GTcarz - Automotive forums for cars & trucks. - Re: I always thought newsgroups were for help...

Yes, newsgroups ARE for help but some unwritten rules (re: getting
responses) seem to apply.

I don't know what the original post was about either, but if someone
told you to research the newsgroups first, look it up on the Internet
first, read your Owner's Manual (RTFM) or get a service manual -- and
you didn't state you did or had any of those things before posting or
trying to find out WTH the problem is -- then THAT is help, too. Help
may be giving specific answers, but help also can be showing someone
HOW to find the answers themselves.

Besides, when people ask for help in a newsgroup, they are the beggars
here, not choosers...people do not have to respond at all, but if they
do, can say anything they want -- in an unmoderated newsgroup --
helpful or not. So you can't expect people to respond, how to respond
or "help"...it's THEIR call to make.

I don't know if this applies to you, but some people like to be spoon
fed because they are just plain lazy and do nothng on their own, they
just want to leech off others instead of looking things up like lots
of us do (and yes, some of us also have manuals, so we DO practice
what we're preaching). If a post appears to be authored by such a
lazy/cluless person, it'd probably get some of the comments I listed
above that are mistakenly viewed as unhelpful, mean, rude, or
whatever.

On the other hand, if someone says they DID do those things, tried
this or that to fix it themselves, the more likely they will get
specific answers. Of course, some people also clearly lie because it's
obvious they did NOT do anything first. For example, they'll say "I
couldn't find anything about this on the Internet" but a simple
Internet search turns up LOTS of pages on their topic/problem.

So they'll probably get flamed for it...as I will be flamed by
anally-retentive "Dizzy" here for being a top-posting pig. But that's
part of life in UseNet so what can I say?

But for the most part, if it looks like you TRIED but still can't find
the problem, that would add to the # of people who would be responding
with specifics.

Now, if all of that has ZERO to do with you, disregard it, but plenty
of posters here in ALL the newsgroups might listen up because it DOES
apply to them.

John D.

"Alias" <alias.blur@nospam.verizon.net> wrote in message news:<bHK2b.16316$081.1011@nwrddc02.gnilink.net>.. .
> People,
>
> I have never felt so unwelcomed into a newsgroup. I asked ONE SIMPLE
> QUESTION and all I get instead of help or an answer is the runaround.
> Thanks for nothing. If I post a question on the other board I belong to, I
> get a damn answer, not the kind of "answers" I've received here. Don't
> worry, I WON'T be back. I can see now that the honda owners here are jack
> asses that find it more fun to irritate than to educate. You don't have to
> bother replying, because I am out.
>
> Best wishes driving the other newbies away.