quote:
Originally posted by nick778:
QD, please take this as only constructive criticism but do you have any idea on how you are come off or are being perceived when interacting with others? You certainly appear to be intelligent but I don't understand how you make it through the day without getting mugged if you communicate with people you work with like you do here and/or have to work with other people in accomplishing a common objective. Obviously, no one is perfect and we all have our flaws but I bet if you spent some time in the 'effective communications with others' area, instead of making $250/hr you'd be making $500/hr or more. Just a friendly thought...
Well take this as a constructive reply... ;-)
Im not online to win contests or blow sunshine up butts. If that sounds 'mean' it is only because I have been in the online world too long and realize that behind the anonymity of the web, everyone is a rocket scientist and everyone owns a viper.
that said....if you peruse the posts I contribute to, either they are an answer to a help question, or a challenge to what I call a 'bold assertion'
If you tell me 'Product X gets your whites whiter and freshens your breath more than the leading brand' (which *a LOT* of the posts read, I could substitute "crest" for the actual oil named and make it sound just like the crap on tv) then you will get from me: "How much whiter are the whites?, how much fresher is the breath?, who exactly is this leading brand? and please show your data"
The poster of such bold assertions should at the minimum EXPECT this response and have answers at hand. From the offline email I have been getting, suffice to say, no one asks these questions and the writers are glad for it. Instead of answering the questions, Ill get stuff like 'most people in europe drive porsche carrerras' (ok Im being a little facetious) and I am guilty of taking the time out to refute THAT bold assertion. From the fact that most of my questions are unanswered, I goto my next point:
From my observations, no one here works for the automotive industry such that they design, test, build and or over see production of new motors for sale (worded to exclude indies like myself that do rebuild motors, but essentially are workin on someone elses product.) No one here is also an employee of an oil company such that they design, lab test, formulate etc motor oils for cars and the environments they operate in. Lessons learned on jet engines have little relevance on automobile engines - or so the actual makers of said oils have repeatedly tried to hammer into our heads. In short, we are all collectively as a group, interlopers at best in the industry. Experimenters. Cowboys. It would be nice to see a chief design engineer for GMs LT1 or LS1 append here with 'whys' on what he did what he did and recommends what he recommends, along with a chief lube engineer for Mobils M1 synthetic telling us why he did what he did and what he found in the lab. We dont have that here. We have second guessing as to why what decisions were made. If everyone would understand that, and the imposed limitations of what that leaves us with, there would be less 'war'. For example, if someone asks what they know about taurus tranny failures, I can state they fail due to lack of lube to the planetary gearset, and can point to numerous web pages, both ATRA and 'civilian' and even point to NHTSA data listing reported failures per car sold. That lends credence and a strong correlation to the truth. IF in terms of wear due to differnt oils, if the answer can be no more precise than 'wear has occured when you started it'......well its hard to differentiate whose teeth are whiter no? All I want is "quantifiable" answers. Ive used that word enuf to indicate its a priority. Ive started this thread to try to make it a reality.
On the other hand, when bold assertions are just patently wrong (for example, in a thread, it WAS stated with emphasis that syn oils do not shear - which is false) then I will point that out. premesi based on incorrect data or assumptions can only lead to error downstream. If its arrogant or mean to point them out, then so be it. Questions were asked, the only correct answers are the correct ones - if you understand my wording.
All that said, oil related engine failures (without mitigating circumstances) are so rare today that I will with reasonable confidence say that you have a greater change of being killed in a head on collision with a drunk driver in your car, rather than the motor dying because walmart oil was used with a fram oil filter. I suspect all we are doing is proving the difference between a trillionth of a micron vs a billionth of a micron....but so be it. Of course this would take major wind out of the sales and beliefs of those who push or bet the farm on syn oil....but hey, someone bought chia pets also no ;-)
Since the record shows that I am a varied user of both syn and dino oils..all it will likely do for me is modify my purchasing patterns.