Stovebolt.com Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk C'mon gang!

A little help please?

Especially all of you with 4 or 5-digit post counts....

How many times have we dealt with the following questions over the years ???

"How much is my truck worth?"
"How much will my insurance be?"
"How do I get titled/registered in ____________ (fill in state name)?"

Do the answers ever change??

No. They do not.

And you all KNOW IT.

These questions are all subjective and based on variables we have no knowledge of that it is impossible to provide useful answers to the OPs other than that *they* have to go to their state DMVs, insurance companies or start perusing classifieds and auction results (as appropriate). *They* have to climb the appropriate mountains to seek the gurus thereupon for their own answers.

While I feel compassion for the OPs in these matters, we do them a disservice by dragging these conversations out with personal anecdotes, conjecture, dated experiences and the like. Sure, we like to commiserate, and we've all been there. But are we really helping if, in all this flurry of gabbing, we give bum gouge to an innocent info seeker by leading them off into pointless rabbit holes?

How about we all discipline ourselves to actually provide the only *good* info we can in these matters? Let's skip the bloviation and direct them straight to the right info source(s) for these common questions.

Thank you.

It is not only this site. I see it all over Facebook. I often wonder the motive of someone asking what their truck or car is worth. Do they really want someone to tell them? How can they trust the answer?

Do your research of other vehicles in your category and start there.
Call two or three insurance providers, only they can tell you how much insurance will cost.
Call or stop by your local county clerks office. They can tell you the process. We all know it varies by location.

Good point John.

Forum meaning today:
A place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.

Forum meaning historical:
The scene of public meetings, law courts, and gladiatorial combats in republican times and was lined with shops and open-air markets.

Stovebolt's word sparring reminds me of geriatric gladiatorial combats. I often find it hilarious. So "forum" is an appropriate label.

As long as information is freely shared and with Stovebolt's reputation for helpful information, people of Chevy truck connection will come to this forum.

Go visit the forum of late 40's lead sleds with flat sixes. Notice the silence. Most of these cars have gone to the crusher-recycler.

Just be thankful for what we have however imperfect.

No one is not thankful. The subject here is narrow. The point has been reached to stop these long conversations which do not lead to an answer. Just someone looking for a pen pal or a more nefarious cause. There are other questions we see over and over but are more technical and hands on and working-on-a-truck stuff. The issues John mentions should be transferred to greasy spoon. The Stovebolt Search database is full of the endless posts John speaks of.

1. Appraisal is subjective even if you examine the vehicle. Appraisal in a forum is ridiculous. Old trucks CAN NOT be appraised by anyone or any company. Just a buyer and a seller on a given day in a given location. Lets don't argue about that. If you buy it we will help you work on it. If you sell it you will know what it's worth.
2. Insurance: obvious. call your agent
3. Title: obvious. call your DMV. We are not going to help you interpret or circumvent your local law.
These are all personal day to day problems. John has reached a point that he is asking for it to stop. Pretty simple. Been pretty patient for many years. It won't stop anyone from coming to this forum.

So here I am streching this post. I need to go back to the bar where my focus group hangs out.

The moderator can regulate discussion by chastisement or removal.
A membership fee may be a good way to discourage newbie frivolous questions.

I was once a newbie with frivolous questions. At the time, I had no website searching skills. I am certainly grateful that I was not discouraged by anyone. Instead I was treated with grace and often encouraged to check the search feature and was supplied with key search words to find many answers to my query.
I do understand Johns concerns, and share them, about how we get into the weeds which ends up not helping newbies with their questions, but instead cause them more confusion.
Those of us who know things (or think that we do ), need to keep John's concerns in mind.
I am not comfortable putting this on the ones asking the questions, especially those brand new to the site.

Could something be put together in the form of a tech tip, or maybe even a sticky thread at the top of the forum page, laying out the basic answers to these questions as John and Bart have outlined above? Then when someone asks the questions, they can be gently referred to that thread, without having to re-hash the same old stuff over and over.
Just a thought.

I believe I did get off track and made it seem as if I was speaking to a potential poster. I meant to be speaking to who John was asking for help. The Gang. Us, Me included. To not go on and on.......and give the poster a quick referral to X Dept/X Resource. Martin is the only one who does that correctly.
But he is the Fuzz.

A forum like this is no different than a water cooler or the local country store 8AM coffee group.

People ask questions, people discuss things. It's the way it should be regardless of the topic. Best way for a forum like this to die is to begin berating people for what you consider to be a dumb question.