The Most Useless (Yet Common) Response to a Post

Jim T · 02-09-2002, 08:03 AM

Some one asks "I want to reverse my ring & pinion so that I have 5 reverse gears and one forward, what is your opinion?"

or "I want to put 22 inch Khromes on my Ride, whadda ya think"?

Invariably, mulitiple genuises will respond "Its your car, you should do what makes YOU happy."

Duh. Brilliant response, Captain Obvious.

Everyone knows that they are the owner of their car and they are free to do whatever they want with it. But sometimes people just like to get an OPINION on a proposed course of action. The brilliant response above isn't what the person is looking for and is basically a non-response.

I don't think anyone has ever posted "This is my car, should I do what makes ME happy?"

So, in the interest of saving time, I propose that whenever someone feels the need to say "Its your car, you should do what makes YOU happy," the response "Canned Response No. 1" be typed.

This will save keyboard wear throughout the US.

Planter91C2 · 02-09-2002, 08:10 AM

.

Jim T · 02-09-2002, 08:14 AM

LOL!

(but what does Richard Simmons have to do with being gay?)

steveW · steveW's Garage

Its your keyboard, you should do whatever makes YOU happy!

emcon5 · emcon5's Garage

It seems to me like most times someone writes "Its your car, you should do what makes YOU happy" they mean something quite different.

What they ususlly mean is

"You need to promptly submit yourself to your local substance abuse center for immediate testing and treatment, as you must be under the influence of some sort of mind altering chemical to even consider doing ____________ to your car."

My 2¢.

Tom

Leland Pate · 02-09-2002, 08:59 AM

I say it sometimes just because I don't want to sound too preachy...or to keep from sounding like I really know whats best for someone else...
You know the funny thing is...when several people start dropping opinions... inevitably someone comes out and says "Oh sure...everyones real happy to spend "SOMEONE ELSES" money..."

Guess it's kind of a Ying-Yang thing huh....

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

actually, I see that response to questions like, "I want to paint my car purple...what do you think?"

In that case, the "useless" response is infact appropriate. Color is totally subjective (although some colors are faster than others

. On questions like sway bar size, etc, I rarely see the "useless" response.

Remember, there are no useless responses, only stupid questions.

Oh wait a minute...

CRH911S · 02-09-2002, 09:55 AM

Jim, the women in the bar, at last call, always look great. Did you wake up with one of them?

Clinton R Hodges II
Anchorage AK

orbmedia · 02-09-2002, 11:47 AM

...not that there's anything wrong with that.

911pcars · 02-09-2002, 11:08 PM

I always wonder how people can respond to a question such as:
"Drilled rotors result in possible rotor damage"

Answer: I've never seen a rotor fall apart due to drilling.

Implication: I've never personally observed or experienced the situation, thus it doesn't exist.

However, we don't know how many drilled rotors this person has observed. It could be thousands more than the average person experiences in a lifetime, in which case this person has some life experience to share and learn from. Invariably, it's a person just like you and me, with limited experience with different usage on different cars and operating under different circumstances..... a limited sampling from which to base a valid conclusion. But what the hell; if I didn't happen to see it, it doesn't happen.

Another observation is when people cite facts based on what they've read somewhere on the Internet or they use pseudo science; B follows A, thus A causes B. Popular theories (the world is flat, drilled/undrilled rotor are fine) perpetuate because they're popular. Like books, one should be skeptical about anything you read. Just because it's been written (and even typeset) doesn't necessarily mean it's true. Consider the source if you can.

Perhaps my response is too serious for this thread.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org

Norm Faustino · Norm Faustino's Garage

Hey wow! they do fall apart from drilling! I just drilled all mine just to see for myself and they all fell apart after about 240 holes...

masraum · 02-10-2002, 01:21 AM

Not to reduce the obvious and bountiful comedic content of this thread, but I have seen this post many times.
Jim T, the times that I notice this post the most are when someone posts a question, "hey I think this would be neat/whatever, what do you guys think?" And due to the unpopular nature of the modification the guy gets drilled repeatedly. Someone will often chime in with the "Do what you want to do" thing as a defense and to try to bring the others back to some civility.
I think it can definitely have it's time and place.
I also occasionally tack it on to the end of my opinion.

Hey, guys I hear you can save weight by drilling your shock towers too. Norm, tell us how many holes you get to before there's problems
sounds like....
lick,
lick,
lick,
crunch....
Three licks to get to the center of a tootsie roll tootsie pop!

expat · 02-10-2002, 05:31 AM

Yeah I gotta agree with masraum (Steve) here. I think most times you read the "Canned Response No. 1" it is reaction to other replies that flame the original poster in some way. The person with"Canned Response No. 1" I think is trying to lend some support to the poster.

My 2 cents

Cheers
Mark

PS Planter91C2 - You make me laugh and I agree (about the post I mean...not Simmons...I know nothing of him other than what I see on David Letterman...more laughs)

Jim T · 02-10-2002, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 911pcars
I always wonder how people can respond to a question such as:
"Drilled rotors result in possible rotor damage"

Answer: I've never seen a rotor fall apart due to drilling.

Implication: I've never personally observed or experienced the situation, thus it doesn't exist.

etc.

Perhaps my response is too serious for this thread.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org

OK, maybe it has run its comedic life, which probably wasn't very long to begin with. I will leave the observational humor to Seinfeld and the pros, it's dangerous in the hands of an amateur.

I agree sometimes people say "CR No. 1" to come to the aid of someone. But usually not. Usually it seems like it someone who really thinks they have thought of a really brilliant "angle." But I see the point, CR No. 1 does have a time and place.

I totally agree with Sherwood, though. I always wonder about "experts" giving engine rebuild advice when they have never rebuilt an engine, "experts" saying "I've never seen X happen, therefore it never happens" when of course they have not seen it, they have only owned one or two (or none) 911s in their life, etc. Seems like just a bunch of smoke to me.

I think people accept it, though, because most people view as an "expert" anyone who knows more than 5% than they do on a subject.

I've chuckled about that for years.

Which is what makes JWW, Otto, and others who work on and see these cars every day, day after day, year after year, of such value, IMO. Agree or disagree with their take on an issue, they have a foundation/basis for their opinion. They are giving away for free what people normally have to pay for.

island911 · 02-10-2002, 10:09 AM

The peanut gallery responces are great. (BTW "gay" or not, R. Simons is a SUper-Fem of a guy - funny on its own)

The Most Useless Response to a Post is when someone who should know better post something misleading or flat out wrong. This is the worst, when they seem to do it just to appear as an "expert " on a subject or sell some thing.

For example check out the oil cooling treads. Talk about "Popular theories " and "pseudo science." One guy wanted to perpetuate the "Popular theory" that "Heat would go into Oil more easily than it would come out."
Fortunately, there are quite a few here who point out the errorrs and/or give an alternate point of view.

As SteveW says "Its your keyboard, you should do whatever makes YOU happy!"
. . .just don't go thinking its worth more than 2¢.

dtw · 02-10-2002, 10:32 AM

It's a rainy day here in Raleigh, and my girlfriend and I were curled up drinking some nice hot tea, watching the Lifetime network, and talking about our feelings. I told her about this thread.

She suggested that we all get together and write to Oprah to see if we could do a show on the problem.

"Today on Oprah- macho guys, large and in charge, share with us the feelings of isolation, loneliness, and depression they've hid for so long. ..

-cut to scene of nostatic-

"Sometimes, when the guys tell me I have no backbone- it really hurts- it's worse than catching my fingernail in a 10,000 rpm die grinder- or hitting my thumb with a 2 lb hammer while I'm trying to knock a ball joint loose..."

"This and more, on today's Oprah"

-cut to music and commercials-

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by dtw

-cut to scene of nostatic-

"Sometimes, when the guys tell me I have no backbone- it really hurts- it's worse than catching my fingernail in a 10,000 rpm die grinder- or hitting my thumb with a 2 lb hammer while I'm trying to knock a ball joint loose..."

But I hope you notice that I wasn't crying when they shot that segment. Oprah says I'm doing *super*. It's either the therapy or the fact that I'm shopping for another p-car.

Oh wait...maybe it's the morphine patch.

jluetjen · jluetjen's Garage

The other time that I've seen "Canned response #1" is when the responder is kind of doubtful of what the original person suggested. Rather then take the confrontational approach of "I think your idea has no basis in any physical or logical science nor would I ever part with $0.01 of my hard earned money to buy it when your finished!

" it is often politer to say..." It's your car..." etc. etc. According to my mother, the only alternative would be to say nothing, which would contradict the purpose of this BBS as well as leave the field open for affirmative responses from people who have also never performed the suggested action.

Is the old nag dead yet??????

cmsteed · 02-11-2002, 09:20 AM

Asking an opinion is o.k if you really don't care what the response will be and you are just looking for a bit of banter.

Asking for a fact is sometimes dangerous on this BB, especially if the response is prefaced with "I'm no expert but..." or " I think that....." or "I've never done this but I hear...". Hopefully the question asker can sift through the speculation and find the real answer before he implements someones guess and wrecks something.

I like the old saying "SINCE WHEN IS IGNORANCE A POINT OF VIEW".

Peace.

Chuck

Superman · 02-11-2002, 09:47 AM

It's your car. You should do what makes YOU happy!