This post is sorta rant and suggestion post.

1st of all no offence to the staff or anyone else.Im doing my best to post everything in the right place but yet I can seem to please them.

The 2cnd thing thats kinda bugging me is there seems to be a number of the same related threads that keep getting posted.

Example engine swaps,check engine codes etc.

These post Need to be sticky so we dont have numerous post on the same topic.

3rd of all Some of our new members should use the search function before asking certain questions that can be found there.

Like said no troubles just some changes that might improve this site which I enjot alot and is very helpful.

Thanks Aaron

 

I here you but #2 is because of #3 and without #3 no one will find the stickys so #2 will continue to happen And also related to #3 we were all new members at some point and until we learned the use of the search function we may have posted some silly questions (cough cough you had a couple no offense) that would have been found had we used the search. I think the best thing to do when this happens is to just tell/ask them to use the search funtion to find their answers. Its never going to end no matter what anyone tries to implement to stop it sorry.

 

Not sure if this is a forum rule or not but maybe some kind of rule can be implimented about the search function.I may have been guilty of that a time or two in the begining but had this rule been in place >>>>Not making excuses but I do suffer short term memory problems so i may have a tendacy to forget somethings.

 

I hear that!! I wish there was some possible way but I don't see how to enforce it

 

#1. Unless a Staff member PM's a forum member about it, we don't consider it to be a problem.

#2. I am constantly having to combine threads that violate the rule against double posting. Some people think that just because they have a tangential thought to one expressed in their own original thread that they need to make a new thread on it.
If you come across such a situation feel free to use the 'report a post' button on the message to notify a Staff member so one of us can review it.

#3. Lots of people are basically lazy.

*Moved to 'Forum Help and Suggestion' section*

 

HAHA you nailed that one!!!

 

Wow…do you guys really “hear” yourselves? I have a little (ok long) rant myself.


As a “new” member I’d like to address these comments…with the hopes that it might help you remember where you came from as young budding mechanic yourselves. To 1sttimejimmyowner’s initial comments:


1. Send chocolates and flowers to the staff.

2&3. I agree that some people are lazy. Acknowledged. Now I will expand:


1sttimejimmyowner, you (and others) have helped me a ton over the past couple of weeks. I very much appreciate it and hope you will continue (if I am still a member after this posting) I do use the search engine and sometimes have been successful. But there are other times when the key word(s) or phrase you punch in doesn’t line up with a previous thread. Or you get so many results that it would take you hours to wade thru them to find your specific problem. Also, most of us that are working on our vehicles already have instruction manuals. This is a forum and a “forum” is defined as “…an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages.”-(Wikipedia) Forums such as these are the modern (and better) equivalent to picking up the phone and calling a mechanic friend to help you out or to exchange ideas.


Sometimes the searches help out and we don’t need to post a thread. Sometimes, to one with much more experience, it is easy to connect the dots…taking the sticky or previous thread and applying it to their situation. Sometimes, to those with less knowledge, skills and abilities, we need further help to connect the dots. We want to “talk to our mechanic friend” so we understand the fundamentals of the problem and also the solution. Probably afterwards, that previous thread now makes sense to us. That person won’t have to ask that question again. You have gained a “friend” that will be anxious to help you out when and if they can.


Isttimejimmyowner, I don’t understand the frustration you are experiencing because one of us lower life forms posts a thread that has been posted previously? Are you required to answer threads? If you get irritated because someone once again posts a “4x4” problem…don’t respond…move on to a thread that interests you. But then again, think of all those people (like me) you personally have helped out.


Besides the Blazer Forum upper class, most of us are in the midst, or even beginning, our project and we have hit a sticking point. We are seeking guidance and instruction quickly. I think a lot of us even walk to our keyboard wiping grease off our hands.


Now if BlazerForum.com wants to look at the practical side, think about the click-counts and the click-thru’s for your vendors. Think about if you were to turn this forum into something no more than an impersonal instruction manual and beat up on us “noobs” for posting two threads on one project. Well you will accomplish chasing people off which will result in site visits, click counts, and click-thru numbers dropping. I assume the vendors want monthly reports?(rhetorical) I know I did when I was a marketing director. If you showed me reports with declining numbers, I’d pull my account. If you showed me reports with rising numbers (due to us noobs) I’d continue and maybe even increase the account.


Last but not least subject regarding “Some people think that just because they have a tangential thought to one expressed in their own original thread that they need to make a new thread on it.”. I’m one of those with the tangential thoughts. Actually, I would love to have one thread discussing my whole current project. There is a problem with that, and it’s happened to me twice now. When you post the initial thread…a lot of people look at it. But then the numbers take a steep, almost cliff-like dive. They have looked at your first post, determined they can’t help or it doesn’t interest them. Later on, you come upon another problem in the same project that they might be able to help on. If you post it in that initial thread, you might have a few people read that far down, but basically you don’t have the majority of your audience already.


I can prove it. I posted a thread about “Clutch Chatter”. First of all I lost probably 3/4 of the folks right there because they have automatics. I got no replies or help. Later, I posted a thread about “Flywheel forward movement?”. This thread was promptly moved over to the “Clutch Chatter” and I was advised to “Please keep it together so folks can follow what's happening.” No replies, no help. Later in my project I learned my main bearings were shot. So trying to be a team player staying in the same thread, I posted a question about replacing my main bearings and then a day later about replacing my engine. I got crickets (chirp, chirp). But as soon as I took that posting and made it a new thread…I got responses. Why? Because it was up front, not buried 4 or 5 postings down and it had a different title. It now became a new “Call to Action”. I got the answers I needed and BlazerForum got the click counts (and possibly click-thru’s to Chevy or one of the other vendors).

To sum this long drawn out rant up, remember the fun you had learning to be your own mechanic. Or, if it wasn’t for fun, to learn how to be self-reliant so you did not have to pay big dollars you didn’t have to shops. Remember, this is promoted as “forum” not an instruction manual. If you want it to be an exclusive club for those with 10 years or more as a mechanic, make it like that and don’t promote it as a all encompassing “Blazer Forum”. Thanks and I really do appreciate the work that is done for this forum.

 

Isttimejimmyowner, I don’t understand the frustration you are experiencing because one of us lower life forms posts a thread that has been posted previously? Are you required to answer threads? If you get irritated because someone once again posts a “4x4” problem…don’t respond…move on to a thread that interests you. But then again, think of all those people (like me) you personally have helped out.


WHOA you need to take a breath and back up a bit.I never implied anyone was a lower class lifeform as you put it just because you dont use the search button or cant connect dots etc.Matter of fact I started out my post saying IM not trying to offend anyone by my post.I never consider myself someone who knows everything and is better than anyone else.Im here to learn also.So if you took it that way you have huge misinturbitation about what i meant.BTW I have huge spelling problem I would hope nobody would look down on me because of it.I have been out of school 30 years,suffered head trama mini strokes and barage of other things.No I dont want sympathy Im just saying.Here an example of a post that has repeated itself many times >Engine swaps<I bet if you look through the forum theres probaly a dozen threads on the subject.Then theres check engine lights throwing codes.Theres probaly 3 dozen of them.They probaly all result in the same answer for many of those threads.
I can relate to talking to people an answering their questions correctly.When people come back and respond to my answer Im happy that you do.If I help you or some other person learn something that I know and the other person doesnt it makes me feel useful Lmao.No seriously though.In my short time here I have made some friends and several things in common with some of our members.Thats pretty cool.Like I said before I enjoy this site and i enjoy helping people.Im not hear to insult nobody and my ideas on the beginning of this thread was to maybe help clean up some of the clutter here so its easier the find the answers to our problems.
Last but not least do I get a responce to some of the questions I ask ,NO!If I dont get an answer I dont get impatient about it or upset.I use other resources on the web to find that answer.Sometimes maybe a person with the answer you are looking for hasnt visited the forum.People do have other lives.If you dont get an answer right right away wait the proper amount of time go back and bump it back up.
BTW I like your answer about the staff enjoy the site and lighten up a bit.

 

Ok... Rant time.

Yeah i agree with some ideas here... BUT... You cant honestly sit there and tell me that because someone posts something that has been covered 20 times its going to make your life so much more stressful. Double posting is one thing and yes THAT is annoying. I believe that we are here to answer peoples questions and if everyone used the search feature then what use are we?? If you see a new thread that has been covered 20 times your mouse button doesnt force you to click it and answer in a troll like fashion. I usually try give broad information and tell them how to find the rest.

Also, I just made a post about my IAC problems or possibly TPS issues which i know have been covered but i had a slightly different symptom than i have read about before so i decided to post a new thread but i am 99% sure what the problem. Also i feel the more posts the better when people are trying to search. One of the biggest problems we have is people never follow up with their solutions. That frustrates me more than anything, reading through a big long thread that covers my exact problem with no solution at the end.

So yes guys i agree with some things, like double posting. I imagine that would drive mods & admins crazy. But like rockp2 said, listen to what you are saying. You're on here because you have nothing better to do most of the time so if its that big of an inconvenience for you to read through someones post DONT READ IT. We were all new and blind to the vast amounts of information at one point as well. So take a step back and remember how that felt not knowing where to start when your engine started running really rough, only to come on here and get shut down by someone who you "inconvenienced" by making them read one more thread title when scrolling through the new posts.

Im sorry i just dont understand why people complain about that. But hell since we are complaining about threads that have been started already THIS IS ONE. I have read a thread exactly like this once maybe even twice before.

 

1sttimejimmyowner, I was not offended and I meant no offense to you. I consider good healthy arguments nothing more than strong discussions. I was just trying to impress on everyone that the tone and subject matter, seemed to be walking away from the "forum" concept that a dummy like me desperately needs.

Also, I agree with the follow-up issue. I try to ensure I close the loop on my threads (I'd better check and make sure now) so anyone with the same issue can find an answer. As a matter of fact, I want to continue updating my original post as I go thru the project.

All is good and I really do appreciate all the help you are giving me.