I spens a lot of time over at OldIHC,org, and it's truly surprising--to "old-timers" like me, anyway--the kinds of questions that come up these days. Recently, a guy who had just purchased an older truck asked what the shift pattern was on a 3-speed column shift. And there are always folks asking where the fuse panel is located [on many of the 1950's and older trucks, there wasn't one], and a lot of stuff that us folks who grew up in the 50's and '60's learned at a very young age.
But then, carbs haven't been used on passenger cars sifor almost 20 years. Points-style ignitions have been gone in that world for over 30 years. And a lot of folks may have grown up playing video games, but they don't know the first thing about a simple DC electrical circuit...which means talking to them about the need for heavier-gauge wires and cables on a 6-volt system is like speaking in Esperanto to them.
In most cases, these folks can find a lot of the answers by doing a search of the forums. But being new to the forums, and often new to the old-truck hobby, sometimes they get the idea that they're the first person to ever have the problem they're having.
So the site administrator sets up a FAQ section, where a lot of these questions are addressed...and a lot of the "newbies" are directed there. Or the questioners are directd to places and websites where they can purchase parts, service, or owners' manuals that might answer their questions. [For my Internationals, I own all 3...some of the exploded views in the parts books are much more informative than the service procedures explained in the manuals.]
But there, as here, there are folks who want to explain the test/repair procedures each time the question is asked...and there are some who will answer in detail once, and then tell subsequent questioners to search the archives...not that either approach is wrong every time.
But I think it might be a "conflict of interest" to start a "repository" of repair procedure information on a site that sells repair manuals. As the old saying goes, "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"
As far as the hostile responses you got from some folks, all I can say is that, for some folks, that's just their nature. It's human nature to resist change...that's why this forum is still available in "classic" as well as "modern" formats. And for you to suggest a change to "the way it's always been here," since you're not the owner or moderator of the site....well, you kinda stepped in a large cowpie, in their eyes, and then tracked it into the house.
But to a degree, I understand what you're saying, Bees. A good volt-ohm meter, and the knowledge of how to properly use it, can go a long way towards solving a lot of electrical problems. And knowing the procedures--or having a FAQ explaining them--might save a lot of rehashing the same old questions over and over. But doing that--or even suggesting that--is akin to "rocking the boat," in the eyes of some folks here. And whenever someone rocks the boat, someone else if gonna give 'em hell for doing it.
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Today's Featured Article - Old Time Threshing - by Anthony West. A lovely harvest evening late September 1947, I was a school boy, like all school boys I loved harvest time. The golden corn ripens well and early, the stoking, stacking,.... the drawing in with the tractors and trailers and a few buck rakes thrown in, and possibly a heavy horse. It would be a great day for the collies and the terrier dogs, rats and mice would be at the bottom of the stacks so the dogs, would have a busy time hunting and killing, all the corn was gathered and ricked in what we c
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