Jantrix Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Mini-rant here. I've seen an awful lot of where-can-I-gets and anyone-got-a-pic-of and who-sells-this threads lately. I know we have an awful lot of people here who have probably been there/done that on the topic at hand, but a five minute Google search will likely find you what you're looking for. If you are lazy enough to not even try to find the info yourself, this probably isn't the hobby for you.
Jon Cole Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Perhaps they already did. Perhaps they didn't find what they were looking for. Who are we to judge?
trogdor Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Sometimes the search query needs to be specific and if the person searching doesn't know the proper terminology google can sometimes not work. But I agree with your intent.
GOTH KUSTOMS Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Perhaps they already did. Perhaps they didn't find what they were looking for. Who are we to judge? I totally agree with you Mr Cole, I'm not to lazy, to give an answer if i have one, or send someone in the right direction, might not not need to GOOGLE it could be a link to some where right here on the forum......
Eric Stone Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Perhaps they already did. Perhaps they didn't find what they were looking for. Who are we to judge? Well, if we are able to hop on, do a search, and find that info for them quite easily and quickly (and not from our already-saved Bookmarks list), then we've got an idea of how much effort was put in (or not put in) by the person asking the question. I see Rob's point, and I've felt the same way many times. For a do-it-yourself type hobby, there sure are a lot of people who don't want to do anything themselves.
Guest Johnny Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Well, if we are able to hop on, do a search, and find that info for them quite easily and quickly (and not from our already-saved Bookmarks list), then we've got an idea of how much effort was put in (or not put in) by the person asking the question. I see Rob's point, and I've felt the same way many times. For a do-it-yourself type hobby, there sure are a lot of people who don't want to do anything themselves. This is very far from true for a lot more than you would believe. Not everyone is internet savvy! I have looked for hours sometimes with out finding the specific thing I wanted. Came here and had the answer in minutes! That or was directed on where to look or what terminology to use! I'm very thankful to those that are not put off by someone asking a legitimate question! I always thought that was part of what sites like this were all about! Could I have been wrong?
Foxer Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 I pretty much see all the points here, but as far as model cars and obscure resin sites ... MCM Forum is MUCH better than google!!!
robdot Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 i did google it, it brought me here. thats how people end up here. they probably googled something.
lordairgtar Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 The purpose of an internet forum is social interaction, education and more! Just google it! How sanitary. I can google to my heart's content looking for something, but not everything is within Google's grasp. That's where forums come in. Not only to find a certain item, but perhaps to find out if any problems are there. Like a hard to build resin body, for instance. I'm looking for Renwal 66 Revival kits, I googled and only one or two pages popped up that were of any use. So onto the forums I go. Maybe the threads are more for social interaction than just getting an item. Stop looking down from your Ivory Tower and cut people some slack. This would be a pretty dead forum if everyone "googled" it.
Darin Bastedo Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 while google (or any other serch engine) is a valuable resource, it isn't a good as the human resource whe have here on the forum. let's say you are looking for info on building a 427 Cobra (my area of special interest) you could spend years as I have gathering information and pictures from Books, internet sites, face to face or email contacts, visiting shows and swap meets, as I have, or you could ask me and I allow you access to my already gathered, sorted and varified information. Yeah google is a start, but google won't reveal all that I have gathered myself. I have gotten information and pictures of Cobra's directly from the owners, restoration shops, Shelby american, and in a couple of cases from Carroll Shelby himself. Google isn't going to make the phone calls for you, put the cars on the lift, crawl underneath them and take pictures. let's say you want specific info on a Hudson Pick-up or a hard to find detail shot because you are scratch building one. I know a guy who has one, and could go up the street to the cruise in friday and get the shot for you. Perhaps even talk the guy into letting me scan some of the pictures from it's resoration. Google won't do that for you. The people here all have special areas of interest (obsession?) and have tons of information on that subject that would take years for someone to duplicate. why not ask here first? If I was building a General Lee, I know there are guys here who know the cars well and have accurate info to give me. That is the reason we have a forum, to share info, and to network. other wise we would just have a photo page and leave it at that.
Harry P. Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 All good points made so far. But I think Rob's initial point was more about people who ask things like "where can I get an AMT XXXXX kit?" or questions like that. Sure, there are questions that will probably be better answered by posting them here and tapping into all the knowledge available from other members, but many questions can be answered almost immediately with a simple google search. I have answered literally dozens of questions like that for other members here over the years. Sometimes I wonder why the person didn't just do the search himself in the first place? So I do the search, I find the answer, I post it. But come on! At least try doing the search first before you ask us to do it for you.
Eric Stone Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 You have valid points, Darin, but for the most part people pop up with questions like "Where do I find Revell's website to get a replacement part" or something like that. For a question that easy, it takes longer to come here and write the post than it does to look up Revell's page and just stumble over it. You are correct in basically saying there are some things that just aren't easily found on the internet. If I was looking for some of those things, I'd exhaust my resources first, then come here and ask about it, and I'd make sure to be clear that I've already looked on Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc, because if you don't mention that, all you've done is get a handfull of helpful people doing the same work and finding the same dead-ends. Johnny, you don't have to be internet savvy to use a search engine. It's not computer programming we're talking about here- it's putting some words or phrases in a little box and clicking "search". When one word or phrase doesn't get you what you're looking for, get creative and try something else. It's easier than using a card catalog at the library. Does anybody still go to the library for reference or information? I have in the past year, believe it or not, and I found some good stuff. I guess I'll go back to my sanitary ivory tower here, since telling someone to "Google it" removes ALL social interaction from a forum, right? [/sarcasm]
Harry P. Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 you don't have to be internet savvy to use a search engine. It's not computer programming we're talking about here- it's putting some words or phrases in a little box and clicking "search". Exactly. I could show a person who has never touched a computer before how to do a google search in about 30 seconds. If you know how to sign up for online forum membership, if you know how to post comments here, then you have all the "computer savvy" you would ever need to do a google search.
Darin Bastedo Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 I guess I was refering mostly to the "anyone got a pic of" part if the post. when I first started my 427 street cobra project, I wanted to do the specific car that was mentioned on the kit license plate CSX3181. so I googled it. It took me to pictures of how the car looks today not it's original factory condition. Ironicly if you were to do the same search today you would find my MCM forum build thread as the top result. how is that for coming full circle. http://www.google.com/search?q=csx3181&hl=en&source=hp&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=0l0l0l1031781l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&oq=csx3181&aq=f&aqi=&aql=
Jantrix Posted October 2, 2011 Author Posted October 2, 2011 (edited) All good points made so far. But I think Rob's initial point was more about people who ask things like "where can I get an AMT XXXXX kit?" or questions like that. Sure, there are questions that will probably be better answered by posting them here and tapping into all the knowledge available from other members, but many questions can be answered almost immediately with a simple google search. My point exactly. while google (or any other serch engine) is a valuable resource, it isn't a good as the human resource whe have here on the forum. let's say you are looking for info on building a 427 Cobra (my area of special interest) you could spend years as I have gathering information and pictures from Books, internet sites, face to face or email contacts, visiting shows and swap meets, as I have, or you could ask me and I allow you access to my already gathered, sorted and varified information. Perhaps I didn't go into a lot of detail in my post, but this isn't the sort of thing I was talking about. Specialty information like, " Where was the e-brake cable run on the 1967 Whatever SS" or "Whats the best glue to use for resin parts?" I was talking about simple what, where, when questions athat we see everyday from people. Usually from the newer members. Edited October 2, 2011 by Jantrix
Harry P. Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 A perfect example of Rob's point: The current thread asking where to find the new Hudson kit for the lowest price. I answered that question by doing... yes, a google search! Something the person asking the question could have done perfectly well by himself. That kind of thing is what Rob is talking about.
von Zipper Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 I used to think my ex-wife knew every thing about every thing......Until I found Google.
Guest Johnny Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Ok! I was looking beyond the scope of what you were talking abot Rob! I never seem to come up with just the right wording and come up with tons of unrelated garbage sometimes. But gues i really can't complain! That is how I found this site!
comp1839 Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 why don't you try saying something to the " lazy person" instead of being an enabler? seems counter productive to find the answer for them and then complain later on that you had to find the answer for them. how will they know they're being "lazy" if YOU don't teach them?........just thought i'd ask.
Harry P. Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 why don't you try saying something to the " lazy person" instead of being an enabler? seems counter productive to find the answer for them and then complain later on that you had to find the answer for them. how will they know they're being "lazy" if YOU don't teach them?........just thought i'd ask. I did tell them that.
Rob Hall Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 (edited) True enough...I remember back in the day using browser bookmarks to keep links handy for reference...I hardly ever use bookmarks anymore, it's just too easy to search w/ google (even easier when using chrome). As far as who sells what at what price, for new kits, I have a few online vendors I've bought from for years (Evers Toy Store, Model Express, Model Roundup, Hobby Link Japan) so I check with them first.. Edited October 2, 2011 by Rob Hall
highway Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 My point exactly. Perhaps I didn't go into a lot of detail in my post, but this isn't the sort of thing I was talking about. Specialty information like, " Where was the e-brake cable run on the 1967 Whatever SS" or "Whats the best glue to use for resin parts?" I was talking about simple what, where, when questions athat we see everyday from people. Usually from the newer members. A perfect example of Rob's point: The current thread asking where to find the new Hudson kit for the lowest price. I answered that question by doing... yes, a google search! Something the person asking the question could have done perfectly well by himself. That kind of thing is what Rob is talking about. Another good example is a thread that was just post about 45 minutes ago that asks "Where do I find the factory colors for the 2010 Ford Mustang GT". As of this time, two replies (including mine) were made to the opening post, the first suggesting to see if a dealer may still have the information and mine, where I said "Maybe do a search for it?? I found the info in about 5 seconds.". I don't mind helping someone out, but to Rob's point, sometimes it is just not that hard to help yourself. I type "2010 Ford Mustang colors" into Bing (sorry, I Bing not google ) and found the info on Motor Trend's website. It even has a pic of the car above the color options and if you click the color, it changes it on the car.
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