Art of Gears
Fansided

Auto Forums Are Nice…Sometimes

By Andrew Hulse

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MARCH 23: An error message for the blocked Wikipedia website page is seen on a computer screen on March 23, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan passed a new law on March 22 extending the reach of the country's radio and TV censor to the internet. The new law will allow RTUK, the states media watchdog, to monitor online broadcasts and block content of social media sites and streaming services including Netflix and YouTube. Turkey already bans many websites including Wikipedia, which has been blocked for more than a year. The move came a day after private media company Dogan Media Company announced it would sell to pro-government conglomerate Demiroren Holding AS. The Dogan news group was the only remaining news outlet not to be under government control, the sale, which includes assets in CNN Turk and Hurriyet Newspaper completes the governments control of the Turkish media. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MARCH 23: An error message for the blocked Wikipedia website page is seen on a computer screen on March 23, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan passed a new law on March 22 extending the reach of the country's radio and TV censor to the internet. The new law will allow RTUK, the states media watchdog, to monitor online broadcasts and block content of social media sites and streaming services including Netflix and YouTube. Turkey already bans many websites including Wikipedia, which has been blocked for more than a year. The move came a day after private media company Dogan Media Company announced it would sell to pro-government conglomerate Demiroren Holding AS. The Dogan news group was the only remaining news outlet not to be under government control, the sale, which includes assets in CNN Turk and Hurriyet Newspaper completes the governments control of the Turkish media. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Automotive forums are a great place to catch up with like minded people and enthusiasts whose automotive interests align.  They can be great resources for DIY maintenance or fixes to odd issues.  However, they can also breed the worst in people.

I used to love an old Honda forum I was on, I will not say exactly which one out of…respect…or something.  I was active on it for a good 5 years when I owned the car and stayed on for about a year after I sold the car off, 6ish years total.  The final couple years, around 2013ish, I was on less and less because it had turned into a pit of misery.  I think this is the plight of most forums, automotive or not.

Car people shouldn’t hate other car enthusiasts based only on what type of car they like or hating everyone who buys a different brand.  But, this is exactly what I have seen happening, over and over.  I have noticed similarities in most forums I have looked something up in, whether it be BMW, Audi, or the VW forum I check in on now.  All of them have people that are just ripping on everyone else that happened to make a different decision than them and it becomes an echo chamber very quickly.

The forums aren’t all bad though.

I don’t mean this article to discourage people from getting help on the online forums, for anything.  This is where the culture of the forum community really shines.  I had a very particular issue on an

More from Art of Gears

Audi once, the dealer could not figure it out.   Multiple engine components got replaced, the turbo got replaced, never a fix.

I posted on this particular forum and within about 3 hours the community had come to an agreement on what the issue was.  I told the dealer to try X and that happened to be the fix.  It was such an obscure little thing that I do not blame the dealer at all for not being able to find the issue.

This is what can make an automotive forum, or any forum for that matter, really great.  Even as I type this, I have a watch forum pulled up to see if I can skip on sending it back to the manufacturer for servicing and do it myself.

The toxic environment is what keeps me from ever signing up.

The echo chamber for everything that is not DIY or fix-it questions keep me from signing up for forums.  Even for the oddly specific problems, I have now accumulated enough acquaintances in the automotive world and have an extremely trusted mechanic I can always ask.

Next: Lincoln Reported To Be Readying As Many As 5 New Vehicles In China

For me, it is not worth sifting through the junk to find the diamond threads.  Let me know in the comments why I am wrong.

Home/Commentary