I have noticed a lot of responses concerning preferences don’t get qualified. A lot of responses might say something like “I’ll never use that crap again”, or “next time I will only use…” without explaining why. I turned to the pages of Model RRer mag and to you fellow enthusiasts for education and guidance in model rring, yet a lot of the responses lack information. Is this because you think we should know why you want to “throw away the crap”,? If you go to the tire store and look at the sale tire, do you NOT buy it because the salesman says it’s junk, or do you ask WHY? Am I being too picky or overly critical? If necessary, just put me in my place. I am just trying to learn.
Tim
No, you’re probably right; most people don’t really explain why they do or don’t like some product or method. I try to quickly explain my reasoning, but sometimes don’t because I feel it’s probably redundant. I’d just keep asking for WHY people think the way they do; you’ll eventually get the answers you’re looking for.
I think a lot of people forget that this board is full of newcomers to the hobby, that don’t have a lot of the experience of us “old timers”.
That would explain me, a newcomer, even though I am an old guy. I guess some of the more experienced get tired of answering the same old questions, time and time again. I usually try to find answers myself before asking a question here.
Thanks!!
Tim
Tim,
I guess the only way to explain what you are observing is “that’s life on a forum”.
We all know that in life there are people that will be able to clearly articulate and back up why they feel about things, while others just don’t seem to care. The ones that don’t care will likely continue to feel as they do no matter what is said. Hey, it’s a free country, so they have that basic freedom.
Forum dynamics only makes this worse because of its anonymous nature. No one can really be held accountable for what they say because on one will likely ever know who is really saying it. People can either be anonymous or actually lie about who they are. I’m sure that there are some here that go under the guise of seasoned experts when they are really youngsters just wanting to stir the pot and get a rise out of everyone. Who would know? In fact, I could really be an FBI agent just keeping an eye on things…
So you need to take what is said here (and on all other forums) with a large grain of salt. I think you are already doing a good job by looking for the right things when trying to qualify someone’s opinion about something. After you have been around for a while, you will get a feel for those who are genuine.
I concur with Ray. At times we fire off a response without thinking that there’s a few new students in the class that
are just trying to climb the grade and here we are cresting the summit.
I agree. I also post on a computer gaming forum run by some friends of mine, we ended up with a multi-page thread about this - one or two people were rubbishing a particular “e-tailer”, but not giving reasons for their opinions. My response was to enquire if they had any examples to illustrate and/or support their opinions - for much the same reason as the above post (people new to the hobby won’t know if the store in question is good or not good). As said above, always take anything you read with a large grain of salt. I have read many posts about Bachmann diesel models being below-standard in other people’s experience (for example) but in my experience they’re ok and run smoothly, haul decent loads, etc.
That’s because most of their experiences are with the (one) product they have bought and using, therefore they are HAPPY with it .
You have to read through that. They are just trying to help.
[#welcome] enduringexp!
you can allways quote someone making a bold statement you do not understand and ask him WHY he or she thinks so, that is also where this forum is about, and that is how you can start interesting exchange of ideas about this hobby, maybe some posters make their statements to “provoke thought” as one distinguished member once said.
Well, if I may add…
I have noticed that some of the products that I love are on the ‘junk’ list of some people. Why? Because they want something different out of the product… Perhaps they want something exact and I don’t need perfection. Maybe I’m out of it, but I will say that modeling and product choices are up to the individual. You are right to NOT take a post as gospel. It may be their choice, but it may not be yours. I have a couple of old Life Like and Bachmann cars on the layout that I have retrucked and put into service because they are not available anywhere else. I’m supposed to take someone’s word that all of the old LL and Bachmann stuff is junk. I think not. 
Ask for the reason and check for yourself.
There are two things causing this dilemma of “lack of substance” in our postings:
- one is that we often make a lot of assumptions as to what we think the reader knows as we are responding
- two is that the ideas in our heads can’t be typed fast enough with our fingers so some things get omitted
I know I have been guilty occasionally of not providing substance for my opinions in the past but I am trying harder to provide more substance in the future.