Hey guys, most of you know me here and i don't think of myself as a trouble maker, so i don't want anyone to take personal offense at what im about to say. There has been some debate here as of late as to why people are less likely to post here, or why some newbies don't stick around........ i just finished reading through a thread started by a member with only 4 posts, including the one that started the thread off. Clearly he is new to the forum, or a lurker at best, and maybe feels uncomfortable posting. A statement was made in good faith about a mod he had done, and was trying to pass on the info as helpful tech. (It seemed to me.) Perhaps he was right, perhaps he was totally incorrect, it really does not matter. The responses were hostile, and argumentative, and a simple "you are misled, or mis-informed would have sufficed. Instead, here are some the comments that were made.....
Funny, there's a buncha guys with swapped in 5.0/5.8, 429/460 engines who will call bullshiznit on that.
Search is a handy tool... good luck.
Then you did it wrong.
Hum wonder why he hasn't replied to his thread yet
Its unimportant who said what and why, and this is not intended to attack anyone. I am merely pointing out why a newer member might feel intimidated and not come back based upon comments like this, whether they are right or wrong. A "PM" is a way more effective way to correct someone, rather than call them out and publicly embarrass them for making a point that is off base or dead wrong. This person was simply trying to pass on what they believed to be helpful info. What are everyone's impressions about this? Am i being overly critical here? I would really like some of you to weigh in on this one......
Best to all,
David
I dont come around here much, usually just once or twice every few months. Mainly because I am preoccupied on other vehicles and projects and theres not much here for the 80-82's.
I have to agree with the uninviting attitude of this place though. The snide remarks really turn people off of both reposting or signing up in the first place.
Well, first off, it was a 2+ year old post that was necro-ed for some unknown reason.
Second, his info was totally false. Helpful tech is one thing, posting incorrect info with no details or backup on your claims is another. There is an over-abundance of mis-information about these cars floating around all over the internet as it is. We don't need more added to it.
Had he explained what issues he had run into, then that would've been a different story, but he chose not to elaborate.
called it out as such. Am I a bad person? Perhaps. I would've said the same thing to his face, because again, I hate the spread of dis-information about these cars.
I dunno, from my perspective people today seem incredibly bitter in their lives, and seem to want to lash out at anything that is outside of their accepted range of thought. Feeling like they know more about some particular subject than someone else, and can put them in their place as such, is the only way a lot of these types of people have any way of feeling good about themselves and their lives, which is why they persist day after day. These are the type of people that drive away new members from just about every forum, not just this one. If you ask me though, new member or not, it's a little silly to "take your ball and go home" just because of a few narcissists. People need to harden up a bit, and realize that not everyone has that spirit about themselves. Some people actually want to teach others, instead of falsely bolstering their own ego. I guess most people today just live inside their own minds, where everything they do is 100% correct, and as such is beyond critique, and when that happens in a real way, they can't take it, and have to remove themselves from the environment. Just what I see here, and on many other forums of all subject matter.
Aside from that, this forum in particular does have a very unwelcoming spirit about it, I felt it the first time I visited the site, far before I even joined. Not sure why that is, as we all have the same love and passion for these cars, even if we are all somewhat different people in life. Why not make it a point to start changing things now?
People who have been here for many years need to remember what it was like when they first joined.
People who have just joined need to realise those who have been here a long time, have seen the same questions asked over and over and expect a small amount of work to be done searching before asking for someone to give them the answer on a platter.
ideally, everyone needs to meet in the middle :P
The ezboard forum wasn't nearly as nice as vBulletin. Oh, the horror!
The general LOOK of the forum itself was much more inviting after the upgrade. I think afterward there were also a LOT more active members the following years, and posts.
Hi Chuck,
I was not aiming to single anyone out, and certainly your record here is one of being helpful to all, so please understand where i was coming from. I do realize that it was a older resurrected thread, but it illustrated a point i was trying to make which has been a regular occurrence. I never implied that anyone was a bad person here. I was merely saying maybe we can take a different direction in the way we approach a newer member as they have not really got a sense of things here the way the long timers do. Like i previously stated, a PM from a senior member, or a friendly heads up would go much further for good will, than a backlash from multiple posters. Granted a repeat offender of the same stupid is not what im referring to, i have a small threshold for that kind of stuff as well. I think if you have a open forum, its a community and we all have the same obligation to police it and keep to a certain level of civility even when differences of opinion or information are in dispute. Just my humble opinion and i was only trying to open up a civil discussion here.
Thanks,
David
Well said David.
I only post a question when I have mismatched info or looking for a quick answer. I generally don't reply to much if I'm unsure of something, or I'll reply if its a off topic thread. As for rudeness in the forum I'm guilty of it on one occasion and been following the if you can't say anything nice shut your mouth rule lol. I notice most of the SEARCH OR WE WILL BREAK YOUR LEGS comes from the beat a dead horse questions, usually in regard to front control arms / brakes / shocks & struts. As for replies to my threads, I take the good ignore the bad. If someone wants to bust on me to feel better they can go ahead, I'll read the other 4 posts containing what I want and walk away learning something new. That being said there are alot of threads that start
Question
Answer 1
Answer 2 differing from answer 1
Thread jack where we have a presidential debate over the merits of 1 and 2 and then the OP leaves in search of higher ground to get out of the BS, not everyone new knows to bring hip waders to the Q&A
I dont understand why someone hasnnt done a sticky of top ten tech articles for every section. Shirley, someone can compile a list of FAQ that applies to engines, electrical, etc? Engines could have a sub file of 2.3's and 5.0's. Suspension is obvious...get a list of top tens including step by step for 5 lug swaps, k member swap,etc. I dunno, just a thought, and no, im not doing it!LOL
I agree that would be nice/helpful.
I agree, and don't call me Shirley.
Probably because they won't get read anyway.
LOL! Probably true, but at least they could politely be directed to there when they do ask, and it would be easy to find instead of doing a search and coming up with a billion different threads that arent related. I havent had good luck doing searches either.
Yeah, you have to use google for better search results. I pretty much stick to google for searching most forums now days. https://www.google.com/search?q=site:foxtbirdcougarforums.com+5-lug
This all has a very easy resolution. Be nice. Be nice to old members. be nice to new members. If you feel like you need to argue, don't, just shut your mouth and enjoy things. We don't always have to be right and willing to go to the end of the world to prove it. Relax, get back to the reason we are all here...Fox Body Thunderbirds and Cougars. See? Easy fix to all the problems..
Actually, I've always gotten along with 99.99% of the guy's here. They've all been friendly, and helpful beyond belief. I finally had to tell that one person to take a hike, but I'm not the first one and some were no where as nice as I was about it. Maybe this forum could use a good shrink to pop in every now and then for a little moderation. (lol)
you nailed it,,
I to have a difficult time manipulating the search feature here.
ive tried quotations separated by comma's, used plus signs and all the other angles to narrow a search ,, but it rarely works.
most of the time the subject line is so stupidly unrelated to the threads content that searching by subject line is a waste of time.
it has been done actually,
got to coolcats.net and then
goto tech tab
that one link would fix the issue,, if eric wanted to manage that side of the house.
I would love to see headlamp relay mods pop up there one day.
I think he's probably waiting for us to say that Foe'sMod hasn't burnt anything else out. (It hasn't)
thanks to you,,, i love my high beams!!!!!!
i still have no f'ing clue what that second diode does with auto lamps,,, and ive come to accept it as F'ing magic.
The second diode keeps the headlights from coming on when you want JUST the park lamps.