A vintage Honda owner contacted me. On a popular user forum he is being encouraged to modify his carburetors to solve a severe engine performance problem. I blame forums more than I blame this individual. They should be educating people. That is the de facto place they inhabit. Everyone gravitates to online information, and that is okay. The Internet per se isn't the problem, it's those ostensibly wearing the mantle of authority on those forums. There is a lot of bad thinking out there in powersports. Always has been. It's the disease of "originality of thought". That is, the belief that you the bike owner can outsmart the manufacturer. What utter vile hubris!

Forums' responsibility, implicit in their prominence and promise--that is, people's worship of the 'net--is to correct fallacy, not to endorse and encourage it. And while I tend to not have time for folks who are going to do what they're going to do no matter the advice given, at the same time, I cannot fail to help. I always go out of my way. But forum leaders and influencers should be ashamed of themselves. Shame on you for perpetuating nonsense. Shame on you for "enabling" wrong thinking and mechanical bad practice. Shame on you for misleading the unwary waifs who come to you for help. Shame on you!