OT.....

[George Roffe]

Bill the arcstarter wrote:

>Its311Pete@aol.com wrote:

>>I believe this gentlemen started the subject line out with " NOT SER
>>related"   There is a delete option on every e-mail.

That doesn't get you off the hook.  Larry has made that clear a number of
times in the past.

>Sure I'm in favor of helping a guy in need.  Did he indicate what
>techniques he had tried to isolate the problems?  No.  Even worse I'm
>pretty sure this was the second post (after no initial response), for
>essentially the same issue, and I'd had enough of it.  I'll help the hell
>out of a person in need and willing to try.  These are the characteristics
>I look for in a post before I respond.  However I *refuse* to give out any
>free rides, and am insulted by those looking for such.

I've got to agree with Bill here (big surprise).

There are a lot of folks who just toss out a question in panic w/o even
thinking about the problem.  I don't even necessarily care if someone has
even tried something, but I'd like to know that they have at least
*thought* about it and are mulling over solutions and options in their
head.  I've helped newbies and veterans alike and have been likewise been
helped by them.  What really gets to me though are the folks who don't try
in the least to help themselves.

>Meanwhile the CORE SE-R FOLKS will have had enough and will have long left
>the group (or will start new, more focused / moderated lists) because of
>the degraded signal to noise ratio.  It has happened before.  Some
>longstanding members of this list are GONE, or never reply anymore and
>are available only if you know who they are.  These people have valuable
>information which is now unreachable for the rest.  Why?  In part due to
>ridiculous OT postings.

Right on Bill.  That has needed to be said for some time.

There are a number of people who I met on this list that I keep in touch
with on the phone or private e-mails simply because they don't pay
attention to this list anymore.  All of these are people I look up to and
many of them have been on the list a fair bit longer than I have.  I really
wish they were here.  I really lament their absence and/or silence.  I also
fully understand it.  Hell we have a turbo guru here who works for Garrett
and has been a boon to the SR20 community.  But, anyone who has joined this
list in the last 9 months wouldn't even know it or who he is, except
possibly for the handful of people who take some personal initiative and
read the archives.  What a shame.  I could go on, but I won't.  I've said
plenty, and I think Bill really said it well.

Lastly, just because you see someone else post OT stuff, doesn't mean you
can get away with it.  First of all, the "all the other kids are doing it"
defense never works.  Secondly, if Mike Kojima wanted advice on cleaning
smelly sweat socks or what color he should dye his hair (he doesn't), most
people wouldn't complain and many would try to help him.  Why?  Because
he's extremely high content and almost always very much on-topic.  If you
are a newbie posting about another car, at best you might not be taken
seriously, and at worst you might get seriously flamed.  C'est La Vie.

George Roffe
Houston, TX
91 SE-R (well modded)
91 G20 turbo (well modded)
84 944 SCCA ITS race car under construction
<http://home.earthlink.net/~geo3/>