I am staff on two forums, one is a Jeep forum and one is a very large RV forum. We do not tolerate any kind attitude from member to member, criticize ideas and not people. Once it gets to flaming we lock the thread, this is the difference between a well moderated forum and one with little oversight.
100 % agree with you there John.
The ones that I have had the most problems with have always been brand specific, and I should know better.
You don't ask a guy the just spent $100K what he thinks of his latest purchase. Of course it is the best.
I joined the brand specific form to learn about that brand, I had thoughts that I might like one, so who better to ask then the owners. These were older used units so I wanted to know as much as I could
My thinking was I want information, I don't have anything to trade other than a bit of knowledge that I gathered up from years as a mechanic. So thinking that if I were to be an active participating member and try to help out where I could, then I would be rewarded in kind.
So feel free to ask about what is so good about brand X and why should I buy it over brand Z. The flood gates open and its like trying to drink from a fire hose.
Ask what is bad and it is just like you farted in church. The overwhelming silence is deafening.
And then it started. Little questions about how would I know for sure if I never worked on one before.
And then I did the fatal error of calling out one of the moderators on an issue. I was right and proved him wrong which apparently was a bad thing.
So then came the big blow up.
Was explaining to a guy who had a Silver 6V92 for power,that there can be an intercooler under the blower and with age and such, they can get plugged up and it can cause power issues and smoke.
Well, this guy comes at me. " I was in the USMC for 20 years, I worked on detroits and I never, EVER saw a aftercooler. You are nuts"
No idea what the Marines had to do with it, you guys would have to fill me in. The 20 years of working on detroits I understood. But they can have intercoolers, as anyone who has had to remove them to clean will know. I don't know if they all have or not, but whatever.
So this guy was being a complete tool towards me. I asked the Mod if he was going to allow it and basically got told that he saw nothing wrong. The other guy was an owner and had been on the group for years.
Okay then!!!
Lord did they need some help too.
They were all running off and getting the new improved D2 governors because they were set to 130 PSI and it made their brakes so much better???
One old guy wanted to know how to shut off that annoying buzzer and light on his dash because it was bothering his wife, ah, that is your low pressure air alarm.
Yeah, and I was the idiot.
Said goodbye to that group.
HEF is well run.
Every once in a long while, there is a thread that goes sideways.
It might take the Mods a bit of time to get on to it, hey they are not omnipresent, but they will control it.
So I'll just quickly sum up my thoughts on this thread.
Welcome to HEF. We are a great online community with a common love of heavy equipment.
- We have people from around the world with all levels of knowledge
- We do expect you to have a bit of common sense and mechanical aptitude
- We are not responsible for anything that happens due to advice given, it is still up to you to decide how you want to use the knowledge that we will give you.
- You are responsible for your own safety
- When you ask for help, be prepared to provide the required back ground information, it may be something as simple as a serial number or it could be quite complicated.
- When you receive your answer, review it and if you have any questions ask them. Be advised that this is an online forum. While we have some extremely talented people there will also be some advice that is given that might be wrong.
- Don't keep asking the same question over and over and over.
- Be polite and be ready to have some fun, we are a fun bunch.
I know there is more, and it can be phrased better but it is what it is.
I think I have babbled on enough for one day. Can you tell it was raining today?