Question for Mike Phillips

[tgfhatch]

Mike, or any other Meguiar's professionals,

What do you guys recommend for others on the website to offer advice to others that post here? I'm just curious cause sometimes I come across posts that don't have any replies or anything but am always hesitate to post up anything, in hopes that I might be slightly wrong or in-correct.

So I was just curious if Meguiar's promotes others to help others or if it should be left to the pros

[Big Corey]

I've been browsing around on here a lot and generally they welcome quite a lot the help of others, but of course if some information is incorrect they'll fix it, but its a good idea

[sneek]

lol ya.... ive made a lot of bad posts.... but they were all corrected

[SiriusRIMZ]

Anyone's input is better than no-input. Give others your opinions even if they are wrong. We're not perfect... but my Jeep's Paint is... hehe

[Don]

Mike has often said: "Each one... teach one," so I guess that would about cover it.

[Mike Phillips]

I use to try to answer every question, or at least chime in on every question but the forum is getting too busy for that most of the time and behind the scenes I'm usually typing my little fingers off on some other project, often times e-mail.

Just to note, e-mail is out of control...

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7270

I do try to run a very tight ship here on MOL and while we certainly encourage all our members to offer their experience and insight, if the information is wrong, or will lead the reader into a potentially bad situation then I'll do my best to point out any component of the information that was posted and where it may not be correct.

I try to do this as diplomatically as possible as the intent is to help everyone, not hurt anyone's feelings or make them look uniformed as there is a lot to know and often times mistakes are made inadvertently.

I have a set of marching orders I have to adhere to regardless of my own opinions, this would include recommending to people to wet-sanding their paint with the goal of removing the sanding marks using a dual action polisher. Meguiar's official position on this is it should not be done and instead removing sanding marks should be done by an experienced professional using a rotary buffer.

Note I never said it couldn't be done, but it's a fact that for the majority of people in the world, trying to sand down their car's paint and then completely remove the sanding marks using only a dual action polisher is asking for trouble. Trouble I don't need nor want. It's a hard enough job to do using a rotary buffer by the way.

Another thing I would point out is our Super Moderator Tim Lingor, aka 2hotford is always insuring continuity of message an information on this forum and if there is ever anything he thinks I should be aware of he is always prompt to notify me.

One more thing, many of our regular members also e-mail me when they see something questionable or inaccurate, so the forum community has a built in method of policing itself now that it has begun to mature...

I for one am grateful and thankful for everyone's help as I can only type so much each day before it's finally time to...

push away from the keyboard...

Like right now....

[Mosca]

When I reply, if I'm unsure that my observation or advice is universal I usually start with the phrase "My experience has been...."

I'm generally unafraid of being corrected. Mike or Tim have corrected several things I've written, and for that I'm grateful. Just because something works doesn't mean it's right. Sometimes it means you were lucky... but usually it just wasn't the best way to get the results. I have no vested interest in being right. I'd rather learn something better. Toward that end, if you have a suggestion, post it. That way you'll find out if what you've been doing to solve the problem is the best way, and if it's not then you'll find out something better.


Tom

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Mosca
When I reply, if I'm unsure that my observation or advice is universal I usually start with the phrase "My experience has been...."

That's a good way to phrase or couch your words, I practice this also as I don't know everything and am always open to learning from others.

I'm generally unafraid of being corrected.

Same here, I'm generally unafraid of being corrected, sometimes I'm embarrassed or my pride is hurt, but as long as I personally deal with it in a mature way, no harm is done, at least no permanent harm and hopefully everyone learns something.

Just because something works doesn't mean it's right. Sometimes it means you were lucky... but usually it just wasn't the best way to get the results.

Very well said Tom, I couldn't have said it better. I think I'll borrow the above from you if you don't mind?

I have no vested interest in being right. I'd rather learn something better. Toward that end, if you have a suggestion, post it. That way you'll find out if what you've been doing to solve the problem is the best way, and if it's not then you'll find out something better.


Tom

Again, very well stated. I actually do have a vested interest in being right, but don't mind making mistakes as long as I learn from them.

Like a friend once told me years ago...

"Nothing happens on a discussion forum overnight that you can't recover from the next day"

His point was bad things can happen and will happen, (and have happened), and as the Admin and Answer Man on a forum like this there is no way all problems can always be avoided all the time. But sooner or later, all problems can be remedied, (Usually the next morning when I get out of bed and get back in the drivers seat )


As far as the above relates to how-to information and how-to techniques posted to this forum, we here at Meguiar's understand that forums are communities of people and the term that best describes the day to day interaction on a forum is, free-wheeling. We do our very best to keep this forum free-wheeling but once in a while the brakes do have to be applied and even then we do our best to apply them gently and carefully.

The most important thing at the end of the day is to insure the information presented on MOL is accurate and works across a wide spectrum of people in the real world.

When someone takes what they've read here on our forum and goes out into their garage and puts what they've learned into action the goal is and must be, success and hopefully even more than that, we want our customers to stand back and look at their results and say to themselves, Wow!, that looks good!

(Sometimes that's hard to do when you're doing something as mundane as cleaning ketchup out of your car's carpet with our carpet cleaner, but I think you get the idea. )

If the information posted to this forum passes the above two tests, then we've done our job.

[roaringlion]

Can i just say thanks heaps Mike, i really do appriciate ALL your help that you have given me the past few weeks