New Sponsor- Dragon's Way Trading

[Andrew Evans]

Since I recommended advertising on MartialTalk Forum to the owner, I feel I should say a couple of words.

The owner of Dragons Way Trading, Mickey Doto, initially wrote to me, "We are your online source for Filipino Martial arts equipment. I am writing you regarding your current supplier of escrima sticks. Our sticks are made of quality Rattan gathered from Battangas Philippines. Every Stick has been hand picked and worked on by Master Rodello Dagooc. You will find that our Prices are quite competitive."

So I figured I give it a try...

While his sticks are not the least expensive, they are definitely some of the best quality. My students especially like the hand carved versions- very nice. When I found out that Master Rodel Dagooc carved them, I wished I ordered twice as many.

The padded sticks at www.dragonswaytrading.com are also nice. While I still prefer Sof-Stx, the ones from Dragons Way Trading are a lot less expensive. Also, some practitioners may prefer the rattan core.

There are other items- all at very reasonable prices. For a while there, I assumed that I was dealing with a company located in the Philippines since the prices were so low. Not so!

The outfit is located in nearby New Jersey. For us in North America, shipping is very affordable.

Last but not least, Dragon's Way Trading is sponsoring us. So go to visit the website!

Thanks!

 

[Datu Tim Hartman]

I can’t tell you what the quality of their products are but I question their sales tactics. I received the same e-mail and noticed that there was a large amount of addresses in the cc. No big deal until I noticed the addresses where all WMAA schools harvested from my site. If they wanted to approach my organization to do business with them I feel that they should have gone threw me first. This left a bad taste in my mouth and after correspondence with them I chose not to work with them. To be fair to them I do have my own supply company, so most likely I won’t have dealt with them either way.

 

[Andrew Evans]

No big deal until I noticed the addresses where all WMAA schools harvested from my site.

Hey! Maybe that's where he got my email address from.

 

[Andrew Evans]

Hey! Maybe that's where he got my email address from.

But seriously, associations with affiliates should take steps to protect the privacy of their affiliates just as instructors with students must protect the privacy of their students. Otherwise, enterprising entrepreneurs will take advantage of the temptation that has been created.

I believe the burden is on those who have the information to prevent its disclosure. This includes myself as I have inadvertantly made made my student's information easily available in the past.

There are ways to make information available to potential students/customers/clients while protecting privacy and reducing spam. One way to prevent the harvesting of information from our websites is to "twist the text." Instead of listing an email address, I could write it down as hokkien at excite dot com. This will make a human user understand the email, but not a harvesting tool.

Does anyone else have other tips about protecting email addresses on websites?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[DragonMind]

Going back to Dragon's Way Trading, I have ordered from them twice. Service was excellent and the products (dulo-dulo's and kamagong sticks) exceeded my expectations. I will do business with them again.