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Old 12-21-2020, 09:06 PM   #1
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Questions that never stop

When I first posted about my RV rebuild, many brought up that they were glad a different than usual discussion was introduced. Being newer to the forum I didn't completely understand the sentiment. But it has become really apparent since.

So this thread is to highlight (NOT to discuss) the repetitious topics that get discussed on a monthly basis. The topics should be introduced many times, and the threads really don't add any new conclusions or assistance than all prior discussions on same.

Feel free to post funny anecdotes about the topic's frequency or whatever else comes to mind.

So, here is an unordered list of topics that immediately come to mind:




Should I pull my slides out or level my RV first?

Did ya see this RV'r with their tires off the ground?

What should I set my tire pressure to?

What fuel mileage should I get?

What's better, a diesel or gas?

How do I winterize my RV? This one is seasonal

Where can I buy used parts?

Where can I get my RV fixed?

Should I buy a Service Contract / Extended Warranty?

Who likes / dislikes lights around their camper?

How can I connect to the Internet while camping?

What's better - Dish or DirecTV?

What should I wash my RV with?

Why don't my tank level sensors work?

How can I clean out my Black Tank?

How long should I keep my tires?

Did anybody read that X company bought out Y? (the mods do a good job of shutting most of these down).

How come my pictures come out sideways?

Where can I sell my _____ on this forum?

How can I fix this scratch, dent, delamination, crack on the body of my RV?

Where is my roof leak coming from?



Well there's my pet peeve list. I bet the above is 10% of all the posts.
Who's got more?
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Old 12-21-2020, 09:17 PM   #2
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How did you miss....
My batteries are dead

My outlets don't work

My GFI keeps tripping

My water heater doesn't work

My refrigerator won't cool

What's wrong with my inverter?

Can I pull a freight train with my F150?

Dogs....
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Old 12-21-2020, 09:18 PM   #3
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'Just bought a new 38' Carbon 333FKS, can I tow it with my F150 as long as I get (insert one of): airbags, Sumo springs, Timbrens?'

(maybe too specific, but you get the idea!)
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Old 12-21-2020, 09:25 PM   #4
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And what is wrong with repetitive questions?

EVERYONE was a Newbie at some time
When I was there was no Internet, No RV Forums, No focus groups

You got information from the old guy ---who had heard it over & over & over
Fortunately he was willing to explain it over & over & over


Bring on the repeats.....sometimes even Old guys learn something New
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Old 12-21-2020, 09:32 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit View Post
And what is wrong with repetitive questions?

EVERYONE was a Newbie at some time
When I was there was no Internet, No RV Forums, No focus groups

You got information from the old guy ---who had heard it over & over & over
Fortunately he was willing to explain it over & over & over


Bring on the repeats.....sometimes even Old guys learn something New
Well if the world were perfect....newbie's would search, read some threads before posting, or the topic would be a stickie, and the forum would have some organization not just of main categories but also a hierarchy by RV systems (like a Service Manual) to make the very common answers easy to find.

A mod that is experienced in that subject could help clean the garbage out of the "answer". This would REALLY help the newbie because, yes, not everyone that posts on a problem has any real background in the solution...But the newbie doesn't know that...GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out). There are a small number of veteran forum posters that are excellent in their area of assistance. I could easily name those folks and their specialties but I don't want to put anyone on the spot. BTW, Old-Biscuit...I have a spot for you
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Old 12-21-2020, 09:48 PM   #6
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I agree with Old Biscuit. If you think about it, how many questions or threads that are posted on this forum are "new" questions. I have to think that any question that has been asked in the last 6 months have already been asked in the last 6 years. This "forum" is not a library of completed stories and documents, it's an exchange of ideas, questions, thoughts, and so forth. What good would this forum be if we said, look it up first, if there is no answer, then ask. Good Lord, there would be no communication for weeks or months.

When I started our journey several years ago I asked the dreaded question, diesel vs gas. Holy cow, ignorance is bliss, but people were nice enough to respond even though it has been asked every way possible for probably the last 20 years. My point is, most of us are an inviting group, and don't mind the repeat questions. We simply smile, understand the person asking is very new, and try to help as much as possible.

I for one love this forum, love the help I get from it..............even though I often ask before searching for the answer, and I am now occasionally able to help somebody out. Like Old Biscuit, keep the questions coming.
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Old 12-21-2020, 09:59 PM   #7
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I guess I put weight on the quality of the assistance, not just the volume.
I have a problem, did I get a great answer that got me out of my current jamb? Will this also help someone else with similar problem?

To develop such content takes effort. What would be impossible is if it has to be redeveloped dozens of times over. And because there really isn't any organization, then those great posts from the experts get lost in the volume and doesn't help anyone. When this happens - the experts stop trying.

There are relatively simple things the forum hosts can do: Allow people to Score if a thread helped them. Then one can just look at the high scoring posts to find the perfect nuggets. This is right out of forums to help software engineers find solutions for their technical questions. The majority of posts are inaccurate, never tried, people venting, and non helpful. The scores immediately bring to top the answers that addressed the OPs questions with a solid answer. The contributor's with most Help Votes competition spurs the experts to contribute even more frequently. Then the site starts getting huge traction with all RV'rs. And the advertising dollars jump.

There could be tagging to associate a post / thread to a logical "service manual" chapter. Then you only need to look at "1/30th" of the high scoring thread to find a great answer for Your problem.

It's looking at the forum's dual purpose as a resource or also as a hobby and comradery. The great majority of the posts are coming here as a place to find answers to questions (a resource). It's just not organized in a way to be more effective as a tool. And because of that, the quality of the content drops way down and the reason to visit drops.
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Old 12-21-2020, 10:07 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brandss View Post
I agree with Old Biscuit. If you think about it, how many questions or threads that are posted on this forum are "new" questions. I have to think that any question that has been asked in the last 6 months have already been asked in the last 6 years. This "forum" is not a library of completed stories and documents, it's an exchange of ideas, questions, thoughts, and so forth. What good would this forum be if we said, look it up first, if there is no answer, then ask. Good Lord, there would be no communication for weeks or months.

When I started our journey several years ago I asked the dreaded question, diesel vs gas. Holy cow, ignorance is bliss, but people were nice enough to respond even though it has been asked every way possible for probably the last 20 years. My point is, most of us are an inviting group, and don't mind the repeat questions. We simply smile, understand the person asking is very new, and try to help as much as possible.

I for one love this forum, love the help I get from it..............even though I often ask before searching for the answer, and I am now occasionally able to help somebody out. Like Old Biscuit, keep the questions coming.

I agree also. We all can learn by teaching and listening. Many people are not on the same knowledge or ability level so questions must be asked multiple times. Being a jack of all trades but master of none, I’ll keep asking, reading, teaching and learning.
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Old 12-21-2020, 10:24 PM   #9
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I'm a relative newbie, still working on building up my own personal knowledge base. In trying to learn, I always try to do a search first. Here's what I think attributes to the repetitive thread subjects:


1- First and foremost, the search function on most forums, this one included, is terrible. 99% of what it turns up is useless. You'd have to sort through thread after thread after thread to get what you need.



2- Most threads go off the rails and into the weeds after the first group of posts on it. It starts out as perhaps a Workhorse chassis issue or question, and by the end it's about gas vs. diesel. Happens all the time. So you have to search (see #1 above) endlessly to sort through countless meandering and meaningless threads, most of which go off the rails, to try to find a nugget of what you really need to know.



3- Many times there's lots of threads on an issue such as tire pressure, but they don't answer a users very specific issue.



4- On a mature and active forum such as this one, over the years most information has in one way or another been covered. If we were to expect everyone to search rather than ask, we could just shut the forum down and use it strictly as a research asset. I don't think anyone wants that.



5- Given all the above, plus many more things not listed above, sometimes it's simpler and easier just to ask than than to spend hours searching using a search function that many times is useless.



I've learned so much from so many of you. I've not only learned but have enjoyed the give and take.
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Old 12-21-2020, 11:43 PM   #10
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My first thought upon reading the title of this thread (Questions that never stop) was the he must have a three year old. When I had one particular daughter that age I read somewhere that women average speaking 20,000 words a day. Yeah, she got that done before breakfast some days.

I've not been here so long but on another forum going on 20 years. And it's the same thing. I've said there I don't mind the repetitive questions because forums are always in flux. You never know when someone is going to pop in from nowhere with a brand new answer that no one's ever heard before. (I live for that rare occasion). But sure, most of the time it's the same old same old. In those cases I might look in and skim but mostly I let other people answer those. There. Over here I'm still reading those kind of threads to see if I can pickup some helpful info.

To keep a forum alive and healthy in my opinion you need fresh and new. Not much you can do with roof leaks, tire dating, etc, so you look to the new members to keep the forum fresh. Beating them up for asking the same old questions or not doing searches doesn't encourage them to hang around. And if some newbies don't hang around pretty regularly eventually a forum gets stale and unhealthy.

So those folks quietly rolling their eyes and then nicely offering advice on what caulk to use for the umpteenth time are doing the forum a greater service than they may realize.



OK and if we didn't complain once in a while we wouldn't be human.
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Old 12-22-2020, 01:16 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by GypsyR View Post
offering advice on what caulk to use for the umpteenth time.
Ah, yes, what caulk to use....good one
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Old 12-22-2020, 07:59 AM   #12
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Sometimes people want also to be part of a conversation and community. How often have you talked about the exact same things while sitting around the campfire?
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Old 12-22-2020, 08:00 AM   #13
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Do you know why that is? I have a theory. The search function isn’t all that great...

I tried searching for “slide out mechanism broken”, and got hundreds of threads that had zilch to do with it...

On many websites that entry finds threads that contains ALL of the above words... not one of them?

Did the same for many other searches, same results. Looked for “Cat 3126 fan clutch.” Got lots of generic threads that contained 1 or 2 of the above words...

Search function on other websites seems to be more specific? Is there a trick to this?
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Old 12-22-2020, 08:15 AM   #14
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I've been coming to this forum for years but just recently joined as a member. I come to mostly skim and read threads. Over time, just reading you can continue to learn. I do use the search box often if I want to research a question that I have and yes it is cumbersome to pick thru the bones to get a little meat. That area could use some refinement for sure. With patience you usually can find the answer you're looking for.

I mean, how many times have all of you seen "I searched this forum first but couldn't find an answer" sorry if this is a repeated question. Oh I guarantee the answer is probably there alright, it's just hard to find. So asking it again is just easier.

Newbies don't even know that search feature exists.

While skimming different threads, I usually will move on to another one or go fix a snack and close my laptop when a simple posted question like "what oil filter should I use" turns into a 10 page engineers convention.
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