® Forums and me


It's no secret I have written a lot of negative things about motorcycle forums and Internet "experts". You might have trouble understanding the issues I contend with, if you haven't training or experience in mechanics. Maybe you're disturbed at what appears to be a war. I probably would be too, if I were you.

But it's not really a war. Not with people anyway. If a war, it's a war of ideas. Ideas matter. In case you weren't aware, life is in fact very accurately characterized by this struggle, this competition in the marketplace of ideas.

I didn't set out to refute virtually everything on forums. I set out to help people understand the reality of Honda technology and maintenance best practice. That there is in fact such a thing as best practice, an idea that is itself, surprisingly, vigorously debated on forums. I discovered that forums are countering virtually every principle I espouse. I did not become the enemy of forums, they made themselves the enemy. Forums are the antagonists, the adversaries, of all who are serious about maintaining their machines properly and who respect the Honda product and Honda technology.

Let me be clear. I have opinions, and more than that, convictions, on many subjects including electric vehicles, politics, education, the English language, computers, US history, music, religion, and a range of social issues--all the usual things people are passionate about. That's normal for any thinking individual. But I don't burden others with them. Why then do I speak my mind about powersports?

Look at my record. I have never been antagonistic, abusive, or arrogant in my forum posts, and only once or twice even very mildly confrontational. I am derisive and dismissive in my website articles, sure, but I have tried hard to exercise restraint on forums. I have never attacked any person, only ideas. Yet if not actually banned I am in effect, as I am in fact shunned and discredited on more than one forum. Why do I expose myself to ridicule and accept being marginalized? Perhaps the investment of a lifetime and more than a half-century in the industry has given me a perspective that can't be quiet about powersports maintenance nonsense. Maybe the willfull destruction by iconoclastic individuals of something dear to me, that has been my lifelong pursuit, I take offense to. Think about it. And while you're thinking, do one more thing. Instead of listening to the ad hominem and the extemporaneous, do this: compare the backgrounds, the experience, the qualifications of those giving advice. Then you will know who to believe.


Suggested further reading on this site:
Biographical
Forum backwardness
Lies from the ether
Real issues
Forums
sohc4.net
Don't touch
Powersports orphans
Enemies
Forums
They hate Honda
Where did the compression go?
Reasons for low compression
Valve recession

Last updated February 2023
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© 1996-2023 Mike Nixon