First... lighten up, Francis. <- Stripes reference.. bonus points!
Second, as a Navy vet (FTB3/SS 5 Patrols) and a Corrections Officer I have skin so thick that Superman himself would have a hard time piercing.
Third, Respect is earned. Not based on your post count, but on your character and how you handle yourself.
Lastly, most people are not in it for the 'long haul'. They get their MV running and stop. Its 'good enough'. Thats about 80% of the MV owners. Then there are the next 15% or so that will not stop still its perfect. These are the hard core collectors that will drive across country just to look at a truck to see what the wiring harness looks like (I've flown to Seattle, driven to Florida, California, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Jersey and points in between just to look at CCKWs and get parts). These people are true backbone of the hobby. This 15% or so passes along the knowledge and enjoy talking about MVs as much as driving or wrenching on them. Then we have the last 5% or so. These are the true nuts. Money is no object to get it right and at least an hour a day is spent in TMs, the Garage or in some sort of research to figure out the EXACT terminal flag used on that harness. These rare people not only devour the information they get a hold of, but turn around and share it with the 80% who don't.
What group are you in? If you are not passing along the information you have, then what good are you? You are a hole. A sink. You consume the work of others without giving back. Look at all the GREAT MV reference sites and the people that run them. Are they the 80%'s that think its good enough that the truck is green or that it runs and (bonus!) stops? Nope. They are the 15% or 5% that eat this stuff for breakfast.
I've been wrong.. I've said some really dumb things (a steering wheel topic comes to mind
) but its called LEARNING. Read any great persons biography and they will all say that they failed at some point. Getting it wrong is part of getting it right. Most people lurk on web site because they don't want to participate and seem foolish for not 'knowing'. The foolish part is NOT PARTICIPATING. If, in the course of getting a CCKW back on the road, or figuring out the mystery of the fuel level sight plug on a carb (or whatever the topic of the day is) I 'break some eggs'... well, tough. You'll still take that information and use it... but then turn around and complain that 'hes a mean person'.
I'm sure you can find a channel where the Teletubbies are on and you can feel good watching them.
