Just curious, who are the top ten posters here? Suggest to include the numbers for the “solutions” and “likes” given to them as well.
Do you think improving the “fat to meat” ratio will cause more new folks to join in? If so, I’m all for that. But how do you determine posting content that is “fat” from “meat”? Would you put all the recent posts about olive oil in the “fat” category? Or were those “meat”?
With computer controlled cars, software issues are always a worry when making a non-manufacturer-approved change to the hardware. If the manufacturer’s engineering dept has already tested and approved the modification, guarantee the software is designed to be compatible with the hardware modification, then I’d be less concerned.
For dealership buying – which I have only a little experience — I haven’t used the pre-written check idea. Instead I show them proof of my bank account balance. You may be right though about this idea backfiring, and causing the sales-staff to refuse to sell for a lower price and try to get more money. Thanks for the heads-up!
hmmm … now I think about it, I may have used the pre-written check idea at a dealership right at the end, to sweeten the pot enough to them to agree to finalize the deal. I generally don’t try to get the best deal I possibly could, b/c that takes too much time. Saving $500 when it takes me 6 more hours of unpleasantness, I wouldn’t consider that a good use of my time.
There is little chance for this forum to recover. Visitors can search threads and see what a poor reception new poster receive. Too many people posting negative replies or replies of no value. With no active moderator for so long, it seems the goal is to fail and close this forum.
Look at the site statistics: 20 new sign-ups per month and those were lured in from Car Complaints and some people want that stopped. There are no genuine new members.
3 new topics per day and some feel overwhelmed by two of them because these topics aren’t worth their time.
lol … I’m guessing it’s just a practical joke, not intended to be take seriously.
Your comment brought a wide smile … not sure if that was your intention, but I found it very amusing!
What software?
Is there software between the steering wheel and electric power steering now? No. It requires a voltage to operate. That voltage is produced by a hardware mechanism, not a computer software algorithm. The steering wheel has redundant angle sensors to ensure the electrical hardware gets the appropriate signal. All that is being done is substituting a different input control sensor. Rather than the wheel being turned, it’s perhaps a joystick with the same redundancy built in to ensure it is producing a valid and desirable signal to the steering electronics.
Once you have the OEM system driven by motors or actuators, it is relatively easy to substitute alternate hardware inputs to accomplish the same thing and be more accommodating for any physical disabilities involved. So things get easier with newer technology, not the other way around.
Now try to convert a joystick output to a conventional steering system…I’ll wait for the solution 
That’s none of their damn business. I just tell them call me when the check clears so I can pick up my car. Or just bring a copy of the cashed/cleared check.
In 2018 we bought a new Ford Fiesta . I just wrote a check for the agreed price and left with the car. Recieved the title in about 15 days.
To me, these two sentences by Nevada_545 say it all:
There is little chance for this forum to recover.
Too many people posting negative replies or replies of no value.
Are you telling us that on a vehicle Forum that complaining about the price of a 1.5 litre of Olive Oil when the person actually bought a 2.9 litre container does not help with the forum ? 
I use a personal check as a down payment then get a certified check from my credit union for the balance after the sale is consummated. All the dealership needs to know is that I’m paying for the car with verified funds.
If there are no monitors then who the heck is removing my posts??
Since I rescued a baby rabbit today in my egress window, I can mention rabbit holes. The idea of showing a check to the sales person to induce the sale is out of the sequence of the purchase process. At the point a price has been determined, then you will be talking about how to make the payment. They will try to get you to finance whether you have a check or not. So the answer once again is bogus.
Clearly, there are moderators and site oversight. Clicking on anyone’s profile shows when they last visited, including the people who oversee this site. In addition, since there is a software program that supports this discussion platform, it can be easily set up to automatically remove or suspend any posts that have triggered the censoring algorithm or that have been flagged by enough contributors…
I have been frequenting this site, in it’s various incarnations, since the beginning. I know quite a few of us here that have been as well. The traffic on the site ebbs and flows with the season. Typically, there are much fewer questions during the summer months- many people are on vacations etc. Work is put off and problems ignored 
The traffic normally picks back up in the fall…
That must be how my prior topic asking for advice about rubber brake hoses got removed. I can’t imagine a topic being any more Car Talk and car-safety related. Its deletion is not a particular bother for me, but for new posters here with a similar question, since all of the responses also got deleted, they are no longer available to peruse in the forum search feature. I’d repost the topic but I am concerned if I reposted it would get flagged & removed again, which would just create more work for the moderators.
Have you even tried using that worthless feature ? All it does most of the time is show a bunch of posts that wander off into Cyberspace or never show if the problem was resolved.
The other thing is, reading an old post means that they will not contribute with a new post thus driving the post count down. Suggest worrying less about an all inclusive encyclopedia. Of car information and more about answers to current questions.
Look what happened to car talk show. Old answers to cars no5 on the road anymore. The only reason for it still on the radio is cheap programming. Imho of course. Like sports broadcasting or weather reports from ten years ago.
I have been on here less than 2 years and I have tried using that search thing and couldn’t find some of my own stuff that I was looking for… and what it does pull up is not in any kind of order, at least at 1st… Not very user friendly…
I doubt dealers are legally obligated but even if they are, it’s a judgement call so they always can (and will) claim there were no warning signs. As far as ethically goes, “ethics” and “dealer” don’t belong in the same sentence without a negation.
You’re being kind, IMO. I think that it borders on worthless.