When To Post

[Vodkaman]

Many people believe that you should not answer a question unless you are an authority on that particular subject. I am expecting a few comments on this thread to this effect and they will put forward valid points in their favor. I just happen to disagree and here is my argument:

I am a designer by profession. Usually the items that I am paid to design, I have never even seen let alone worked on before. I spent 25 years designing aircraft, yet I have never been a pilot. Half of that time was spent on military fighter aircraft; hawk and EFA (Typhoon). I designed the wings, leading edge slats, fuel tanks, FDR and CVR installations, chaff and flare defense systems, even ejector seats. I was not an expert on these systems, in fact in most cases a complete novice.

Another example - it was a Saturday morning, when designers are allowed to bring their sons in to the office to see what they do. We were having a design meeting around a table of drawings, brainstorming a problem and getting nowhere. The boss turned to this 9yo boy and asked him what he thought. He suggested that we should turn one part through 180 degrees with a slight change, it would work. Lots of the designers started an 'are but' comment, but could not find a reason why it would not work, and that modification was incorporated into the design.

My rather lengthy and winded point, is that often a fresh approach to an old problem can often open our eyes to different solutions and new ideas. As Pete would say, "You have to think outside the box".

So my opinion is; if you have an idea on a subject, post it.

What is your opinion?

Dave

[JRammit]

This is a tackle building forum, a place people come to discuss different techniques and meathods for building tackle

Everyone has their own way of doing things, if their way didn't work, they wouldn't be doing it

At the bottom of the forum page it says we have over 21,000 members... That means there are over 21,000 ways to do over 21,000 things... To think only a handful of them are worthy is narrow minded

There are plenty of good videos and articles on Google and YouTube about lure making.... But I believe you learn more here on TU because of the interaction....

I say post away!.... Without discussions, it would not be a forum

[Jig Man]

A fine example on here is a recent topic about bait keepers.  There were 3 or 4 different ways to get to the same end.  I combined 2 of them to get to where I wanted to be with those.  That's why I use this site.  There seem to be lots of ways to skin a cat and I like to read them all.

[Vodkaman]

Jig Man - good example. That thread kicked off a few ideas in my head too. I had to go buy a can of beer to get the raw materials. My initial idea didn't work, but there is more to try.

Dave

[RayburnGuy]

JR brought up a good point. When you have over 21000 members you have over 21000 personalities. No matter how hard you try your never going to please everyone even a small percentage of the time. The very best you can hope for is that we can at least be open to, and tolerant of, other peoples opinions and ideas.

 

just my

 

Ben

[Travis]

I have no problem with people posting ideas.  For me the issue is  (not politically correct) advice that is just poor to being completely wrong.  Fine to have bad advice but lets point it out when it shows up.   We can put: In my experience, It works for me, etc.. and any other catch phrase commonly accepted in today's society of PC feelings but it doesn't make it right.  I already think that the most likely useful resources (those with vast amounts of experience, know how, and real world application) abstain from active participation on the site because of just not wanting to deal with much of it.   Others are too nice or just don't care to point out that XYZ advice is bad.  Yes many ways to do something but bottom line some ways are piss poor, stupid, and lack any merit.  Having an open mind and thinking outside of the box are great and should be encouraged but frankly that isn't an all encompassing zone.  This isn't kids sports it is ok to have losers and winners and some advice is just bad. 

 

A guy showed up to roof your house and was going to use a stick to drive the nails is an idiot.  Anyone that hired them to do so or followed their lead is an idiot.  Does it work yes but to give it as advice as an acceptable way to approach roofing a house is foolish.  There is usually only a handful of good methods to skin that cat the other 1000's methods (while also work) are poor methods that no one should strive to use. 

[dlaery]

Opinions and advise are different. I have made suggestions of accomplishing a task as the way I would do it and some have thought my suggestions was

"piss poor, stupid, and lack any merit. "  and I had done this very task many times with success and would do it again and again with no problems. I made this suggestion to a friend of mine and he tried it and it was a disaster,     exactly like was was commented here that my suggestion wouldn't work.

What works for some doesn't work for others. Dave is looking for ideas to get the juices flowing to come up with better ideas. I like this approach and we use it here daily. As Travis has pointed out, ideas can become bad advice, Or when you know it is bad advice what do you do. Its hard to do what Rayburn guy about "being tolerant of, other peoples opinions and ideas"

Well with the fear of rejection, some people will not make any suggestions, good or bad.

the one that gets me is, "Why would you do it that way?" I tell I didn't know any better

[JRammit]

Im a sucker for a good analogy... But in my time here i don't think I've read any advice bad enough to fit the roofing nail story above

The closest i can recall was a thread of my own... I thought i had a good idea cause it worked great twice.. But the third time was not a charm.. And Travis was quick to point it out.... Had he not, i would still be pumping a dry well

I usually dissagree with you Travis, but i still like having you around..... When everyone else is trying to be nice, i can always count on you to be honest

Like when you have a big booger hanging out of your nose.. Most of your friends are to shy to say anything.. But thankfully you have that one friend who will always tell you

[Vodkaman]

Travis has a good point, and one that I intended to include in my first post, but forgot. An indicator of the level of reliability of the advice.

If the advice is a personal opinion then say so.

If the advice is untested then say so,

and so on.

If anyone thinks that the advice is poor, then yes, something has to be said. BUT just calling an idea 'bad' is going to start a war. Reasons, explanations, safety issues etc. have to be pointed out in the statement. Constructive criticism is always right way to go and will prevent members from wasting their time and effort.

Dlaery also makes a good point - sometimes the technique offered works for you and does not for someone else.

I have just recently had a similar issue with one of my techniques that another member could not get to work. Fortunately, that member had tenacity and was prepared to try a few more attempts, and with lots of email communication he got it to work.

I had confidence in the technique because I had thoroughly tested it and a couple of other members had adopted the technique and even developed it further.

Dave

[RayburnGuy]

I totally agree Dave. If you see a post that contains questionable advice then say so, but offer an explanation of why it's bad advice. That way everyone learns something and you'll get a much better reaction than if you just tell someone their idea is stupid.

 

As far as how many ways there are to skin a cat I've always believed there are lots of ways to do different tasks. If people didn't try different things there would be no advancement in the craft and new technology, tools, techniques, materials, etc. would be useless because everyone would be stuck in the same rut doing the same thing as everybody else.

 

I don't think anyone on this site intentionally gives bad advice. This is supposed to be a community where everyone tries to help each other. We have members from all over the world who may, or may not, have access to the same tools, materials and so forth as people from other parts of the world. If someone doesn't have a source for certain materials is he, or she, an idiot for trying to figure out a different way of accomplishing a task so that they end up with the same end product as everyone else? This is what I meant by having tolerance of other people. You can call it being politically correct, or whatever you want, but it's much more satisfying trying to help someone than it is to criticize them. At least for me.

 

just my ..........take it for what it's worth

 

Ben

[Travis]

I don't think anyone intentionally gives bad advice either just it happens.  Explanations would be helpful or links to the prior discussion concerning the topic when it applies.   I don't think I have ever come across anyone not being tolerant of an individual that didn't have the same tools/means.  I can't think of too manky times (can think of a few guys) that were essentially ran off but I don't think too many tears were shed in those instances.  

[BobP]

I've seen posts from newbies about building crankbaits that turned out to be novel, excellent ideas.  Some of the stuff we do as hobby builders is experimentation and that is done by every builder, experienced or not.  A newbie may not realize that his idea has been tried before and failed, or that there may be another solution that works better.  Helping him out is one big reason TU exists.  But within the TU community, THANKFULLY, there is not universal agreement on exactly how to build a crankbait, no matter the level of experience of the guys participating in a thread discussion.  The differences are what make it interesting and useful as far as I'm concerned.

 

I say if you have an opinion, post it.  If you haven't been hammered at some point for a bad or incorrect idea, you simply aren't trying hard enough.

[HookUp]

First, I let the fish tell me if I have a bad idea, not the internet.

 

Next, and I apologize in advance if anyone takes offence, but I believe that forums such as this are places where people with like interests come together & share.  I've learned allot from forums, and continue to search for pearls that would help me in catching fish.

 

All to often, I see posters who post something, then either a lurker or another poster "steals" the idea then runs to the marketplace with it, and the original poster gets upset.

 

I started building tackle way before the internet got famous and if I wanted to copy a design, I'd buy it, then if it worked, reproduce it.  I believe that plagiarism is the most sincere means of flattery.

 

If someone has a design they do not want to see copy it, why post it?  But then, why sell it?  

I build tackle as a hobby and am not in the business.  I'll share just anything I learn, but do tend to keep my honey holes on the water close to my vest.