Back in the early days of the internet, circa 1999-2000 most of the automotive forums had sharp guys who knew their stuff. That's probably why they got on the internet early.

Nowadays, and not just limited to this forum, I see less and less of the knowledgeable guys and more and more brain dead responses from people who don't know jack, assuming they can even communicate in intelligible English. Notwithstanding their basic lack of automotive knowledge, they don't understand 400 year old physics and are challenged by seventh grade math! Maybe it's a reflection of the abysmal decline of education quality over the last 30 years.

It's unfortunate, but as the older Mercs get cheap and change hands, the qualilty of the owners goes down. Bright, knowledgeable, well educated, and experienced people don't normally buy $2500 cars. I saw this happen to Cosworth Vegas a long time ago.

Furthermore, guys won't tap into the vast knowledge base on these forums. There's a sense of entitlement that someone should answer their question so they don't have to spend time searching even though the question may have already been answered a dozen times.

I've quit posting to three forums over the last year or so and am now down to two - this one and the National Corvette Restorer's Society Discussion Board, but I'm not sure if I'll be sticking with this one much longer.

Duke