I would like to start by saying that I am new to this forum. I did ask a question and was given great help by Glyn M Ruck. I am in good shape now thanks to you.
I mentioned in that thread that I was pretty put off by the sharpness of the "Read First" sticky directed to new poster by Rexappeal. Glyn, I appreciate what you said. Unfortunately, there is nothing that I need in this forum that requires me to share time with an attitude like what is represented in that sticky. I have to put up with those types for 9 hours a day to get my paycheck. I won't come home and volunteer myself to that.
I think Rexappeal's attitude in that post is unacceptable and hopefully does not represent the opinions of the majority here. If he is a long-timer, maybe nobody wants to rock the boat with him. I understand. But I am not and if telling it like it is is enough to get voted off the island, well, then this wasn't a place worth being at.
It's insulting to be labeled "Newbie". It's insulting to be lectured like we're children. If someone asks something that has been asked before, either help them or don't. You don't have to waste your time on it; if helping someone is a waste of time. To get all hyped up over that reflects someone who just needs a reason to get hyped up. Practice deep breathing or something.
Though I may be new here, I am not close to being new in forums. I read this negative post, searched for my issue, and almost left without asking my question due to that sticky. Maybe Rexappeal could be instructive as opposed to negative. How about a review of effective search methods? Ragging on people is easy. How about telling new people that it's OK to ask if you can't find what you need? Does Rex need some appreciation for all of the hard work he does here? OK. Good job Rex!
I know through my profession that if I hear a complaint from one person, many others....MANY OTHERS...have had the same complaint. They just didn't say anything. They probably just left and we never saw them again.
So take this how you want. I like forums. But with this kind of representation, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
My appologies that this is somewhat harsh. My intent is not to beat anyone up.
44 out

 

What are you trying to say, my friend?

 

BTW I feel like the search feature on this forum is inferior to google -> "what_you're_looking_for mbworld" query.

 

The search function is clunky. It simply can't do what google does. That is why we are building the Wiki. Take a look at the W203 section. It is making progress.

 

My thoughts range widely on this subject. Considering that please do nnot take my comments personally as i intent to more or less think and type here. Experience on other forums does not excuse the "newbie" title on a new forum, for me or anyone else. Part of that issue is not experience on forums, nor on searching, but on the nuances and personality, if you will, of a particular forum. It even extends to the individual sub-forums here, a large level of experience in this forum, still leaves one lacking on understanding of the personality of the other sub-forums. If I got a W204, it would take a while to get up to speed there and I would effectively be a newbie to that group.

Now, the experience that I am talking about -- it has two levels, one is the personality and interactions between people on the forum. For example, there is quite a bit of joking here between Karo and a couple of others, lilbenz comes to mind, that might seem a bit wild until you get used to it. Some of it can even seem a bit grouchy. The other is simply familiarity with the flow of information. Search tools are great, but when they are augmented by, for example, remembering that one particular member had a problem similar to what you are looking for helps narrow down the search. It is a familiarity with the flow of information or who may be best able to answer a question.

I did not really get this only begining experience on this and other forums, and I will be honest, I did not care for this forum on my first few experiences. However, by nature I am a lurker and as I understood the forum more i found some great sources of information here. It is also possible that my tastes and interest changed or matured and my interest in "mods" expanded, as did my appreciation for things that may not always be my taste or style.

Also, although I avoid hitting a new member over the head with STFF, after several years here, It has been very interesting to see how frequently the same question is asked about every six months. Usually someone makes a quick search, aided by some knowledge of where to look and posts a link. At the same time, but much more rarely a new member revives a long dead thread, and sometimes is actually pointed to a more recent thread with updated information, or has hit on the right one.

Now, as in everything in life, some people express more tact than others, and different people receive messages differently. I don't think anyone intended to seem unfriendly with the post you referenced. However, I think you have taken undue exception to the term newbie as well. (After all, it is somewhat nicer than "FNG" ) it is also a good thing to remember that we all have good days and bad days, and sometimes we post on our bad day...and unfortunately we can't take that back. Who knows, I am writing a book here and that is just weird!

All of that being said, Welcome! And in Glyn you have already found a wealth of knowledge and assistance that will be rarely matched, even by some of the other top-notch members of the forum. There is a collective wealth off information, and personalities here. Individuals have specific areas of interest where they have an understanding of their particular interest that rivals any but the development engineers themselves.

Best of luck, and I am very sorry for climbing on my soap box. I hope I have managed to either not offend anyone, or possibly offend everyone equally.

 

With the search function on this forum people should realize there will be some repeats and besides, ignore is a better answer than to rag unless there's history. Of course that works both ways

 

op is right ...someone would ask a quesetion and members would get mad and say didnt u use the search???? this is a damn forum and people are acting like this is for real lol

well the search on here sucks and i use google

 

Sometimes using the search is useful because it searchs the other sections and you can see what others are doing but instead of the search you can just scroll through each page of the section. I know its a hassle but usually it'll have the answer you're looking for. I gained a lot of knowledge just trolling around the forum when I first came a member.

 

I have found that the search function becomes more useful as one becomes accustomed to the Benz speak & terminology used on the forum. It is very dependent on one using the correct word or term.

Fortunately STFF has become a rarety on the W203 forum.

 

There's a simple solution to the purported lack of search capabilities, fellas. With Google, you can use special strings to narrow down your scope in order to find precisely what you're looking for. I do it all the time. For the sake of notation clarity, each line in brackets below would be exactly what you would type into Google, without the brackets:

[euro impact strips site:mbworld.org]
[w203 oil change diy site:mbworld.org]

Tacking on the "site:" command to the end tells Google to only look on mbworld.org so your results are only forum pages. You can do that with any site of course.

Know a specific phrase in a post or the exact name of a thread? Use quotation marks:

["euro impact strips" site:mbworld.org]

Looking for a PDF? No problem:

[w203 one man transmission flush site:mbworld.org filetype:pdf]

Like I said, I use these all the time. There are more cool tricks, so if I think of more I'll come back and add them.

Hope this helps!

 

Having three posts, with one of them being the above rant, qualifies you as a . If you have a problem with that term, I don't think there is any amount of coddling that will make you feel valued. All it means is that you are new here, and I have no idea why you would read that much into such an innocent (and accurate) term. I think you're off base, honestly.

As far as the main criticism, it's at least somewhat accurate. However, people new to the forum (I will avoid the dreaded term here) tend to have an equally unhelpful attitude, and just want answers on demand without any work done on their part. To use your phrasing, everyone else works all day too, and it's not their "job" to answer questions of those who have not lifted a finger to try to get to results on their own.

It ends up being a perfect storm of a sort, and you have to realize that, the older any model gets on a forum, the closer the community gets. So, as with any new community, there's a give and take that should be done between older members and newer members, but if the newer members do not show that they're trying on their end, the older members will tend to bite off their heads.

Good luck to you and your car; feel free to not post here and all, but that should not stop you from using the forum here as a free resource; there is a ton of great information here that will no doubt provide very useful.

 

Very well said, tommy.

 

Very well said indeed, tommy.

 

Wise old grasshopper Tommy speaks wisely lol

 

I'm not just a pretty face, you know.

 

I hear you're a pretty good dancer too...

 

Why yes, I am. You should see my high scores on Dance Dance Revolution - mighty impressive.

 

 

Thanks. Learned something new today.

 

So I was curious and I poked around. And under the guy who started this thread you can see this. Last Activity: 02-02-2013 03:09 PM. Thats the same day as this post.

Now I didn't post anything and looked at my account and sure enough my last activity was from today. So logic states that I can simply update that by coming to this site. =)

This guy posted this ramble about how terrible we all are and then up and bailed. I say we close this thread since this person really doesn't care or want to care. Just like they never really wanted to get to know anyone here. Rather spout off about how terrible this community is.

I for one like this community.. it helps me out a lot.. and I learn new things to try. Yes I may have ruffled feathers in the past when someone didn't get my sarcasm... but hey its a "forum".. In all honesty I've seen a lot worse when it comes to attitudes. And while this place isn't short of its characters its a pretty damn nice group of people.

So F this guy and lets lock his thread and go on to other cool stuff..

Like my brand new caliper covers. My car stops crazy fast now.

 

Lets not make turn this into a thread bashing the OP.

Instead maybe present more ideas (like j twilla's search) to helping newbies.

Maybe we can present some new information in drex's thread to help newbies search and learn the w203/MB vocabulary.

We should let new members know that this forum is a collection of knowledge that requires work (time and energy) AND conversations in order to resolve issues and/or find information.

Those caliper covers.... i didnt know anyone actually BOUGHT those things.

 

People buy Snuggies, too. I'm just sayin'...