STOP GIVING ADVICE WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW!!!!

Originally Posted by SteveH

Question...How do you know the advice you are giving is wrong till someone tells you so Advice is an opinion, everyone has one( I know viney has a saying for this)

P.s I hope ppl are not knowingly giving bad advice though

I agree... i for one was accused of this a few months ago, and openly told to shut up by sum one on here who also shall remain anonamous... i was right and knew it.. but theyr were older and wiser apperently.....

my other point is......

What other experiance have i got than with my own bike, ?? i only know of one motorcycle mechanic on here???

all we can do is reply with wat we know and hope it helps... it is not definitive answers....

[Sid Squid]

I agree in principle with Big Ape, I don't want to be too prescriptive or risk stifling discussion, but I have seen some 'advice' and 'help' which is not just wrong but potentially damaging or dangerous, I've PM'd a couple of times to discuss further with the writer about what has been written, and it most often is simply a matter of the language used and the fact that many people use quite different terms for many things.
The great thing about forums like these is the way in which information can quickly and easily disseminated, one possible downside is that an unsure owner/rider who, as has been mentioned, might generally want to wait for conformation by reading several posts, might if there is only a few replies, succomb to a confidently written post which can lead the unsure into actions that might not be wise.
There's no-one who uses this forum who is infallible, this must always be remembered, there are some contributors whose advice is excellent, well written, clear and comprehensive, (stand up and take a bow Embee), but there are some who, whilst unquestionably well intentioned, have written from a less sure position, but you might not realise that from the language used.

Originally Posted by Cronos

Yikes! It must be me. I didn't PM you and I'm a he!!!

It could be me. I never sent him a PM either

I always wait for a few opinions to match before I'll do anything myself.....

Can see where your coming from Mr Ape but this is a forum after all, everyone has to have an opinion

I rarely try and tell people how it is as, quite simply, I don't have the knowledge or experience to do that. If I see someone ask a question and I think I can provide something useful, I will try and post something along the lines of 'IIRC' or 'IMO' so I'm not trying to lecture, its just my opinion or a suggestion.

Its a great forum to get advice and discuss things. It does bug me when people go on and state something without checking their facts and they are talking out of their ****.

I can think of several occasions where I have seen someone state something as if its fact (rather than their suggestion) that was downright dangerous because they didn't have a clue. And then they get in a huff when they are corrected.

Just because someone has a high post count it doesn't mean they know what they are talking about!

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Kate

Just because someone has a high post count it doesn't mean they know what they are talking about!

I've been reading this thread with some interest, I'm not a mechanic and I dont know alot about bikes. However I have had my fair share of grief with mine, So if I can help I will post to say something like "Well mine did something similar and it was this" I will always say that its best to take it to a dealer or somebody you trust to get it looked at though.

I'll always try and help if I can and I think that is the spirit of this place and its something to be kept up IMHO.

I agree with what others have said that if I ask a question I'll wait until I have several answers before I will act, also there are a hardcore of people on here who really do know there stuff.

At the end of the day I think its up to individuals as to whether you follow advice etc. I think the guiding rule should be if you are not sure, Take it to a mechanic and get it checked out properly by somebody who does know what they are doing

I don't think posting things you're not absolutely sure of is wrong, so long as you clearly indicate this is the case in the post, e.g. 'I don't know, but it could be...' 'It sounds like it might be similar to a problem I had...' However, I do agree when people blatantly have no clue (and it's even apparent to a novice like me) it can be annoying when they say something for the sake of posting and in some cases, it can be dangerous if the advise is wrong.

Newness to biking doesn't neccessarily make you ignorant either- you might encounter a particular problem in your first month of riding and learn the fix for it and someone who has ridden for 20 years might never have encountered it: A guy in work has been riding for 30-odd years and clocked up a few hundred thousand miles, but he knows less about scottoilers than myself, as the majority of his bikes have been shaft driven and he has never fitted/used one. On 99% of things relating to biking, he knows a lot more than me, but that doesn't in any way devalue my knowledge on that particular subject.

On the subject of 'a friend of a friend said' or 'I read it in a...', I suppose it depends on the source and accuracy of your memory. If I desperately needed advice on something as a 'get home' measure, I'd definately be grateful if someone could accurately recall advise from a magazine on the subject. After all, you trust things in owners and haynes manuals pretty much unquestioningly, and things in MCN and Bike tend to be fairly accurate, most of the time. That said, people giving the impression that the advise they're giving is based on personal experience can be a problem as the recipient is a lot more likely to take it as gospel.

I think most reasonably regular posters know which user's advise to take as true, which to consider carefully and which to disregard. If people consistantly post bad advise which is corrected by others, they'll rapidly develop a reputation for it and others won't take heed. The problem is that a new poster/someone just reading the site for a solution to a problem won't know this.

Jonboy, was it me?

Well, I think you're ALL victims of an extraordinary piece of misinformation!

Fancy believing that anything with less than 3 cylinders is a proper motorcycle

Originally Posted by howardr

Fancy believing that anything with less than 4 cylinders is a proper motorcycle

Aye - some people are so gullible................

Well, yes. The weedier engines do often need an extra cylinder to keep up ...