Quality of responses

[Don]

Eric, First of all I want to commend you for an awesome web site.
I have used your forum section to try to get help for my repair problem. A lot of the advice is excellent and some is very misleading.
I have found that the people who respond are trying their best to be helpful. However, the knowledge one gains in doing repairs on one type of car are not always transferrable to other types of cars. So my suggestion is this, that respondents include in their response something about their experience and what type of car they were working on to gain this experience. Also, it is better to get no response than to get a response that has no merit or that is misleading. I know this is a difficult issue to address because you want as many people to get involved with the process as you can without diluting the overall process.

I have tried to make my statement as clear and concise as I can but to get my point across. Hopefully, I succeeded. DON13

Topic

[Bill]

Well Don13…..Maybe you should pay for the answers to your questions. I have been a Tech for almost 40 years. None of us know everything about every car. We all could be doing something possibly more enjoyable than answering automotive related questions. Most of us give the best advice we can but it’s really hard to diagnose and repair someone’s car that’s hundreds to thousands of miles away.

I do this because Eric has a mission to help as many people as he can that can’t afford a business to repair their cars.

I’m offended and sure I’m not the only one offended by your post.

[twiggy]

If you compare this forum to almost any other forum out there, the quality of advice and the “signal to noise ratio” are far better here on ETCG.

I feel we are lucky beyond belief at all the seasoned techs on this site that are here helping the rest of us and am very thankful for them.

For the Techs on this site reading this, I thank you very much. You guys are wonderful.

[Don]

First of all I am sorry I offended any one. My opening remark was that I thought the web site was awesome. I appreciated all of the advice that I received. I must be a bad communicator. I was trying to suggest an improvement. This hi-lites a problem of trying to communicate something in message of this type. Please except my apology.

[dave]

Well Don13…..Maybe you should pay for the answers to your questions.

I believe it is safe to say that this forum operates under the pretense “you get what you pay for.”

[richiepearce]

I am a member of a few sites vehicle related, some are like this, others are specific to manufacturer and others are technician only talk. Whilst giving up our time to help the lay person, I don’t believe any one would give bad advise purposely.
In my opinion when advise may not be correct there are enough very experienced people on here who will put counter options and reasons.
For manufacturer specific information generally a forum can be found for this.
As a vehicle repair forum this is one of my favorites, the eclectic knowledge base and trouble shooting guides are superb.

[Bluesnut]

I understand the OP’s point of view as stated originally and the OP also graciously apologized.
It should be kept in mind that it’s difficult to diagnose cars even with having them in hand; much less trying to sort it out over the internet and any advice offered is done so with good intentions.

Something else to keep in mind is that other than oddball quirks here and there, the mechanical principles are the same no matter what car is being discussed.
Using fuel injection for example, it all works the same way and often even the same parts are used from one make to another. It all boils down to the length of an injector pulse.

[Bill]

I accept your apology. Even I didn’t get across what I really wanted to in my response.

I agree there are some who shouldn’t be answering questions but they are just eager to help.

Just as Bluesnut said “it’s difficult to diagnose cars even with having them in hand; much less trying to sort it out over the internet”

[Don]

Thanks for accepting my apology and I agree with you. I guess I have to be more careful with the way I word things on an open forum. Thanks for making me more sensitive to the procedure. DON13

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”DON13″ post=68660]Eric, First of all I want to commend you for an awesome web site.
I have used your forum section to try to get help for my repair problem. A lot of the advice is excellent and some is very misleading.
I have found that the people who respond are trying their best to be helpful. However, the knowledge one gains in doing repairs on one type of car are not always transferrable to other types of cars. So my suggestion is this, that respondents include in their response something about their experience and what type of car they were working on to gain this experience. Also, it is better to get no response than to get a response that has no merit or that is misleading. I know this is a difficult issue to address because you want as many people to get involved with the process as you can without diluting the overall process.

I have tried to make my statement as clear and concise as I can but to get my point across. Hopefully, I succeeded. DON13[/quote]

As you pointed out this issue would be difficult if not impossible to address. That said you must realize that even if the poster is ‘wrong’ they are still trying to help. No one knows everything, that includes me. We do our best and try to help. I see that you also apologized for offending anyone, I appreciate that. As I said, these people are giving up their time to try and help and I think they deserve some appreciation for that.

All that aside you have many options here on the site. Don’t forget about the articles on common problems, or the videos. You could also use the search function to find answers. In summary, you have a LOT of options here on the site to get help. I hope going forward that you’re able to get the information that you need and that you’re able to see things differently when it comes to people posting on the forum.

Thanks for your input.

[Author]

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