Vintage Mustang Forums banner

BUY A BOOK!!!!!

1011 Views 15 Replies 13 Participants Last post by  DANIELGILL
Being the resident jerk here, I'll say the uncouth that I KNOW some of us old dogs are thinking...

You ever notice that virtually none of the newbies even bother looking around the web for info and parts vendors for stang parts, much less buy a decent mustang repair book? Someone who shall remain nameless posted stating they couldn't find parts that are listed in NPD's catalog.

I know this site is for sharing info and a common interest, but they could at least put forth the effort to do a web search and buy AND READ a chilton's.....there's info out there they won't know exists and thus cant ask for it too!!
1 - 16 of 16 Posts
Fill out your profile so us old dawgs can tell who you are...
When I first got into old mustangs years ago, I had no idea parts and tech info were so readily available from so many sources. I figured restoring/maintaining an old stang would require scrounging through junkyards and bargaining at swap meets to uncover any parts. This, of course, is not the case.

What I'm saying is ... give the newbies a break. It's obvious to you how to quickly get parts and info, but maybe not to them. I say let's maintain a VMF environment where ANYBODY can ask ANY stang question without feeling stupid or trivial.
G
Hense the name newbie...I mean I've been on this forum for about 8months and now befor I run out and ask me question I do a little search on this site and other places I know of, but I can clearly remember when I first started out I tried really hard but couldn't find the answers I was looking for so I would ask you guys (to wich you have been a great help). Its easier for you guys to say "look befor you ask" but because you've been doing this for a while you have an idea what your looking for and where you're looking. When you're new to this as well as anything else its confusing.

...so I agree some of the people look hard to find what they want and just ask...but others do try to the best of there extent/knowledge. And even sometimes when you do find your answer it doesn't make sens to you, so you ask others to explain it a little "simpler".

Give peace a chance! lol
there is nothing wrong with a friendly reminder to at least try a search
sometimes i search on a topic that i remember seeing, and can find nothing. it gets frustrating so i fire away
and i do have a book!
Somedays I feel your frustration, but I always remember we all start somewhere. We need to cut them some slack but we should lead them to do as much as possible on there own.

I think the least used feature on this site is a search.

Mark
Trust me when I say this, the least used feature on any site except a search site like Yahoo or Lycos is the search feature. I rolled out a global portal solution for my company's intranet in March.....real easy to use.....spent months meta taging data and adding keyword indexes so that it is at the point that if you do a search for 'company logo'...the various formats of the logo are always return in a sperate best bets catagory. Its like that for 90% of all the information on the intranet site......I still get 40+ emails a day from people saying they can't find something and I always repond with "did you try using the search engine and putting the name of what you are looking for in?"

Anyway, the search function on this site is a little hard to use, that fact coupled with the knowledge that as a newbie you may not be aware of the slang or jargon or even the correct name for your problem or part question means that finding the correct information can be quite difficult.

With that said I also agree that a little research is in order, if you haven't found a post related to your question in say the last 183 posts, then ask it /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

I ask a lot of silly questions so I feel like I'm defending my own moronisisms.
See less See more
I remember books, have even written a couple. I'm afraid reading books, and instructions for that matter, has become a lost "art". It's hard enough to get college students to read their texts. About half way through the semester last year a student came to the office and ask a question that I knew was covered in the reading assignment. I ask if he had his text with him, which suprisingly he did. He pulled it out of the book bag, handed it to me, and I had the pleasure of opening it for the first time. You know how the spine kinda cracks the first time the book is opened? Yep got the cracking sound. This was after the second exam in the class and the student was wondering what he could do to improve his grade. /forums/images/icons/frown.gif
I was a shade tree mechanic as a kid (still am/forums/images/icons/smile.gif) and books were hard to afford. Most of the knowledge available to me was my Dad and friends. Now we have the internet as the #1 source of information and this site is one of the easiest to find even for a "computer" newbie. So until they get here they probably would not know about all of the other resources available to them. Probably a lot of them don't even know how to hold a screwdriver.

It does get tiresome reminding every newbie to fill out their bio or suggesting they buy a book, but that is why they are Newbies in more sense than one. Not all newbies are real newbies, we must all learn to crawl before we can walk, then run with the big dogs. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
Dude, I've boughtand read many books. Personal experiences add to that reading. Perhaps they are reading up on stuff and just trying to see what additional info is out there. (That describes me quite well!)
I, too, would recommend that you fill out your profile asap so everyone knows your serious about being here and getting and giving advice. After all only a "newbie" would let that slide. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
You ever notice that some users repeatedly ask actual stupid questions. After a while nobody much bothers to answer. I remember some posters that I just skipped reading after a while. I guess other VMFers do the same. If you don't care for stupid questions, don't bother with them. Sometimes the questions only seem stupid because of the way they are phrased and are worth answering. You never know. Don't worry about it. Don't like it-don't read it. Works for me.
That nameless person you are talking about could be me.
You sound like you live in the US and have lots of parts
readily available to you.
I live in Montreal, Canada and parts are not readily available like you.
Most local parts store and dealers here do not carry
vintage mustang parts.
I have to order in NPD, Summit, Paddock which is located in the US.
Let me repeat that again, USA.
Ordering across the border cost me a lot more than you.

Since your subject states: BUY A BOOK!!!!
You should come to my house and see my shop manuals
and collection of other Mustang books.
When people post questions here is because they may
not completely understand what the book states.
May have a good reference to buy parts.
Or tips to make the job a lot easier/better.

So I suggest to keep an open mind and not everyone here
is like you.
See less See more
G
Give them a break. I started here almost 2 years ago, and didn't have a clue what I was doing except that I love stangs, had just bought one, and needed alot of help. Everyone here has been wonderful, shared info, guided me into the right directions, and never been a jerk about it. Let the newbies have some time to come around. Not everyone has an expendable timetable, or budget. And believe it or not there are some people out there that are doing good to log on to the internet by thenselves, not to mention doing searches, etc.
Just my $0.02
Dan
G
Give them a break. I started here almost 2 years ago, and didn't have a clue what I was doing except that I love stangs, had just bought one, and needed alot of help. Everyone here has been wonderful, shared info, guided me into the right directions, and never been a jerk about it. Let the newbies have some time to come around. Not everyone has an expendable timetable, or budget. And believe it or not there are some people out there that are doing good to log on to the internet by thenselves, not to mention doing searches, etc.
Just my $0.02
Dan
BOOKS??? I don't need no stinkin' books!!!! *G*

http://a9.cpimg.com/image/F7/18/10634999-7717-02000120-.jpg
you are quite talented at being an [email protected]@ periodically arent you!
1 - 16 of 16 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top