Good teachers not only teach people things, they also write it down so
that future generations can start where they left off.  That was the the
frustration that I have with the list that sometimes it seems that I
feel like Bill Murray in Ground Hog's Day.  Yes I know that it is good
for my business to give free help to folks on this list and you all know
that I do and will continue to do so.  However it would be nice to have
a feeling that we are building something over the course of time and not
just repeating in an endless cycle.

--
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
Phone: 856-327-4936
Fax: 856-327-2242

On 11/9/2010 9:33 AM, Mark L. Hineline wrote:
> On Nov 9, 2010, at 4:51 AM, Ken Wilford wrote:
>
>>  Over the years we have seen many awesome minds and mechanics come
>> and gone (Bob Donalds is one) and speaking as a long time member,
>> the biggest issue is the feeling of BTDT.
>
> Two comments about this, Ken. First, as all teachers know, BTDT is
> what it's all about. Anyone who doesn't want to teach on the list can
> exercise the delete button. But I don't think that hazing people is
> the best course of action. The best course of action is to turn
> neophytes into experts and let them teach the next group of neophytes.
>
> Far more Vanagon-specific, every time a question comes up, it's
> actually a new question. Example: when I did my first 2.0 L rebuild,
> the advice I got was to go to Mark Stephens for my heads, which I did.
> Great advice, great heads, but he was out of business by the time I
> got around to sending back my cores.
>
> (Mark Stephens is still lurking in the archives, and always will be.)
>
> And unless there's some BTDT, who is going to know that you are in
> business? BTDT is going to send people to Bus Depot for, well,
> everything. Which is okay, but there are other good suppliers.
>
> Our vans are aging. We're finding out what goes wrong after 15 years,
> and 20 years, and 25 years. Suppliers come and go. Parts go from cheap
> to pricey to NLA.
>
> Also, as you know, when gerry started spitting out emails all those
> years ago, almost everyone was on dial up. Part of the reason for the
> "check the archives first" attitude was that we were sucking
> information through straws back then. Remember 1200 baud modems?
>
> The "BT" in BTDT is in the past. This is today. None of us have every
> done today before.
>
> Mark
> '82 Westy
>