Degrading quality of comments and advice on the board.

[makenzie71]

Taking a moment, even if only after the fact, to consider whether comments were appropriate or not, though, makes a man a little less crass and abrasive.

~x~

[Alphamazing]

Sure the Wiki isn't bad and there's no reason why anyone should avoid it, it's ridiculous to us "Holy crap it's the Wiki!" as a universal answer to mundane questions.  If you don't want to actually answer the question, then leave it alone.  Posting "Holy crap it's the Wiki!" makes you sound like an ass.

If you'll note when I post the link, I link them directly to the page where the information they requested is located. Someone asks an exhaust question? I link them to the Wiki exhaust page. Mundane questions get mundane answers.

[makenzie71]

I never pay much attention to the alterations you make and I'm not saying folks shouldn't be linked to the FAQ...I just think it could be worded in such a way that doesn't make the new folks think we think that they're an idiot.

[sanjay]

"Holy Crap it's the wiki!" is patronizing, regardless of whether you post an exact link or not.  If you really wanted to give a mundane answer, it'd be faster to just post the link.

[RedShift]

...  The best that can be done is to ignore posts that you interpret as rude and just respond as if that post didn't exist. 

As I see it, Sanjay's closing statement is probably the right answer.  Skip over the riff-raff, or if the topic is generally not worth your comment, avoid it in the future.

If Moderators take offence to every escallation of tone, reacting to the use of abrasive language, then we'd be declared as a bunch of heavy-handed SOB's (or DOB's in Pandy's case).  There is no obvious line -- it's all subjective.  If one of us feel the line has been crossed, we tend to take some action -- ask people to grow up, we move the thread to where it is less obvious or in drastic cases, delete the thing entirely.

But this community is what it is. 

But I commend ohgood -- thanks for posting your note here in General Discussion.  I bet you've reached some that needed to be reminded of civility.  If not, we (Mod's) may well take a more active voice in some threads -- to have people tone down the rhetoric or else.

[makenzie71]

"Holy Crap it's the wiki!" is patronizing, regardless of whether you post an exact link or not.  If you really wanted to give a mundane answer, it'd be faster to just post the link.

Exactly.

[l3uddha]

guess what~

It's about to get a helluva lot worse   

[werase643]

since O.M.W. quit posting....can we have AJ back?.....PLEASE

love to have R-Gal back but i doubt she would come back....

[ben2go]

I'm sorry.    I'll try to be more polite.  May I go to my room now?             

[spc]

since O.M.W. quit posting....can we have AJ back?.....PLEASE

love to have R-Gal back but i doubt she would come back....

I second that.

[genEricStL]

tone IS everythiing though ... one of the first questions i asked was answered with Alpha's ""it's the Wiki" thing ... seeing that he DID take the time to link me directly to said section of the Wikipedia , i got more of a "sarcastic humor" sort of vibe from it , which was fine , and i appreciated the fact that he did find the info i was looking after for me .
I can see where it gets frustrating to hear te same questions over and over , but sometimes , like in my original case , new people aren't really even aware of the Wiki . Or of how to find certain subjects within it (ie: the rejetting matrix) . Some folks may not be familiar with jets at all (i wasn't) before coming here . The "Holy crap , it's the Wiki" with a link directly to the topic in question isn't nearly as bad as the "Search NOOB" comment that's been handed out quite a bit lately . There is literally so much info and posts on here , oftentimes using the search function will only lead you to pages of results that never answer said question , they just direct you to posts made by other people looking for the info themselves and getting the same "search noob" response hehe .
I'd say as a general rule , if someone's post count is in the single digits , there's a good chance that it'd be easiest (and more humane hehe) to just answer the question or link to an answer . They may not even be aware of the "mods" section , or see the FAQs ... when i initially came here , the search engine directed me directly to the forums , not through the main page  
Maybe the easy way out here is for Alpha to just post "Holy crap , it's the Wiki  " with the relevent topic in the link ... the smiley certainly changes the "tone" , and leaves body language out of it entirely  

[ben2go]

tone IS everythiing though ... one of the first questions i asked was answered with Alpha's ""it's the Wiki" thing ... seeing that he DID take the time to link me directly to said section of the Wikipedia , i got more of a "sarcastic humor" sort of vibe from it , which was fine , and i appreciated the fact that he did find the info i was looking after for me .
I can see where it gets frustrating to hear te same questions over and over , but sometimes , like in my original case , new people aren't really even aware of the Wiki . Or of how to find certain subjects within it (ie: the rejetting matrix) . Some folks may not be familiar with jets at all (i wasn't) before coming here . The "Holy crap , it's the Wiki" with a link directly to the topic in question isn't nearly as bad as the "Search NOOB" comment that's been handed out quite a bit lately . There is literally so much info and posts on here , oftentimes using the search function will only lead you to pages of results that never answer said question , they just direct you to posts made by other people looking for the info themselves and getting the same "search noob" response hehe .
I'd say as a general rule , if someone's post count is in the single digits , there's a good chance that it'd be easiest (and more humane hehe) to just answer the question or link to an answer . They may not even be aware of the "mods" section , or see the FAQs ... when i initially came here , the search engine directed me directly to the forums , not through the main page 
Maybe the easy way out here is for Alpha to just post "Holy crap , it's the Wiki  " with the relevent topic in the link ... the smiley certainly changes the "tone" , and leaves body language out of it entirely 

+1 When I came on board,people say search.I did just to find arguements  over BS opinions.I have seen posts and can remember a good bit about the post but can't find it with the search bar.Doesn't matter if it's an advanced search or a basic.Still gives up irrealvent info.Now that I'm more familiar with the site,the search bar is still useless to me.

[makenzie71]

I've learned to misspell specific things inside threads I want to remember.  For reference, I wanted to be able to find my axle diameters post really easily so in the title I purposely typed it "diamters".  If i hadn't, I would never have been able to find it.

The forum's search feature is complete rubbish.  Useless.  Every now and then you can find something that isn't tagged easily but it's only by fluke.  It isn't so much from the feature's ineffectiveness by this point, though, as it is by the articles that come up being plagued by the same variety of conversation found in this particular thread: essentially retarded, unnecessary banter.  This is why I think it's important that the wiki be pointed out so often...it's just like I said, though, it needs to be pointed out differently to the ignorant.

[CirclesCenter]

Wonder why I post so sporadically?

Anyways I've found that these forums are much like day to day life:

Most are clueless
Those who have a clue are jaded
Most people a P.O.'d about something that has no bearing on what they're doing at the moment.

Honestly just take the noobs in smaller dosages and you'll have much more patience.

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

we've already had one of these threads. A search should find it for you.

[Mk1inCali]

SPC, you don't even know who R-gal is.

[spc]

I was seconding wanting AJ back.

[bombadillo]

I have noticed a huge degradation of most any forum that I frequent these days.  I am on a few car websites, a jeep wrangler website, and a few gun websites, and I notice that everybody thats new seems to be little trolls on all of them.  I really come to sites like this one to learn new things from people like srinath and mak.  They really know their stuff as well as countless other people that I'm too new to know yet.  I for one salute all of those who help us newbs out without flaming us for every "dumb" question that is thrown out there.  I am a decent mechanic with limited bike and carbuerated (sp) knowlege and it really helps to have a place like this to come check things out.  I hope it doesn't become like thevboard.com !!!!  Check that site out if you really want to see a place that has gone down the crapper.   

[DrtRydr23]

I just recently returned to this forum after not posting for a year or so, and I haven't really noticed any differences from here and other internet forums that I frequent.  All the reasons that others have already stated for the reduced quality of advice and comments are true.  However, I think that people in general take things too seriously and need to chill a bit.  I don't think that people should go out of their way to be hurtful or mean to others, but I also don't think that people should go out of their way to spare other people's feelings.  People get personally offended when someone they don't even know makes a sarcastic (or rude) comment, when it's not worth wasting time over.  It's like the "holy crap it's the wiki" thing.  Why is that offensive to anyone?  It's not a personal attack on you, just a creative and humorous way to tell you that the info you want is in the wiki.  Appreciate the humor (or get over it, if it bothers you) and go check the wiki....or the faq....or use the search if that is where the information is.

You can't even tell an off color joke these days without someone getting pissed.  Relax a little, you'll live longer.

John

[Alphamazing]

It's like the "holy crap it's the wiki" thing.  Why is that offensive to anyone?  It's not a personal attack on you, just a creative and humorous way to tell you that the info you want is in the wiki.  Appreciate the humor (or get over it, if it bothers you) and go check the wiki....or the faq....or use the search if that is where the information is.

Thank you.