When you get frustrated with RV forums take a look at the alternatives...

[Biker56]

Oh and there are people not as educated as people here are on the use of PC's particularly older folks.

Wait for it!! What do you consider older folks? Over 50? Over 60? Over 70? Over 80? Over 90?

 

I am past middle 70's and got my first PC back in 97 that had a 6MB hard drive.

Self taught myself how to use it.

When my son that is 25 years younger then me has a problem with his PC. He calls me to fix it.

 

But I do have some friends in there late 60's and 70's that don't even want to learn about one.

As I have offered many times to give them a FREE PC and they always turn it down.

But will take from me a older 36" LCD and DVD I replaced with a newer bigger LED and Blue Ray.

[SandeeAR]

The problem on RV.net is compounded by the fact that they totally prevent people who know anything from posting on what they know. For example, because they know I work for WiFiRanger I am totally forbidden from mentioning the brand by name even if I simply include it in a list of routers with WiFi as WAN capability. As a result, I bypass most of the wifi amplifier discussions.

 

I would Love to see on here or Living the Dream on Facebook, you do. Thread about WIFIRanger. I've researched the page and I'm totally confused. I would love to add it in the near future, but don't have a clue what all I need to get better internet. I'm on AT & T, usually at a COE with only WIFI at the booth. Other times I'm in my daughters yard and can connect to her WIFI some.

[docj]

I would Love to see on here or Living the Dream on Facebook, you do. Thread about WIFIRanger. I've researched the page and I'm totally confused. I would love to add it in the near future, but don't have a clue what all I need to get better internet. I'm on AT & T, usually at a COE with only WIFI at the booth. Other times I'm in my daughters yard and can connect to her WIFI some.

 

Hi Sandee:

 

I don't write Living the Dream so I can't help you there, but I'd be happy to answer any questions you PM me. You mention you are on AT&T but refer to using wifi, so I'm not sure if you're using your phone as a hotspot or not. If a campground has wifi only at an office or booth, sometimes a WiFiRanger (or similar) device can help you receive it at your site, but it's a very much case by case situation and there's no real way to predict in advance if it will work at any specific park. Helping you connect to your daughter's wifi is usually a much easier situation.

 

Joel

[SandeeAR]

Hi Sandee:

 

I don't write Living the Dream so I can't help you there, but I'd be happy to answer any questions you PM me. You mention you are on AT&T but refer to using wifi, so I'm not sure if you're using your phone as a hotspot or not. If a campground has wifi only at an office or booth, sometimes a WiFiRanger (or similar) device can help you receive it at your site, but it's a very much case by case situation and there's no real way to predict in advance if it will work at any specific park. Helping you connect to your daughter's wifi is usually a much easier situation.

 

Joel

Lol I know you don't write Living the Dream. Gotta. Love spell check. I'm not sure where the "you do" came from. Btw, I sent you a PM

[lasttruck]

Here's one for you that I've never heard before and never having towed in Canada, do not know if it is correct.

 

I read a comment on a Facebook group post that was inquiring about keeping the water lines warm while going down the road while towing his travel trailer. The poster asked about leaving his furnace running,

 

A comment stated that in Canada, the propane must be turned off at the tank as that was the law. Thus, no propane would be available for running the furnace.

 

Not something that I have ever seen in print, nor heard about.

 

What say you?

[oscarvan]

Hi, I have a SpaceTraveler 2000.....Which tires do you recommend?

 

Sorry, can't help myself.

 

There is no such thing as a dumb question. There are levels of being knowledgeable, and yes, some people start at the very beginning.

 

Their first question ( a smart one) should be: "How do I start learning about this subject?"

 

Yes some people get into something without doing their home work (like buying a 15 year old class A that has sat in a field for 10 years) and THAT is not smart. Ask the basic questions BEFORE you get into ti.

 

And, a little common sense goes a long way. Playing with electric (especially high voltage) requires some skills and knowledge.....DOH!

 

I'm with Kirk and err on the friendly side, until I realize they don't listen.

[Jack Mayer]

I would Love to see on here or Living the Dream on Facebook, you do. Thread about WIFIRanger. I've researched the page and I'm totally confused. I would love to add it in the near future, but don't have a clue what all I need to get better internet. I'm on AT & T, usually at a COE with only WIFI at the booth. Other times I'm in my daughters yard and can connect to her WIFI some.

Sandee, the very best resource for you is The Mobile Internet Handbook. It will explain your mobile options to you better than anything else out there that I know of. You might also find my website helpful, but frankly the book is more basic and easier to digest. Disclosure: I wrote a chapter for the book, but I get nothing from it.

 

I do cover the WiFiRanger on my website. LInk in my signature.

[Tex Bigfoot]

When wife and I working for dealers selling RV's at RV shows we were asked all kinds of stupid questions. The thing is some folks have no idea what kind of questions to ask. They know nothing about RV's so how can they ask a reasonable question. Now maybe each and every one of us were outstanding researchers and never had to ask a stupid question. Yes I see some really dumb questions asked on the Facebook forums but they are not really dumb these folks are just not as smart as everyone here. There are really no stupid or dumb questions these are folks trying to learn. They just sound dumb or stupid because we are so "censored " smart. If we do not want to be bothered ignore the posting. Or try to help.

 

Oh and there are people not as educated as people here are on the use of PC's particularly older folks.

I've been lurking and reading this thread ( its been entertaining and somewhat educational to boot).

But regarding this one statement I just cant help it . There are no dumb questions but there are sure some dumb answers to those questions.......at least on the other sites . I may have got some snippy answers on this site ( that's ok by me)but the info has always been dead on.

[Barbaraok]

I tried the FB groups - it is just about impossible to follow the threads - there is no organization as to topic grouping, but the saddest part is that some of the information being given is down right dangerous and people don't seem to care that they are giving dangerous information - especially about electricity (i.e., such you can plug right into the dryer plug in the garage!) I had a feeling there was a lot of 'blind leading the blind' type of thing going on, lots of 30-40 yr olds so more focus on stationery living and working, not the explore the country following the sun. Just my impressions from a couple of days looking.

 

Barb

[Tex Bigfoot]

 

 

You can read the whole messy thing here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ftrving/976763255672033/?comment_id=976826982332327&notif_t=like

 

This not and RV question but I think relevant to this thread at least. When I click on this link it asks me to log in to Facebook.

 

Is there a way to read Facebook posts without joining Facebook? The reason I ask is ,at one time I was talked into joining Facebook by a buddy of mine. Within two days psychotic crazy wife number 1 ( had not heard from her in 25 years) found me and just knew that I would leave wife number 2 for her again.

 

Needless to say no more Facebook for me but from time to time I would like to read some of the things I here about on there.

[docj]

 

 

 

You can read the whole messy thing here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ftrving/976763255672033/?comment_id=976826982332327&notif_t=like

 

This not and RV question but I think relevant to this thread at least. When I click on this link it asks me to log in to Facebook.

 

Is there a way to read Facebook posts without joining Facebook? The reason I ask is ,at one time I was talked into joining Facebook by a buddy of mine. Within two days psychotic crazy wife number 1 ( had not heard from her in 25 years) found me and just knew that I would leave wife number 2 for her again.

 

Needless to say no more Facebook for me but from time to time I would like to read some of the things I here about on there.

 

 

Some FB pages can be accessed without being a FB member; most cannot. Businesses often create public pages that anyone can visit, but most personal pages require that you be a member. Since FB groups can only be joined by FB members there is no reason for them to be accessible to non-members. Sorry.

[Tex Bigfoot]

Docj

 

thank you

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

I'm reading this thread as well Kirk's comments in another about encouraging newbies to RVing, and remembering all to well why I stopped posting for many years, yet still followed this as well as other forums. FWIW:

 

Remembering back when I first signed up for a forum many years ago. I didn't post more than a couple of messages, as was made to feel intimidated and being "stupid" as some have put it by some of the more mature forum members. I then became a lurker for very many years, afraid to post until I matured in travels, and to accept that there are just folks out there that will respond in such a manner, yet overall the family interaction on a forum like this as you get more involved is wonderful.

 

I've been at times made to think I am "stupid" and received even an odd private derogatory message, causing me on more than one occasion to delete my personal information and the post, which is sad, as I know there are others out there that have the same lack of knowledge at times. If we all knew everything about everything, then no skilled person would ever have a job.

 

It's easy for those of us that now know certain things due to research, knowledge, experience, practice and having questions kindly answered by some caring others to forget that once upon a time we didn't know what we now take as a natural everyday obvious. The only questions in my book that are stupid are the ones we don't ask, cos you don't know what you don't know!

 

I can't thank enough people like BarbOK, Dave O, Kirk, Stanley, Chad Heiser (wonderful helping me with our solar install), and several others, if I missed you I apologize, for being kind enough to private message me when feeling again afraid to put certain things I didn't understand out on the public forum after the initial post. It's really interesting the different personalities and how one person perceives a question one way by a poster and another differently. Some have patience, some don't, some respond abruptly others more delicately, some go around the houses, some are bullet direct = as with all things in life. I have pm'd or emailed as instructed certain folks when told to by a responder to an OP, and when not heard back from that person not pursued based on maybe interpreting their other responses to some in the forums wrongly - maybe they didn't receive the email???

 

I recall reading on another forum somewhere about the drudgery of same questions being asked over and over again every 3 or 4 years. Whilst I do advocate folks doing a search, these don't always pull up as detailed the info that sometimes the OP is seeking specific to their needs. If we all stopped posting something that's been answered over the past decade or two, there'd be next to zero posts and the forums would die as I've evidenced with a lack of Canadian specific RVing forums. Also how often have we read a new OP and thought "hmmmm, I forgot about that, or I must do that/check into that etc". One of the biggies that many respond negatively to is when folks ask about budgets, I'm not saying on this forum but some others I've seen it often - the thing is with budgets referencing folks back to outdated 10 years ago ones doesn't help them, especially with costs having risen so exponentially in recent years on food, utility's CG's etc. Not all folks do spend as much as they did when in their SnB's on food etc (many years ago working 3 jobs, we ate out more at home, than we ever did when travelling having the time to relax and cook). For someone starting out and trying to reach their dream of FTing, the more specifics the better, to help them relate to what they'd likely do or need.

 

Just saying from a newbie and even not so newbie perspective, it's often easier to be a lurker and only get half your answers resolved than sometimes made to feel a bit of an idiot, whether it's intentional or not. That's why you will always see a hugely high ratio of guests versus members on most forums - after they read some of the posts that almost degrade some of the other posters on occasion, it does make you hold back from posting yourself or becoming a member. Of course we are all different personalities with different perspectives and expectations

[skp51443]

This forum is pretty basic in features and options and the search tool is weak, all of that contributes to a less than ideal user experience.

 

The search can be worked around by using Google and adding the site:rvnetwork.com option to the searches. Other search tools might offer something similar.

 

 

The community part really can't be solved with the current software package, folks get no feedback from the forum members on other users aside from reading their posts. Other forum software packages offer a lot more feedback and are really effective in identifying the folks to pay attention to and ones to ignore.

 

The pfSense forum offers Thanks, Applaud and Smite buttons and a Karma score:

 

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=86329.0

 

My profile there:

 

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?action=profile;u=233167

 

 

Ubiquity forums offers Kudos and Solutions:

 

http://community.ubnt.com/t5/EdgeMAX/EdgeRouter-Pro-GUI-WAN/m-p/1141315#U1141315

 

MY profile there:

 

http://community.ubnt.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/189935

[Barbaraok]

What we need are some "sticky" FAQs dealing with come problems/questions that reoccur year after year.

 

Barb

[skp51443]

Someone could kick off writing some FAQs, maybe in the About forum. Once they get input from others and are nicely polished report them to the admins and ask them to make the final version a sticky in the proper forum.

 

I posted an old draft I was fooling with here:

 

http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=115189

 

If folks want to work on that one or on any other topics I'll be happy to chip in.

[Jimalberta]

I agree with Barb....stickys are a good thing.

[skp51443]

Stickies are good but they don't write themselves, I got some good feedback on my attempt above and I hope to get more but the lack of interest so far has convinced me that the next attempt to do a sticky post will be by someone else. I will help with it but I'm not doing it, too many other irons in the fire.

[yzg]

What we need are some "sticky" FAQs dealing with come problems/questions that reoccur year after year.

 

Barb

X2 on that....

[budeneighe]

1. People are not naturally structured thinkers and depend a lot on their intuition, feelings, habits and fears to trigger confidence in their understanding. Some find this so unsettling as to be a phobia of sorts about asking questions. This relegates them to only asking when they are drowning in a problem or dilemma and then about all they can say is "Help!". At this point, it is very difficult to engage intellect and analytical thinking and without that just about the only thing that such a person will accept is a 1-2-3 step process. Generally, more than 5 steps and they are thrown back into emotional chaos.

2. The sheer quantity of information that is available about RVing is completely intimidating for most people that have not already developed a stepwise approach to understanding new things. The enthusiast will eagerly drill down into all available info. Their partner may shy away from learning anything new… until a problem develops.

Presenting curious folks with solutions is like the "teaching to fish" versus "just feeding him". To survive it is necessary to learn to fish. I think it would be more help to develop an apprentice strategy for growing new RVers into the forums. In most cases, a template could be used to structure the process so no one has to feel intimidated. Instead, they can feel that they are in a large virtual classroom rather than being an outsider trying to figure out how to not ask "stupid" questions.

It is not all that hard to help people once they have practiced the basics of "how to be helped". Key in this process is the terminology or jargon RVers commonly use. A very important following facet is to be able to structure useful questions. Often, answering an ambiguously stated question with a targeting question will help focus the query. Practicing this process will develop a habit of forming better questions.

Here is a suggested outline to guide the development of an educating process to help people learn better techniques to help themselves and to seek assistance when necessary:

1. What they need to know
   1. Terminology
      1. How to get it

      2. How to use it

1. How to find Resources
   1. Where

   2. What

2. Who

How to search for answers

1. In Hardcopy

2. Online

Through People

1. What they need to do Online:
   1. Describe their quest as a question
      1. Make it as terse as possible

2. Enter it into a Google Search

Actually READ the abstracts even if you don't understand them.

1. Reading these will build your vocabulary and start connecting the dots. One cannot skip this step or they cannot be helped because they will not grasp the essence of neither the problem or the solution.

Refine the Query and search again

1. Rinse/Repeat until
   1. A glimmer of what is important starts to form

   2. One or more answers are on or close to what is being sought

2. A better search string is conceived. Then try it

What they should ask People:

1. For perspective

2. For specifics

For resources they can use

For assistance once they are able to describe what they are after.

[ijitterbug]

Well, from a purely "objective" viewpoint, it does seem that the overwhelming majority of the "RV experts" who post many of those totally inane statements on many of those "other: forums profess to be attributed to knowledge, must ascribe to the letters of intellectual achievement... We all know of course
what BS stands for, and naturally MS represents "more of the same" and the highest level, the Phd, just means piled higher and deeper. But, that is just my opinion.... I prefer to garner my
information from those who have "been there and done that"...

[bigjim]

Some of those folks really know what they are talking about and have experience so I sure won't rule them out but even some laymen can lead you down the primrose path without a kiss. Just like any other situation you can't alway tell the good guys from the bad guys without a scorecard.

[budeneighe]

Yep. It's all about forming your own perspective and that usually means taking everything with a grain of salt until you have your own sense of the issue and the suggestions. It's about like trying to teach someone to use a computer by just telling them "push this key. Now push this key. Now push this key." Without perspective developing it will be their life forever after.

[oscarvan]

This forum is quite pleasant and more civilized than many. We're doing just fine. Lets pop a cold one and relax.