Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed (and I’m sure other regulars have as well), that we seem to be getting a larger than normal volume of questions that are totally devoid of details or specifics. Often these questions consist of one sentence or sentence fragment. Not only is this frustrating for the folks who attempt to answer the question, but , not to come off as sounding elitist or anything; I feel that it’s sort of lowering the bar in a forum that has relatively higher than average standards than typical internet forums. Is this a result of the new “Ask Someone Who Owns One” initiative or is the recent influx in vague questions just an anomaly?
If you read another tread down the list, you will find this problem has been discussed.
Why do we have a sudden influx by VCDdriver
Yes, too many shooting from the hip without giving much useful detail. I get this at cocktail parties when they learn I’m an SAE member. “My Mercedes is hard to start, what would be the problem?”
I usually give them my business card with the offer to discuss this (at no cost) in detail later, since hard starting can have many causes. I usually don’t hear back.
I think we established through discussions with Carolyn that many of the posts with few details come from Ask Someone Who Owns One. Apparently the Lackeys have tried to get additional information that isn’t carried over from the other site, but that isn’t possible if the information doesn’t exist. We have always needed to ask for details to some posts and with these, we have to ask for more.
From what I’ve observed with these posts and from those that I responded to, additional information is probably not needed. Let me explain.
The folks writing these things generally don’t respond and who knows if they even check back to see if any answers are ripe for picking?
It’s a shame, but I guess I wouldn’t waste too much time on them. A vague question with no further participation warrants, at best, a vague answer and not much more response.
Perhaps make?, model?, model-year?, approximate mileage? , and nothing more until a specific response to these most basic questions is offered. Meanwhile I’d move on to sorting socks.
CSA 
Perhaps we could make ASWO1 subscription-only. I’d be glad to look at questions that refer to the '80s-'90s Toyota pickups. Motorheads readier to field a wider variety could sign up for more. cartalk.com pays Carolyn from its ad revenue. The more readers, the more cartalk.com gets paid.