Forums in general....

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Spot on Chris.

[Ivor Hawkins]

Absolutely, well said Chris.

[David.H]

As a relatively recent returner to Seven motoring (last one-1931 saloon of some sort! was sold in 1959...) and having acquired a 1927AD, 1932AG bitsa and a 1929RK saloon all of which needed fettling (or rebuilding in the case of the AG!) I have received no end of helpful advice from this forum, none of which has been bad tempered or "scratchy"!
Keep it up...a great source of help and motivation!
David

[Paul N-M]

I'm not sure it's entirely wise or kind to describe those who know and would freely help as 'arrogant'...if your preconception of what their answers should have been is not satisfied you are of course entirely free to ignore their advice. The expression 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth' comes to mind.

Having spent a lifetime in automotive engineering design, my experience is much like Colin's; there are surprisingly few black and white answers in engineering. Engineers learn to pool the available facts and data (hopefully distinguishing them from fiction in the process) and make appropriate choices. Perhaps the greatest skill of all is asking the right questions.

'A7 Friends' is by no means immune from dogma, waffle, misinformation, sniping and backbiting, but my limited experience of other motoring forums suggests we have much to be proud of here.

You hit the nail on the head Chris. As you also say this forum has much to be proud of in the way members generally conduct themeselves. I have been horrified at some of the vitriol displayed on some car forums.

Paul N-M

[andrew34ruby]

Without doubt, I find this is the best forum ever.

[mk1-mark]

The problem in most cases is that a lot of readers assume that the member asking the question has the same level of knowledge as them. This is of course never true.

People who ask "the same old mundane" questions are the life blood of our hobby & even the dustiest old sage started life as a naive enthusiast.

In recent years I have found myself in both camps, I have run a very successful forum on another motoring related subject for over 20 years & have "been there & done that", I have also found myself playing the role of callow youth on here, asking questions that no doubt a lot of people consider to be dumb.

I am happy to report that on every occasion I have asked something here, although I have received the sort of "you don't want to do that, you want to do this" type replies, I have also received VERY helpful & useful advice from some supremely knowledgeable members that has made my early steps into A7 ownership, both easier & more pleasurable.

All we classic car enthusiasts need to remember that our hobby is a rapidly shrinking interest, under attack from all angles & if we want to have a hobby in the future the only way to assure this is to encourage & help every new member regardless of how dumb their question appears to be. There is nothing more off putting than asking a question that you honestly don't have a clue about, only to receive a sneery comment from someone who is probably more interested in demonstrating how superior they consider themselves than helping you out.

I have always been of the opinion that there are far fewer dumb questions as there are dumb answers.

[Ian McGowan]

For those who have ( unnecessarily) leapt to the defence of friends forum, I deliberately entitled my post " Forums in general". This forum isn't immune from similar criticism but is by no means the worst. Were it the worst I would spend more of my time elsewhere.

[John Mason]

I have no problems at all with this forum long may it continue. Apart from a lot of Austin Seven information about cars, clubs etc. I also enjoy the harmless banter that is sometimes exchanged between members.

John Mason

[Ivor Hawkins]

I think the answer to your original question Ian is yes, I have noticed it.

In fact, a recent thread here on the friends forum was asking about clutch toggles and I passed on my experience of bending them cold, while others said you don’t want to do that!

I think we have all had different experiences and we can only answer honestly and people’s experiences will vary, in the case of the clutch toggles it appears that you should try and bend the new replacements as they’ll snap...so I certainly learned something!

Generally though, I think the friends forum is amongst the very best, some forums I frequent can be downright nasty, particularly to new members who don’t have half a century of experience behind them, it’s a wonder some marques have any young followers at all!

[Andy Bennett]

I do think it time people used the search function first. But while I am here, does anyone have any thoughts of the most appropriate type of oil to use in my engine...