The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre 1954 235 Engine ... (Dallas TX)

Hi Doug -- Let me pile onto the welcoming committee and add my welcome to our forum!

You raise a good point which gives me yet another opportunity to preach -- There *is* a lot of cross-over with the cars -- especially with the drivetrains, etc. And there's a lot of benefit to be had from that cross-pollination. So no one is going to run anyone out just because they have a car, not a truck. We just want to maintain our focus. We are a Truck site. We'll always be glad to share what we know with (and learn from ...) non-truck users of our site without drawing any territorial lines. We're all here to learn and to share what we learn with others (some of us do more learning ... ).

I hope this site is different. Many have worked very hard to make it so. We have few rules and they only serve to maintain the focus -- family friendly knowledge sharing about these old trucks. Disagreements and attitudes are handled as between family -- respectful disagreement is welcomed as it challenges us to do our homework. If we all thought, acted and spoke in unison, it would be as scary a place as if we were constantly bickering and fighting each other over stupid stuff.

Hence, we endeavor to keep our disagreements agreeable, our call outs friendly and respectful -- a well-presented point of view should be respected and considered even if you don't agree with it. Some of our participants here are still working on that ... ... but we are all works in progress and if one can look past the occasionally harsh tone, one can often find a treasure trove of knowledge (and the staff will deal with the overly harsh tone).

So have no fear asking "dumb" questions (ADM Rickover once said that we are all dumb ... except for him, of course ), or that the question might have possibly been asked before (like in 2002 and in an obscure way that would be impossible to find with Search even if you knew what to ask for ,...). So go ahead and ask. It won't kill anyone to answer it again. Might even give a newer user an opportunity to try sharing knowledge.

Oh, speaking of the Search Engine .... some of the people who complain about repeated questions slowing down the search engine are probably the same ones who post windy discussions about trivial matters in the off topic discussion area (The Greasy Spoon ... Just sayin' ... Yes, I see you there ....

We're not perfect. And playing with old trucks is NOT the most important thing we do in life (far from it) But to paraphrase someone waaaaaay wiser than I --- We do not consider ourselves yet to have laid hold of perfecting an old truck discussion forum. But this one thing we do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, we press on toward the goal ... (and there are several, but chief among them is to take care of each other -- people, not trucks, are what is truly important...). I encourage all users (new and old) to embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, great! We will respect that and we keep sharing knowledge as friends and keep these trucks rolling and making ourselves smarter.

Happy Tuesday! Carry on!

John