Basic manners

[Ltwtbarmy]

I know that this is a very friendly forum, with many people in different continents and coming from diverse backgrounds but most of us are out to help each other. However I'm getting a bit annoyed with people jumping on without an intro, no piccies, asking questions, and not even bothering to respond, or even say thank you when we climb over each other to give the info requested. I have noticed certain members with more than 50 posts, all questions, and not ONE word of thanks!

Am I the only one noticing this, and am I just being too sensitive? Has politeness really gone so much out of the window that no one bats an eyelid? This isn't just on this forum by the way. I'm a member of the HMVF forum, and have noticed the same thing there.

That's it. I'm now off for a beer and a rant at the pub.

[fv1620]

Unthanking is quite widespread & has been so for many years. We live in an 'on demand' society & there is a feeling of entitlement without thought for the effort & time that the giver provides.

On another LR forum, someone with a vast knowledge of vehicles of a particular era vented his frustration, only to be shot down by some who felt that he was unreasonable to expect thanks & all information should be freely given without the arrogant expectation of some form of thanks.

I find myself daily providing info not just on a forum but by email. Sometimes checking my facts & finding the reference or trying to help untangle the diagnostics of an electrical problem can take 30 mins or more. Thanks for the efforts are nice, but all I want is an acknowledgement that they got the info otherwise they might think I had ignored their request.

I have a lot of documents here & often I receive almost a demand for a pdf of something. Scanning can take a long time & then uploading can take ages or simply fail by timing out as I have no broadband here. But I have found my pdfs being traded on for swaps, sold on line or in one case the manual I put on HMVF for 9x9 being printed off & sold on a stall!

I have learnt never to lend publications as they can get 'lost in the post', damaged, forgotten about as in 'I thought you would tell me when you wanted it back' or as soon as I lent it found that there was something I needed to look up.

Sadly I have learnt not to give everything away on the first date as it were. So I send a basic answer & if there is a response then they get a more comprehensive answer. My articles on here about 24v charging & screened systems are built on years of exchanges & were written to reduce my mail box. Even so I still get questions indicating they won't read the article but want a personalised response despite the answer being there.

I have about 150 Ruddington catalogues & from time to time post up a scan for someone's particular vehicle. But on one occasion someone expected me to look through 10 years of catalogues identifying a particular vehicle type. I declined but said he could come here & go through them himself, now he won't speak to me. There are several you won't speak to me because I have declined to copy whole documents. Apart from the fact that I paid good money to acquire these or spent high copying fees to a museum, I have offered to do a few pages. But there has been a view expressed that people like myself are hogging information that should be shared & free of charge.

These Ruddington catalogues have sold on ebay for as much as £170. On another forum I noticed a long established & sensible member was restoring a vehicle of his late father's so he was delighted when I scanned the page from a Ruddington catalogue. He was trying to establish as much history on the vehicle, so finding I had a duplicate I sent it to him. He seemed very touched & declared it was one of the nicest things that had happened to him all year. So people can be very good at responding & it encouraged me as I felt I had done something useful.

Unthanking is a human trait it seems. I am not religious but I remember from school the story of Jesus healing ten lepers. Nine off them charged off but only one turned round & said thanks

[landymad]

You're both spot on, unfortunately it seems to be acceptable now to ask for information but never give thanks for receiving an answer.

We get emails daily asking for simple information that is available on the forum and site. We respond and 95% of the time never hear from them again.

I will however thank everyone on here, without your contributions the forum wouldn't exist. Without the fantastic knowledge you are all willing to share with others including myself, we wouldn't be able to restore our vehicles and fix problems.

Keep up the good work all.

[AR4412]

I think Clive, (Hiya Clive! ), expressed it better than I could have. But, there is a frustration that comes from not getting a thank you when you have gone out of your way to dig out a part or a publication, photograph or measure an item, work out a solution to a poorly described fault/problem, or dig out an obscure part number, and recieve no thank you for your time and efforts. Especially when a no thank you becomes a regular occurence. Nobody knows everything, and everybody forgets something, and questions do need to be asked if you can't find the answer using the search facility. But, a post of thanks is free and doesn't take much out of your day.

It seems this lack of a thank you response to help given is a sign of the times we live in, and not just a forum thing.

I don't mind that someone doesn't include a picture, but I do think it is appreciated by forum members when a new member's first post is in the Introductions section and not the Problems or Marketplace sections.

As to recieving no thanks for a reply I have given, I understand that sometimes one may forget, but I made a rule that repeat offenders no longer recieve a reply to their questions from me.

Regards,

[hibbo]

And I thought it was only me

[brinv8]

Graham, you're not alone.

Well said Ltwtbarmy and Clive, spot on.

[Ltwtbarmy]

Thanks for the responses! I honestly thought that I was the only one noticing it.

I usually just grit my teeth and carry on, but in some cases it's honestly getting too much. As an aside, thank you to all the people who helped me in the past, and the ones who will no doubt help in the future. Happy weekend all!

Martin

[Landie68]

As others have already stated, it seems to be the norm of today's society to "grab and run", with no thought as to others. To those that have helped me in my rebuild in the past, to those that put on the clubs displays, and to those that have caused me to chuckle and laugh through some tough times of late, a huge thanks for just being there with your knowledge, willingness to offer advice and support.

[fv1620]

On a lot of forums I see questions posed but getting no response. The poster might think that people are too mean spirited to reply, but often posts are very vague that puts people off. We all have busy lives & so many things to do, we often flit through our forum list to see if there is anything that is of interest. I have about 20 to check of which I moderate 4 covering my various hobbies.

I am drawn to posts on vehicle electrics & military publications, but some posed questions are so vague you know there will be a series of exchanges before you can get to the nub of the question, which I may or not be able to help. I have engaged in long exchanges to get nowhere. For instance posts or emails can go like this.

My Landy s not charging - What is your vehicle?
Ex Army mate - Yes but what vehicle type is it?
For radios - Yes but what vehicle type is it?
2A - Yes but is it 12v or 24v?
I think most of it is 24v - Yes but is it 40A or 90A?
As I said 24v - Yes I assumed that but I need to know the generator type.
Dunno mate it is quite big but that might be the starter motor - Please post a picture
Dunno how to post a picture - Can you see a picture on line that looks like it & send me the link?
But I need help quick mate its not charging - When you say not charging is it because the warning light comes on or you have measured the voltage directly on the battery with a voltmeter?
Dunno mate there is metal box with wires on the Perkins that look loose - Oh so it has different engine now & perhaps a different alternator?
Yes mate threw away all that Army screened wires - I'm sorry I don't think I am clever enough to help you, but someone more experienced may be able to sort it out for you.

Only a bit of an exaggeration, but similar exchanges have gone on for days wasting time for everyone & getting nowhere.

Please don't just make a post entitled "HELP" I then have to flick through to see what it is about & a lot of the time it is something I know little about or there are more experienced members who are better placed to reply.

For me a good plea for help might be:
Help 90A FFR not charging
Had my LtWt with twin ammeters for a year been charging fine, suddenly no charge as I can see the red warning light come on & I have put a voltmeter on the vehicle batteries that doesn't increase when I rev the engine. I don't know if it is a fault in the box on top of the engine in the attached photo. It is all original no bodges & has worked perfectly for the year that I have had it. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Ltwtbarmy]

Speaking of demanding, there is a facebook page which is all about british military jeeps. Recently, someone was literally demanding that the keycard for his jeep be put up so he could have the census number. It took a few people to make him understand that if he wanted his keycard, he should do what we all did, apply to the RLC archive, stump up the 35 quid, like we all did, and then share it with the group members. He really did seem to think that he was going to get someone else to stump up and do it for him. He disappeared pretty quickly. I don’t think I was the only one to send him a private message explaining the facts of life. The rudeness in demanding the keycard was absolutely unbelievable. It’s a pity that abusive language isn’t allowed because I was dying to tell him to go forth and procreate, but that would have only got me banned!