I have been a part of ATV Connection forums for over 3 years now. During that time, I have enjoyed sharing information and knowledge with a great group of riders of varied ages, talents and intellect.

During the last three months, the quality of postings here has dwindled.

I don't know whether the median age of users is reduced, or whether the active nature of a few young fools has pushed the intelligent among this group to give up and go home - the reason doesn't matter.

This forum has become combative, juvenile and beyond my ability to deal with.

Most of the rebuttals I recieve to my responses are from some kid who's parents' purchased a Blaster for him months ago. For some reason, this makes the child into an expert on all things with four wheels and an engine.

I'm sorry, if I wanted to deal with people like this, I'd become a teacher, and get PAID to do it.

If anyone is looking for a real answer to a tech question, they can e-mail me. I am always more than happy to help someone out with a problem.

What I will not do is engage in verbal jousting matches with people who do not even understand the basics of how an engine works, and have yet to learn even rudimentary manners.

 

Don't stay gone to long.

I've been here for a couple of years now. In those two years I noticed the quality of postings drops during the summer. The kids must stay home and talk more trash, while all the real riders are out riding and not concerned with the internet.

Wait till fall, and winter. Thats when the message board is actually worth coming to for useful information.

 

Pam

I have also noticed that the quality of postings have gone down in the past few months, but be patient, as mentioned before, as soon as school goes back, the post will get better. I does really get annoying when some little kid on his 250x suddenly knows everything, yet he can't spell basic words. I try to ignore post from these little kids, but they tend to clog up the boards. Hope you will stay. Just do as I do, don't reply to the little kids wanting to know if their blaster will outrun a raptor or some other dumb question like that.

 

It's very sad too loose a knowledgible poster that can help so many people. Even if the average age is going down, there are many, many posters around here that enjoy your knowledge. Many of us that greatly enjoy reading your posts! Please reconsider....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

I have been here since last fall. I am 16 yrs old and I am out of school. Most of these repetitive, uninformitive posts are in the summer because of that, but the better posts are definatly in the winter and spring. Most poeple tend to rebuild and fix-up their rides in the worst part of the riding year. Since the weather is so bad, they don't mind if their quad is in peices on the garage floor.



<< Most of the rebuttals I recieve to my responses are from some kid who's parents' purchased a Blaster for him months ago. For some reason, this makes the child into an expert on all things with four wheels and an engine. >>



You got that right!! It seems every 2-3 days there is the same question(re-worded)about some young punks' quad that his parents bought him. I had to pay for my blaster myself. Occasionally my folks will spend a little on it for me, but most of the time its a bottle of pre-mix or an air filter or something along those lines.

There's what, 16,000+ &quot;active&quot; members to this forum, HA!. I only see the same dozen people post something on a regular basis. Every so often the knowledgable people (like pam) will come out of the wood work because they see a post worthy of their expertise.

I think the real problem is any retard who has never even sat on a quad can get a membership here. There should be some kind or requirement or something. I didn't become a member so a guy could win a bet for the most replies, or so someone can just start bad-mouthing a certain make of atv.

I think you should take bluehonda4x4's advice and come back in the fall/winter. Because then, you'll run into people rebuilding motors, fixing broken swingarms, and looking for &quot;real&quot; advice about making their quad better.

Anyway, sorry for the long post and good luck!!

 

<< Wait till fall, and winter. Thats when the message board is actually worth coming to for useful information. >>



I know, and you're right, it does get better in the winter. Unfortunately, this problem's been ongoing for over 3 months now.

I don't have any beef with stupid questions either - hey, we're all new to this sport at some time in our lives.

My problem is with respondents who argue with me over basic information. These people don't even understand the basics of how an engine works, and they're trying to rebut my statements about nitros, race fuel, piston composition, pipe design, etc, etc.

It's like trying to explain physics to a kindergarten class.

Which is why I'm more than happy to answer tech questions via e-mail. I can state the facts and not have to endlessly support them with follow up statements.

I'm not saying I'm never wrong - everyone screws up sometimes. But it's getting impossible to even make statements such as &quot;the sky is blue&quot; without someone rebutting it.

There are answers to these problems. It's up to the moderators to decide if they want an open forum, where everyone's opinion is welcome (which typically degrades to the situation currently at hand). Or if they'd rather have a more moderated forum, where the stupid and belligerent are removed. Requiring a TRUE e-mail address also reduces the riff-raff (no hotmail accounts).

 

Well, I don't try to pretend to know more than I do. I come here mostly to get information not give, which is a good thing from me since I'm no expert. Even though I'm not an expert I have taken my time to learn the basics and I know how 2-strokes and 4-strokes work. Yes some questions are repeated often and this can be annoying to you veterans. It's not just people with Blasters that can ruin the boards, it can be anyone with larger quads too, who won't stop until they've convinced everyone their quad's the best. My parents did buy my Blaster but what did you expect, I'm 14, but I take the time to do mantainance and take care of what my parents spent cold hard cash on. I collect more knowledge from my older brother and his Warrior. The problem is these rich kids who get four wheelers and abuse them and then they get more. I'm sure many of the people on these boards have never touched an ATV but that's ok as long as they don't try to answer questions they are unknowledgeable on.

 

Dirt-
Good post, you've come a LONG way man in the last couple months-nice job, and glad to see it! BTW-how'd you fare with your pickup situation? Still looking, or did you ever find something you and your dad could agree on? Hope it worked out for the best, you deserve it.

Pam-
Like Andy mentioned in the other post, I don't think I've had the pleasure to post with you, but I have seen several of your notes over the last year and a half or so. Along with the others, I'm sorry to see such a &quot;valued&quot; member go. I do understand what you mean though, it's a shame to see so much of it lately. Every now and then I get caught up in it myself, can't resist to some ignorant knowledge of a topic, then just get slammed in the end, like you said, sometimes it's like talking to a bunch of kindergardners. That &quot;race fuel&quot; is a prime example, or any high octane for that matter-I can't even begin to remember how many &quot;wars&quot; we've seen on that topic alone.

Anyway, Best of Luck to you, maybe you'll drop back by with some words of wisdom later this fall/winter when the childish ones have gone back to school. Sad to see &quot;another one bite the dust&quot; so to speak. Like Tree Farmer, TxDoc, and a few others on down the list...

Mike

 

I have to agree with Pam.
At one time way back when this board was the only board that i would read and post on.But due to the over moderation (which has gotten better)and because of the children,i moved on to another board that i find to be better for me.
Not every place is perfect nor without problems.But one can only take so much.
I do stop by the connection once in a blue moon.But i'm not here like i once was....

 

cowboy - yep we found something. A 1993 chevy S-10, shortbed, regular cab, 4.3 liter v-6, fuel injected, automatic, and its 4 wheel drive. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I'm very happy with it, and my dad likes it too. It does need a little work(alignment, leaky windshield, a couple small dents/scratches)but I feel we got a good deal on it. Paid the exact same price as they paid for my sister's car, so she won't get mad.
I was going to say something on my &quot;need some advice&quot; post, but it is kinda old and I didn't feel like looking for it.


And for anyone else - I know it isn't just the blaster owners who make trouble and cause problems, but the blaster is the most common beginners quad. Parents don't decide they want to get their kid a raptor or ds650 for their first quad. The thing that makes me mad is people don't even think of using the search button. Sometimes I see the same question on the same page, sometimes by the same person who can't wait for people to get back to them on it. Most of the time, their questions can be answered by simply looking in a repair manual that everyone SHOULD own. Many of these conflicts are caused by ignorance, not stupidity.