to, and streams descriptions of activity on the KainAutomotive.com Idea Exchange, along with DealerRefresh activity and ADM member activities. David, Jeff and I enjoy a genuinely friendly relationship with each other, we support each other's endeavors and each of us has a high level of personal and professional respect for each other.
Here are the facts:
After Mark Boyd published the following article (summary shown) on ADM:
"Mark Boyd added a blog post 22 hours ago
Selling on Craigslist - Amazing results or not?
I would be very interested to hear from dealers IF you post your inventory online to Craigslist (and other free listings) and what kind of results you are having? How are you doing it (a software tool, or using a service). Also, If you DON'T ... "
Out of respect for Mr. Boyd, I responded to his plea for feedback about Craiglist by sending out my own personally worded invitations to over 2,500 ADM members... I described Mr. Boyd as an Automotive Digital Marketing Pioneer, I requested that ADM members show professional respect for him by responding to his Blog Article... And, ADM members began to immediately respond in droves.
But, something went wrong... After the first several ADM members entered their comments providing Mr. Boyd with the feedback he requested, Mark Boyd DELETED HIS ADM BLOG POST. This caused further traffic from the alert that was sent to ADM members to reach a dead end when they tried to respond... Which is annoying and could potentially hurt our community by discouraging ADM members from responding to future requests. As bad as it was to have an invitation to respond to a blog article that no longer existed, things got worse...
Less than 9 hours later AN INVITATION WAS SENT OUT BY KAINAUTOMOTIVE.COM IDEA EXCHANGE TO COMMENT ON THE EXACT SAME MARK BOYD WRITTEN ARTICLE POSTED ON THE KAINAUTOMOTIVE.COM IDEA EXCHANGE WEBSITE!
The screen capture of the ADM invite below was received in my Outlook Email AFTER I arrived in Rhode Island, at 12:48 AM, but hours after I sent the same ADM invitation while still in Phoenix, a copy of which most of you should have in your inboxes (or junk mail folders) as well:

The KainAutomotive.com invitation to respond to Mark Boyd's article was sent out after ADM members were invited, but also after Mark Boyd deleted his ADM version of the same article...
Here's the screen capture of the KainAutomotive.com invite I received in my GMail account, sent AFTER Mark Boyd deleted his ADM post:

Was this some sort of attempt to divert ADM members to the Kain site instead of the ADM site to comment on this article? That was my original perspective, but after speaking with Mark Boyd i am convinced that he made a Mistake. ... After all, why would Mark Boyd delete his article after so many ADM members had already responded to it? You can see the ADM member comments on Mark Boyd's ADM Profile page that were made before he removed the article from ADM. According to Mark, he was well aware that ADM members were responding to his article at the very same time he was trying to make spelling corrections. Which is when he accidentally deleted it. I have no reason to suspect Mark would ever lie to me about such a matter..
My question is this... Did I over-react by believing that the timing and series of events indicated some type of treachery to the ADM members who were invited to respond to his blog article on Craigslist?
Does deleting an ADM article less than 24 hours after 2,500 ADM members get invited to that very same article, resulting in a dead link (now redirected to the ADM blog listing) qualify as being inconsiderate to ADM members?
If you were in my position, what would YOU have thought about Mark Boyd's article deletion?
