Tinkeric

There has always been interest in converting one style of handlebar to another. Every week, a new thread starts, and that's not a bad thing and I'm not blaming anyone, but shouldn't there be a sticky by now since it's such a popular topic?

operator

No, because it becomes as useless as the current forum stickies which already deals with the majority of over-asked topics - nobody reads them.

Just look at the plethora of "I have $NOISE coming from my bike, help" type posts. All the current stickies are completely useless.

jsmithepa

Then we would need a sticky for "my wheel is making noise" and "first time on clipless pedals" and "lacing my own wheels" and "adjusting deraiullers" and "convert to a fixie" and "paint my frame" and .....

Fess up, yer looking for precised, step-by-step instruction. I wish life would be like that, there's always a step-by-step for everything I ever want to know. Taking consideration all variations/all models/discontinous parts.

z415

What would be great is after this server upgrade or whatever, they replaced that upgrade/slow server message with "Please use search and read the stickies before asking mechanical questions" in bold or something like that in the Mechanics sub-forum.

LarDasse74

I have three comments...

If there was a sticky on "how to lace a wheel" and a sticky on "my bike is making a noise" and a sticky on "how to adjust a derailleur" etc, etc, then we could just put up a few jokes, and a picture of one of the forum regulars with a plastic eagle attached to his helmet, change the name to sheldonbrown.com and be done with it... or just post a sticky with links to sheldonbrown.com... oops, that's already done.

Which leads to comment #2: people do want to have their hand held and told step-by-step how to solve a problem because they don't know how simple it all really is... or at least how simple it could be if they took the time to think about it before asking.

Comment #3: I have learned from bicycleforums.net that there are as many people willing to offer help as there are people asking for help. THe trouble is with most of the people offering help is that (as my father would say) they don't know their ass from a hole in the ground - stupid, dangerous, and otherwise incorrect advice seems to be the norm around here. I'm sure I am not immune from giving incorrect advice, and so I try to limit the advice I offer to subjects I know something about, or at least have some experience (you will never see me offering advice on bleeding the latest Hayes brake system or how to set up the propedal on a new shock).

Edit:
After posting this, especially after reading comment #3, I have decided that healthy debate is the best way for people to learn. In the spirit of sparking healthy debate, until further notice I will no longer be posting any correct information on this site.

HillRider

I've seen a couple of your recent postings and, true to your word, you are not providing any correct or helpful information. In fact, what you are doing has the potential to be harmful.

It's a "healthy debate" only if both sides have some idea what they are debating about. In many cases here the OP really has no idea what to do about his/her problem.

Sure, they could read one of the several bike repair manuals or instructional web sites but many won't or don't even know where to look. It's easier to come to a forum like this and the information they receive should be at least a fair attempt to be correct.

The problem with your postings is that they are misleading and even dangerous to those who don't realize what you are doing and think your comments are meant to be factual. In this case the cliché "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything" seems appropriate.

If the repetition offends you, don't read the forum as often but please don't be intentionally misleading.

Tinkeric

I'm actually familiar with that procedure -- dealing with clamp sizes, aero/canti/linear cable pull, etc. -- since I (ignorantly) started a thread myself back in the day.

Obviously, the sticky system doesn't work as intended. The OPs or someone else, however, could assemble an FAQ/index in which there are links to the authoritative threads that answer the question. That way, someone doesn't have to search himself for the url to post.

z415

Please don't do that - I come on here to help people and not to be privy to useless drivel (which is why I tend to avoid a few other subforums on here...). My philosophy is that people should have a basic understanding of things they deal with daily (it annoys me that my mom can understand how a car works but for right pedal go, left pedal stop..) and it is already disappointing enough that people on here just seem to want a quick solution. So what if you know you can resolve a clicking in the stem with a dollop of grease, I think they should understand at least why and whether is is a full remedy or just a bandage. I already feel bad enough that we seem to be churning out ignorance instead of love and respect for their bikes - I would love to sell people on the beauty and sense of biking, mechanics to be precise in here, but it is just an ideal and it would surely not help to give bad useless advice that is clearly incorrect so please don't.

I read another one of you posts and it just seems useless and would probably make users avoid searching as to avoid having to filter through useless junk.

I strongly advocate that users, especially newer ones, use search and the stickies as to avoid being flamed so they are not shied away from being a future productive member to this community. Perhaps there can be a system where the best and most correct answer is voted on and highlighted or something like Yahoo! Answer - if you want bad info, go there...

LarDasse74

It actually was never the repitition - I have no problem avoiding posts with questions that I feel have been answered to death... but I might feel better the next day and do my best to provide a helpful answer.

The really annoying thing is people offering the best advice they can, yet they clearly have no idea what they are talking about - these are the people who should not be posting. My posts before last night when I lost my temper are probably 85% offering genuine advice, 15% telling people they are wrong, according to my experience.

I admit my anger seemed misplaced, I was in a bad mood, could not sleep, and for some reason at 5:00 AM I thought I would feel better if I posted some snotty comments and gave some terrible advice. It didn't work

However, I was careful to make the advice completely impractical, difficult to follow, and obviously incorrect (I suggested removing a crank by mounting the bike in a milling machine and cutting out the bb spindle - i dare you to find one person who would follow that... I will give them a fresh set of crank bolts as an apology). It was also advice you can be sure not to find anywhere else, so anyone thinking the advice might be genuine would find no corroborating information. I think the advice is funny now, but I think a lot of things are funny that others don't - sue me.

I will continue to post. Sometimes my advice will be helpful, sometimes snotty and deliberately misleading. I will not post smileys to indicate which post is which - the bad advice will be bad enough that anyone following it deserves to get hurt. I believe there is an 'IGNORE' function on bikeformus.net, and i promise I will not feel bad if you use it on me. I will leave the title "Not Helpful" under my avatar.

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