Tips for New Forum Folks

[Fcnrwy]

I HATE cursive and I couldn't be happier that it's on the verge of extinction. I grew up in the 1980's and we were told in school every year that our generation was entering the computer age. Then why the hell were they still teaching us to write like some damn aristocrat?

I haven't written anything in cursive except for my signature since I graduated high school in the early 90's.

Ya, now a days.. it's...


WTF, IMHO, IYKYK, 404, TTYL, 2MORO, LOL
Wait!! Let Me get my Code Book...

ALL kidding aside...
FYI.

Last month, Jim Moylan passed away, at the age of 80. He was a long-time FORD engineer.
Back in 1986, after trying to gas-up his rental car in the pouring rain... He came upon an idea...

He sent the following memo to Corp.

A few years later....

Soon, ALL Car Manufacturer's were using... the "Moylan Arrow".

And Now You Know... The Rest of the Story.

Jerry

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[CurtisB]

I have never had an issue finding something with the search function. I think the biggest issue is that most people don't actually know how to use the search function properly. When doing a search many people use way too many words. Also if you click the box for "Search Titles Only" it severely narrows down results. 99.9% of the time I find exactly what I'm looking for by doing that. And on the rare occasion I can't find results that way I go to Google.

I'll try that next.

 

[Malort]

Or, new members can just keep asking what the slot is for. The good helpful members will give them an answer, the search feature/owners manual nazis will belittle them, and most member, myself included, will scroll on by.

 

[Blue_Max]

I never found it to be quicker, and most people writing in cursive were sloppy and it took longer to read. But that's not even the point. The point is who even writes anymore? Everything is typed on computers and now phones. What would be the benefit of teaching cursive in school these days? Do it just because that's the way it used to be and we can't adapt to change? They aren't going to actually use cursive in their every day lives and it will be just another thing they were forced to learn for no valuable reason only for them just to completely forget about it.

I write all the time. I'm a note taker by nature, and I scribble much faster than I can type. But hey, if you don't like it, how dare anyone else learn it!

Education isn't anywhere near exclusively about things you use every day.

Why teach anything that requires discipline and practice? AI can do everything. Why do we even need school? Just give everyone a phone and let the phone figure it out.

 

[MaverickDragon]

Tips for new members:
Beware of writing in cursive because some people don't like it, and some have trouble reading it, and others find it a waste of time learning it, even though you can't use it on this forum unless you import a picture of your post from some other source editor, which might happen.. or not.

Just a summation that would also align with the on topic thread admonition, which happens to us all at some point...

 

[Art Vandelay]

I write all the time. I'm a note taker by nature, and I scribble much faster than I can type. But hey, if you don't like it, how dare anyone else learn it!

Education isn't anywhere near exclusively about things you use every day.

Why teach anything that requires discipline and practice? AI can do everything. Why do we even need school? Just give everyone a phone and let the phone figure it out.

Now you're just being silly and it seems like you're arguing just because you want to be right. So lets waste time teaching kids to write in cursive, which by the way they won't even use when in school. In NYS state anyway, the kids do all reports, essays, etc on their Chromebooks. They are using a tool that will actually help them prepare for the real world. I'm a child of the 80's, over 50 years old and not some millennial and I'm able to see that we need to adapt to change. I love the old days too before the internet but I accept those days are gone.

Teaching kids something like cursive in 2026 would be like insisting that they learn to type on a typewriter. There is absolutely no use for cursive in todays world. I don't even know any adults my age who still write in cursive.

Plus if any kid today wants to learn cursive there is nothing stopping them. I got books for my kids when they were in grade school because they said they wanted to learn. The books had pages and pages of practice examples. My oldest gave up after one day and my youngest was into it for a few years until about 5th grade when she got bored with it. Nothing is stopping them from learning it at home as a hobby,

 

[Art Vandelay]

Tips for new members:
Beware of writing in cursive because some people don't like it, and some have trouble reading it, and others find it a waste of time learning it, even though you can't use it on this forum unless you import a picture of your post from some other source editor, which might happen.. or not.

Just a summation that would also align with the on topic thread admonition, which happens to us all at some point...

I suppose I could have used better words than to say I hated cursive. I tried to make a strong point but it seems to have upset some people stuck in the past.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Ya, now a days.. it's...


WTF, IMHO, IYKYK, 404, TTYL, 2MORO, LOL
Wait!! Let Me get my Code Book...

ALL kidding aside...
FYI.

Last month, Jim Moylan passed away, at the age of 80. He was a long-time FORD engineer.
Back in 1986, after trying to gas-up his rental car in the pouring rain... He came upon an idea...

He sent the following memo to Corp.

A few years later....

Soon, ALL Car Manufacturer's were using... the "Moylan Arrow".

And Now You Know... The Rest of the Story.

Jerry

I was just reading about that the other day on Autopian. I couldn't believe that I never had an idea that Ford was the first manufacturer to use that arrow. And what a simple brilliant idea its was.

 

[Bob zimmerman]

I dunno, is this forum so complicated that we need to give instructiosn to new members on how to use it? I mean, I figured it out and I’m not a Phd. Oops did I use an acronym? Do I have to spell it out.

I didn’t know what EB meant when I first joined but I figured it out pretty quick.

Bob

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

I ask for patience with the newbies. You were a n00b once too.

except for when a newbies very first post on the forum is "What's the biggest size tire I can put on my Maverick?"... nope... no patience, no mercy extended.... in fact appropriate response is an unannounced direct punch to the throat followed-up by an unexpected knee to the groin...

okay.. we all know that I'm kidding here, right? mostly.....

 

[MaverickDragon]

I suppose I could have used better words than to say I hated cursive. I tried to make a strong point but it seems to have upset some people stuck in the past.

Choice of words.. There are always choices. You're entitled to your opinion.
BTW - Are you an architect, or a marine biologist, and is your name George...

To me, it just seems that a discussion on the benefits or lack of same with cursive writing is a left turn off the new member tips highway that doesn't end up anywhere interesting.
(Any members of the educational community for standards implementation out there?)

Maybe a rousing discussion on the qwerty keyboard, developed to make it more difficult for high speed touch typists to jam their machines has even more ongoing relevance.
Why should today's students be forced to type on a keyboard layout designed for inefficiency?

Much like the cursive topic, a forthcoming change is unlikely as a direct result of either discussion, and neither seem to be especially relevant to those joining the forum.
I could be wrong.
On the positive front, there is little cursive to be found on site, although virtually all posts are typed on qwerty keyboards.
Happy New Year.

 

[MaverickMark]

New peeps, be prepared!
Sum of us old geezers are pretty cantankerous.

When Chuck Norris goes in the ocean, he doesn't get wet. The ocean gets Chuck Norrised.

 

[Chops]

I dunno, is this forum so complicated that we need to give instructiosn to new members on how to use it? I mean, I figured it out and I’m not a Phd. Oops did I use an acronym? Do I have to spell it out.

I didn’t know what EB meant when I first joined but I figured it out pretty quick.

Bob

PhD or Ph.D. spelled out is philosophiae doctor. Had to do a search for that one

 

[Eggflipper]

Well, the thread branched off on cursive with its merits and demerits. Now, onto something different. How about that dial shifter, huh….huh??!! BEGIN!!

 

[MaverickDragon]

except for when a newbies very first post on the forum is "What's the biggest size tire I can put on my Maverick?"... nope... no patience, no mercy extended.... in fact appropriate response is an unannounced direct punch to the throat followed-up by an unexpected knee to the groin...

okay.. we all know that I'm kidding here, right? mostly.....

Very difficult to implement either action via a keyboard....

Unless people are required to take a forum use test prior to using the forum, it's just a bit naive to expect them to know much about how a forum can be most effectively used.

There is always that option to ignore a post and let someone else be helpful.

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