I agree. And my vote would be to keep the questions coming.

I know it's a hassel sometimes to hit the delete button alot of times, but I
would rather hit the delete button than miss a tip, or a hint that would help me
down the road, literally.

Two other points come to mind:

1. What if we did not allow anything other than, go to the archives. I think that
pretty soon all the info we had was all the info we would ever have. Our
knowledge would stop pretty much where it is if someone couldn't voice a question
and have someone, perchance, voice a new answere to an old problem. That would be
a sad day for us all.

and 2. In my mind, and I think in the minds of many here, this is a community. A
bit unconventional, perhaps, but I feel a strong sense of community in this list.
I know that I have invited total strangers in my home when they were passing
through, and for no more reason than they owned a Vanagon. And I have never been
sorry for it, I have, I believe, grown richer from the experience of the meeting.
I have helped folks for no more reason than the own a Vanagon, and I have grown
from that experience as well. Just recently I have sent an open invitation to the
list regarding the tour america 2000/2001 to come to the campground when passing
through, and I would put them up. I have read many others offer as much or more.
I have read of others going out of their way to help a fello Vanagon owner. And I
myself have been helped by the collective wisdom of the list and I do not just
mean in mechanical matters. I have come to my keyboard in total frustration,
ignorance, and confusion with a problem and have been helped by so many of you
all.

To me this list is more, much more than an extension of my Bently. More much more
than a steril archive without feeling and compassion, and understanding. Read the
replies, read the cries for help. There is so much humanity here within this
list.

Well, there's my $.02 worth. I could go on, but I know that many feel as I do.

Ron Semko
Orlando, Florida

Bill Nolan wrote:

> First, using the archives is slow and frustrating.  Most searches I have
> tried fail.  I have the instructions for doing a search by email, but
> haven't tried that yet.  Perhaps it works better.
>
> More importantly, I think of this as a community of friends and fellow
> Vanagon owners.  When people have a problem or question, asking their
> friends is a popular way to begin the search for an answer.  I live in a
> rural area.  If I ask one of my neighbors what kind of fencing I need to
> keep goats from escaping, and his reply is, "somebody answered that just
> last year, so go look it up on www.goatfence.com," I wouldn't find that to
> be a friendly response.
>
> I think list members need to decide what kind of list is desired.  If it's
> to be only for old cronies to meet and discuss the latest "in" joke, that's
> fine.  However, if we want newcomers to feel welcome, we will have to
> realize that the same problems tend to come up over and over.  There are
> probably almost no "new" problems on a Vanagon.  Almost every message I see
> on here relates to an issue that has been previously discussed and is
> probably in the archives.
>
> At 12:32 PM 1/30/00 -0700, BILL wrote:
> >Why don't volks use the archives. Is accessing them that difficult? If it is
> >we need to address this problem.
>
> Bill (SE Arizona) (Bill@freeholder.com) HTTP://www.freeholder.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> Censorship is the assassination of ideas.  No matter how well-meaning its
> proponents may be, they are more dangerous to us than any outside enemy.