Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: David_Corbett
It is my thoroughly non-professional opinion that the BITOG disease is, in some cases, obsessive-compulsive disorder or one of its relatives among the other anxiety disorders.
The desire to exhaustively research and analyse all components put into a valued object (a car or truck), even to the point of careful inspection of minute particulars far beyond what is done by an average person, may be a manifestation of non-stereotypical compulsive behaviour intended to alleviate general or specific anxiety that results from said disordered thinking.
I don't mean that as an insult; the line between a geeky hobby and a compulsion would depend on whether it is maladaptive. (And I am speaking from personal experience.)
LoL ... guess that means all engineering type people have that "disorder" to some degree. But then there are those who don't really have an engineering type background with an aptitude to actually make sound decisions (like what oil filter to use) based on engineering principles and facts, so those are probably the ones who actually have the "disorder".
Oh my goodness, not at all. People can pick filters for whatever reason they like. Do blue filters make you happy? Great! So long as buying blue filters doesn't you or anyone else cause any problems, there's no reason to pathologize it at all. If bench racing specs makes you happy, go for it!
It's a problem if you end up paralyzed and unable to decide or if, like the OP, you end up inspecting the minutest particulars of oil filter internal construction because you're convinced that terrible things will happen if you don't.
(Irrationally, of course. If you're a Fram production engineer in charge of centre tube holes and the terrible thing that will happen is that you'll get fired for not doing your job, then that is of course completely reasonable.)
I only bring this up because anxiety disorders are actually very common and affect about a tenth of the population. They are, however, eminently treatable and tend to have very favourable prognoses. And that's my public service announcement
