Open letter to the newbies...

[posplayr]

Well

It is good to see there is a lot of interest in these old GS's. With spring coming to a close you can really feel the excitement (err panic) in the air. A little searching will unusually answer some of the simple questions; we don't want dissuade people from asking questions.

[Nessism]

It is good to see there is a lot of interest in these old GS's. With spring coming to a close you can really feel the excitement (err panic) in the air. A little searching will unusually answer some of the simple questions; we don't want dissuade people from asking questions.

It's fine to ask questions but please, and the point of this thread, try to help yourself before asking the same old question that has been asked 100 times before. Also, post a title that describes the problem.

When someone posts a problem and explains that they have done all the basic maintenance on their bike already, it says a lot about the person. From my point of view I'm a LOT more likely to try to help this type of person.

[nisom512]

It's fine to ask questions but please, and the point of this thread, try to help yourself before asking the same old question that has been asked 100 times before. Also, post a title that describes the problem.

When someone posts a problem and explains that they have done all the basic maintenance on their bike already, it says a lot about the person. From my point of view I'm a LOT more likely to try to help this type of person.

I only wish people would research more. and make good titles I try my best to make good titles so when people search they can find answers.

[tejasmud]

I'm sort of a "newbie."

But, I can relate to this thread.

Found GSR back in 2003-04, joined again last year, and have very few posts.

Thing is, I really don't have any questions. Sorta wierd huh?

I don't have all the answers, but seem to discover many of them in time.

Honestly, everything I have wanted or thought about asking seems to just pop up from reading through the threads. The "search" function works pretty well on this board.

FWIW

I moderate on another board on motorcycles, and yes there are some of the same questions asked repeatedly as the ones here. There is also a bit of "blind leading the blind” as well.

I guess what irks me the most is "sound advice from experience" being ignored, and that path that is usually taken is that of least resistance. When that doesn't work, sometimes the one with the issue returns to the "sound advice," but sometimes pride never allows the truth to come out that, yes, cleaning out the carburetors fixed the problem.

Carburetors could have been cleaned ten minutes ago, but if the tank is rusting away one will still have issues.

One says it is not, this or that, because it has been checked; check it again for good measure. Never hurts, a PITA sometimes, but amazingly it helps sometimes as well.

Sigh…..

This seems to be the nature of technical forums.

What fun would it be if one day we woke up and there were no questions to be answered? LOL

Peace Y’all

Eric

[focus frenzy]

Who invented liquid soap and why?

William Shepphard first patented liquid soap on August 22, 1865. In 1980, the Minnetonka Corporation introduced the first modern liquid soap called SOFT SOAP brand liquid soap. Minnetonka cornered the liquid soap market by buying up the entire supply of the plastic pumps needed for the liquid soap dispensers. In 1987, the Colgate Company acquired the liquid soap business from Minnetonka.

True soaps made from vegetable oils (such as olive oil), aromatic oils (such as thyme oil) and lye (al-Soda al-Kawia) were first produced by Muslim chemists in the medieval Islamic world. The formula for soap used since then hasn't changed. From the beginning of the 7th century, soap was produced in Nablus (West Bank, Palestine), Kufa (Iraq) and Basra (Iraq). Soaps, as we know them today, are descendants of historical Arabian Soaps. Arabian Soap was perfumed and colored, some of the soaps were liquid and others were solid. They also had special soap for shaving. It was sold for 3 Dirhams (0.3 Dinars) a piece in 981 AD. The Persian chemist Al-Razi wrote a manuscript on recipes for true soap. A recently discovered manuscript from the 13th century details more recipes for soap making; e.g. take some sesame oil, a sprinkle of potash, alkali and some lime, mix them all together and boil. When cooked, they are poured into molds and left to set, leaving hard soap. </SPAN itxtvisited="1">

[mark_vaughn]

William Shepphard first patented liquid soap on August 22, 1865. In 1980, the Minnetonka Corporation introduced the first modern liquid soap called SOFT SOAP brand liquid soap. Minnetonka cornered the liquid soap market by buying up the entire supply of the plastic pumps needed for the liquid soap dispensers. In 1987, the Colgate Company acquired the liquid soap business from Minnetonka.

True soaps made from vegetable oils (such as olive oil), aromatic oils (such as thyme oil) and lye (al-Soda al-Kawia) were first produced by Muslim chemists in the medieval Islamic world. The formula for soap used since then hasn't changed. From the beginning of the 7th century, soap was produced in Nablus (West Bank, Palestine), Kufa (Iraq) and Basra (Iraq). Soaps, as we know them today, are descendants of historical Arabian Soaps. Arabian Soap was perfumed and colored, some of the soaps were liquid and others were solid. They also had special soap for shaving. It was sold for 3 Dirhams (0.3 Dinars) a piece in 981 AD. The Persian chemist Al-Razi wrote a manuscript on recipes for true soap. A recently discovered manuscript from the 13th century details more recipes for soap making; e.g. take some sesame oil, a sprinkle of potash, alkali and some lime, mix them all together and boil. When cooked, they are poured into molds and left to set, leaving hard soap. </SPAN itxtvisited="1">

Don't beleive everything you read on Wikipedia.

[jpaul]

I understand why some newbies don't use the search function to dig out the answer to their problems. If they're like me, the search show up 8-10 pages of threads, with each thread taking up 4-5 pages of posts, with 25% of the posts being some wiseass hijack of the thread topic (although I must admit that the wiseass hijacks are often funnier than the jokes in the OT joke thread). If you haven't tracked down a manual yet, are unfamiliar with the GS's, and are trying to get a bike running in between having some kind of life, it can be very time consuming to find some of the answers. It does amuse me a little to see the number of people who don't bother saying what bike they are having a problem with. I guess if it says GS on it, it has to be exactly the same as any bike with GS on it.

[posplayr]

Well here is a perfect example of how NOT TO ASK A QUESTION

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=141444

understand why some newbies don't use the search function to dig out the answer to their problems. If they're like me, the search show up 8-10 pages of threads, with each thread taking up 4-5 pages of posts, with 25% of the posts being some wiseass hijack of the thread topic

Newbee's don't have enough time to do a search and read????, then i should probably choose to ignore those posts as then they hardly have enough time to work on the GS of their desires. They should probably go get a Chinese moped that will run for about 6 weeks.

Simple request for Newbee's in the title is simply state "NTTS (No Time to SEARCH) So here is my Question.....", that will be a clue for me to ignore the thread.

Pos

[tkent02]

I want to modify the frame of my beautiful new GS1000S.
What kind of hacksaw blade should I buy?

[donimo]

I understand why some newbies don't use the search function to dig out the answer to their problems. If they're like me, the search show up 8-10 pages of threads, with each thread taking up 4-5 pages of posts, with 25% of the posts being some wiseass hijack of the thread topic (although I must admit that the wiseass hijacks are often funnier than the jokes in the OT joke thread). If you haven't tracked down a manual yet, are unfamiliar with the GS's, and are trying to get a bike running in between having some kind of life, it can be very time consuming to find some of the answers. It does amuse me a little to see the number of people who don't bother saying what bike they are having a problem with. I guess if it says GS on it, it has to be exactly the same as any bike with GS on it.

This happens every time I search, page after page of hits, then sifting through 1-8 pages for each thread, after about an hour of this my eyes start crossing and I post a new topic.

I have to have my bike running each morning for work, have a 9 month old and a wife that is not into doing all the housework and a bunch of other chores, so I tend to be rushed ALL the time. Not recommended but that is my situation...

[Larry D]

This happens every time I search, page after page of hits, then sifting through 1-8 pages for each thread, after about an hour of this my eyes start crossing and I post a new topic.

I have to have my bike running each morning for work, have a 9 month old and a wife that is not into doing all the housework and a bunch of other chores, so I tend to be rushed ALL the time. Not recommended but that is my situation...

That's exactly why I asked this a few days ago....

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=141035

[earlfor]

I guess the one that most frequently causes me to move on is when someone is having a problem and I list the possible causes in the order they should be checked and although the person doesnt know enough to fix the problem, they do know enough to tell me why everything I suggest is wrong.

Earl

[mark_vaughn]

I am not offended by this thread and I hope no one is offended by this post.

As a "Noob" to this forum I get the feeling that it is the old boys club and "noobs" are not really welcome.

If we already knew the answer then the search function would be much easier to use. And to that point, sometimes I don't even know what the thing I am asking a question about is called. These bikes are close to 30 years old, very few are still completely stock, therefore they we could do the exact same thing on two bikes and have completely different questions. A new thread addresses my problem specifically. It is all about me after all.

In closing, if I am not welcome as a noob, ban me for life and make the forum by invitation only. If that is not the case, lighten up. The forum is not going to run out of room for new posts.

No offence intended and none taken on my part. Just standing up for all the noobs out there.

Flame on.

[tkent02]

I am not offended by this thread and I hope no one is offended by this post.

As a "Noob" to this forum I get the feeling that it is the old boys club and "noobs" are not really welcome.

If we already knew the answer then the search function would be much easier to use. And to that point, sometimes I don't even know what the thing I am asking a question about is called. These bikes are close to 30 years old, very few are still completely stock, therefore they we could do the exact same thing on two bikes and have completely different questions. A new thread addresses my problem specifically. It is all about me after all.

In closing, if I am not welcome as a noob, ban me for life and make the forum by invitation only. If that is not the case, lighten up. The forum is not going to run out of room for new posts.

No offence intended and none taken on my part. Just standing up for all the noobs out there.

Flame on.

That's not it, you are all welcome here.
Just that some posts won't get an answer.
Again.

[Nessism]

The Advance Search function works well. Use the Search Title Only detail to focus the search and avoid wasting as much time getting the info you need.