What has happened to the TDR Forums???

[jsimpson]

I used to be able to log on, ask a question, and get some informed technical answers. That's why I joined in the first place. Now most of what I get is uninformed opinions and flames. Sometimes, buried in all the garbage, is a helpful piece of informtion. I'm thinking seriously about saving my $35 at renewal time. Where are all the old wrenches that used to frequent the site? Have they all been run off by the young bucks who drive a diesel because they think it's "cool"?

 

[EBottema]

I'm sure the last straw for you was the wal-mart thread. Yes, someone asked a question and right off the bat he got personally bashed for shopping at walmart. Yes, I think walmart is worse than it is good but I mean there was no reason to personally bash anyone. Here is the best thing to do. (answer for the question about the walmart oil) and then maybe make a small footnote about why not to shop there. Again, I like the looks of a 3rd gen truck, i hate the electronics and eveything and I rant on how the EPA has made it that way. I never resort to personal bashing but I get bashed. I've been around here for over a year now so I cannot say how the 2nd gen forum was back then but I see lots of hostility in the 3rd gen forum if someone negatively says something about what their truck has. It just seems childish to me?



Well, I hope we can bring this forum back to where it was when I join. It def seemed better, I have noticed a lot of people are not on here as much as they used to be. Hopefully we can all agree to stop any more personal bashing...



Erik

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Most of the old wrenches are still in the 1st and 2nd gen forums still happily rattling along. I think your seeing a couple things going on. You'll have more first time owners in the 3rd gen forum hence less experience (saw the same thing in the 2nd gen forums at first). 2nd, it's the end of winter and a lot of people have a severe case of cabin fever - that happens every year. Lastly it may be that your looking for it. To be honest being someone who reads basically everything and has to deal with all of the problems things are more civil now than they have been in the past - say about 3 years ago. There has always been every few months some big issue that comes up that we have to deal with - it's always been that way and I expect it always will. For a while there I wasn't watching the 3rd gen forums at all and was leaving it up to Big Mak and bighammer - I have been watching them more closely the last few months. If there is a case of someone flaming please report it to the moderator or to myself so it can be dealt with. Try to look for the positive stuff and I bet you'll find it - there's a lot more of that believe me.

 

[SRadke]

I just read that Wal Mart thread That got way out of hand and I totally agree with the decison to lock it. There are guys here with experience, many of them have carried it over from the older truck to the third gens. I personally watch most of the forums and add advice where I feel I can be of help. My best advice is to be specific when you as questions. Don't leave a lot of room for interpretation. You never actually asked a question in the first post of the Wal Mart thread, without that it had little direction. My $. 02



-Scott

 

[apkole]

Sooo, Steve, what you're saying is human nature hasn't changed?



I've been hanging around the TDR for a few years, and I just stay away from the negative stuff. Stick to the threads which are informative or have a good discussion going.



I've run into issues with our CTD fleet (such as it is) , and this site has always been a source of timely and well informed information.



Kudos to the moderators.

 

[rbattelle]

As was commented in another thread, if you hang around here long enough you eventually get a good feeling for who's worth paying any attention to [I'm not saying I'm anyone worth listening to]. But when you get right down to it, you can learn something valuable from every single person in this forum (and in the rest of the world, for that matter)... it just might not have anything to do with trucks or diesels.



My point? Everyone has something valuable to contribute and it's usually worth the effort to find out what it is.



-Ryan

 

[IC Smoke]

Have they all been run off by the young bucks who drive a diesel because they think it's "cool"?

Im 20, NOT to get this thread out of hand but I dont think any TDR member joined because they have a diesel and thinks its "Cool" YET dont you think its Cool that youve got that much power at the turn of a key?

I lurked around the site because I wanted a diesel since before I started driving but never got the chance until now. Fortunatly for me its durinng the "diesel craze" so there is alot of hype in having a diesel pickup. BUT I bought mine to work it. Its got some toys but its no parkinglot princess!!



Yes the elders and us young bucks will have differnt views on things but either way this site is to help fellow TDR members and give out our opinion on products/problems NOT to flame someone for there thoughts/decisions! so lets keep our bashing to the ford site. This is a respectable site and should be held that way.



Cant we all just get along?

Ian

 

[supeerman4422]

Yes the elders and us young bucks will have differnt views on things but either way this site is to help fellow TDR members and give out our opinion on products/problems NOT to flame someone for there thoughts/decisions! so lets keep our bashing to the ford site. This is a respectable site and should be held that way.



Cant we all just get along?

Ian

im with ian on this one... im only 18 us "young people" dont mean any harm to you more experienced guys were just trying to help out too, we definately need to get along better and keep our bashing to the fords. . not eachother! :-laf

 

[Donn]

Heck why Bash anything I just like to read and learn from all

 

[JBlock]

Walmart?? Walmart would be Not be sucessful if people did not go there for the cheap prices, sure most of the stuff is imported, Half our truck comes from Mexico. And Ace hardware sell foreign and American. And how much made in America do you get at Home depot. yes i try to my American, all my tree cars in theory are not imports. My Kubota is, the only alternative was John deere, that that purchased 20 years ago and still running. My new 1978 Case Backhoe is American made.



All we can do is buy American when we can. and do our little part to cut the 1/2 Billon dollar month defiecet. Interest rates will rise unless we can stem the flow of cash out of this country.



Walmart sell Otipma Batteries so does Costco, are these made in the US, I don't know.

 

[ARedetzke]

I can solve your problem: sell that new truck, and go get yourself a 1st gen, you'll spend so much time in the 1st gen forum trying to fix it, you'll miss all the bickering going on elsewhere!! We're not all old, but we're all pretty polite and helpful. There's even some nice youngsters over there.

AJ

 

[EBottema]

ICI- I cannot agree with you more. I don't mind someone having a discussion on why a product sucks or nagative aspects of ANY truck. That is their opinion, if i don't agree, we can debate it. However, this personal bashing has got to go based on age and personal opinions. Old guys bashing me because I am young, do I bash you based on age? No, that has nothing to do with anything. We can all learn things from everyone even if they are 50 or 15 and if they drive their truck to the dealer for light bulb changes to the guys who rebuild cummins diesels for a living. Hopefully we can put all this in the past and get on with ourselves. We all have something in comman we own dodge cummins diesel trucks. Lets act like friends and not enemies. Save all this personal bad mouthing for the political boards. Keep the debates on products and trucks in the boards and lets try and be civil.



~Erik

 

[WDaniels]

Man you think this is bad, I am starting to get into sailing and figured I would go to a sailing web site and hang around. Man! They eat their own there. Whoo hoo that site was rough. It is nice to be able to come to a decent civilized site that keeps their rowdier constituents in line. Maximum Kudos to Steve and all the moderators! Keep up the good work gentlemen.

WD

 

[HeavyHauler]

I might as well get it on this - most of you have read the thread about the dealer voiding the guy's warranty on his 3rd Gen truck which turned really nasty. Some bad language was used and I sent a message to Big MAK, the moderator, last week to request that the thread was closed. I'm sure a lot of other people did too. Well, the thread is STILL open. If any thread should have been closed, it should have been.



I have seen attitudes change on this board also. It's getting more rare that you get a straight, helpful answer from anyone. Most people just want to get in there and make themselves heard, and then start recommending stuff that doesn't even relate to the question. That's how these threads get off topic and then turn to garbage. This has happened in 2 threads of my own, with some know-it-all getting in there and making statements that don't answer any questions.



I think the moderators could do a better job monitoring the forums and keep a check on those that are frequently bashing others. I could name several names of people that don't have great attitudes on here.



I've also seen an increase of offensive comments being thrown at those that obviously don't know as much as some people on here. People on this board don't have near the patience with the new guys that they used to. It's gotten to the point that if someone says something that is the least bit questionable or incorrect, they're obviously an idiot that doesn't know anything about diesels or anything else for that matter.



Let's all try to have more patience and stick to answering the questions that are initially asked.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

We really can't moderate "attitudes". A person has to go outside the guidelines of the site before we can step in and we try to be as loose as possible with that - based on user input. Any time we take ANY action we get people screaming censorship. While that isn't going to stop us we do have to take user input into account. Big Mak hasn't been on the site since the 16th - which is not typical. Usually we let each other know when we're going to be away for a while and Mark does that as well - I'm hoping something bad hasn't happened to him. If you do not get a response from a moderator you can always PM or email me (or anything other moderator for that matter) and I'll look into it. I have been looking at that thread and haven't seen anything outside the guidelines and have just re-read back to the 18th and only saw one comment that I edited. If you have specific instances please email or PM me with it. You have to keep in mind the volume of posts we have on the site each day - ~1000 every day. With that volume there's no way we can read each and every post so we do rely on users to inform us - although that's not always a perfect system. We will be ratcheting up our enforcement of the "antagonistic" and "baiting" guidelines - which is a judgement call on the part of the moderators. A number of actions have been taken in the last couple of days regarding this and we'll continue to work on it.

 

[coobie]

Im 20, NOT to get this thread out of hand but I dont think any TDR member joined because they have a diesel and thinks its "Cool" YET dont you think its Cool that youve got that much power at the turn of a key?

I lurked around the site because I wanted a diesel since before I started driving but never got the chance until now. Fortunatly for me its durinng the "diesel craze" so there is alot of hype in having a diesel pickup. BUT I bought mine to work it. Its got some toys but its no parkinglot princess!!



Yes the elders and us young bucks will have differnt views on things but either way this site is to help fellow TDR members and give out our opinion on products/problems NOT to flame someone for there thoughts/decisions! so lets keep our bashing to the ford site. This is a respectable site and should be held that way.



Cant we all just get along?

Ian

Well said Ian. Oo. coobie

 

[Byershome]

Man you think this is bad, I am starting to get into sailing and figured I would go to a sailing web site and hang around. Man! They eat their own there. Whoo hoo that site was rough.

Don't let that stop you, out in the real world the sailing crowd are some of the nicest you will ever meet. I practically lived on the water as a kid, sailing and fishing was a everyday thing and my last two years in high school I raced out of the rudder club here in Jax( Lightings). I never met a bad person the whole time and many went far out of their way to make you feel at home or to lend a helping hand. Much the same as you will find here.



There is nothing sweeter than to have a strong salty Northeaster blowing in over your right shoulder, looking up and seeing your spinnaker suddenly tighten like a banjo string in a gust of wind causing the boat to heave over to leeward. Then you feel the hull climb up onto a plane and you pass across the stern of your opponent and to his windward side. As you race by him you look with much glee to see his spinnaker hanging limp... . his boat looking dead in the water. You don't have much time to gloat though as you are the one down wind now and he will surely try to return the favor... ... ... ... ... .

 

[DieselMinded]

TDR is the best moderated and civil place to go



It people whimpering and whining that ruin things



give it a rest already



take the highroad



Censorship is not always a good thing go look at DTR



you cant say BOO without being treated like a villain



you cant exspect 25,000+ (OR WHAT EVER) members to be perfect



many people tried to help you save that thread



Move On



Sometimes Us OHIOians get caught up in garage talk and run off the head



the same way others run off the head about how bad or uncivil we are



if your not enjoying the site Im sorry you feal that way but Im sure if you get over it you will find there are many good thing that will counter balance the bad.



I heard about the wally thread too many times now



its getting annoying



DM

 

[skobylenski]

I can solve your problem: sell that new truck, and go get yourself a 1st gen, you'll spend so much time in the 1st gen forum trying to fix it, you'll miss all the bickering going on elsewhere!! We're not all old, but we're all pretty polite and helpful. There's even some nice youngsters over there.

AJ

Amen! (especially about the nice youngsters, since I'm one of 'em :-laf )

 

[Turbo Tim 1]

NOT to get this thread out of hand but I dont think any TDR member joined because they have a diesel and thinks its "Cool"

I did!!!!!!!!



The boards are different around here, I haven't been around much in the last 6 months because I've been too busy with work, but I see alot of new faces (screen names). My biggest pet peeve is coming on after a couple weeks and going through the new posts, I've seen the same question listed four or five times by different people..... Come on do a search people! Look at the other questions on the board. Things have changed some over the last few years though, alot of the old regulars have left and new regulars have come in. I think we all still have a lot to add and it's still all good stuff.