My grading is seasonal, so unless it snows in the off season I sit home. When the daughter is at school, I jump between here and Facebook, and the weather Network. I spend some time on YouTube watching machines ( guess I don't get enough of it in he summer ) I can never resist the comments section. There is a learning curve to everything, and some get it and some don't. It amazes me how quick some people jump down some guys throat about his methods. But what gets me is how a lot of them have never sat in the seat. Sometimes I can't help but call these guys out just for the fun of it. I remember a video of some guy ditching with a hoe. Doing nice work, not his first time. This punk comes on and starts calling him down because he was digging over the side of his tracks. That's the thing with the internet I guess, everyone can do everything hiding behind a keyboard.
Youtoob comments are stinkier than any old septic tank. The trolls never sleep there, and ignoring the crap ones is the only thing keeping me sane. You're not alone being dumbstruck by the stupidity presented there. Greyson
My issue is that people will say things to someone on these forums that they wouldn't have the guts to say in person.....
I've only commented ONCE on a utube video and didnt have the heart to do it on the open forum so I emailed the guy.. The poor guy was trying REAL HARD to build an injection pump on his OLD Oliver 77.. the guys name is Steve something.. Theres about 100 episodes.. I HAD TO write the poor guy & tell him to watch out for this & that and some of the correct procedures.. I honestly thought it was a "JOKE VIDEO" at first.. then I kept watching and said, oh crap, this guy is REALLY trying to do it like that.. He went back and amended some of his procedures and gives me a "plug" or 3 for helping him out w/ procedures and terminology. My question is, why the hell would you video yourself, as a teaching video, when you have ABSOLUTLY NO IDEA how something comes apart or goes back together?? Ego?? I watch some of the injection pump " repair" videos when I need a laugh..
I really hate auto correct. I never comment negatively on someone's work. I do get sparked if I give my opinion, and I am told I am stupid.
I guess I never paid that much attention to the comments in YouTube. Probably a good thing. I thought the "Joystick or rack" and "Hillary or Donald" back and forth on FB was bad enough. Honestly, the comments on the internet aren't much different to the earful I get at the coffee shop if I have a rainout day. And usually they come from 80 year olds.
I've got a neighbor that's just started running a grader for a township. Nice enough young man, high 30s. When he asks for advice I offer it. He then argues all the reasons he wouldn't do it like that. Then I later go check on his work and he's doing it like I suggested. When I started I visited with an elderly neighbor that had been running graders for 30 years. He started on pull type graders. I've got the last one he ran. I remember in the beginning I said to him that I didn't know how to start making a ditch. He started talking about the toe and heel of the blade. I had to stop him and let him know I didn't know which was which. I started on a Cat 12F. Asked him for suggestions on how to start grading country gravel roads. He said pick a road and set the blade down until it firmly touches the roadbed with whatever you think is the right angle. Put the grader in low gear. Let out the clutch. After a few hours you might want to shift up a gear. That's exactly how I started.
Although I have been around and using farm and heavy equipment all my life I make no claim to be an operator of anything, although I can run about everything. Along the same lines I don't claim to be a welder. What chaps my *** is when someone tells me what a skilled operator they are I put them to work on simple a farm excavation task to learn they haven't got a clue. The same can be said for welders. The majority of guys I have hired for labor claim to be welders. (There is usually a reason they aren't welding full time.) We have something that needs to be welded, I ask, "Can you get that welded?" "Yeah, No problem.". I check back in later in the day to un-do what they did and do it myself because they don't know the definition of a welder. I'm not opposed to helping somebody learn. I am opposed to those who can't telling me how to do it! Example: I own two farm excavators, 8 ton and 22 ton. I went over with one of my hired hands to help another farmer clean out his pit with an excavator he had rented. The other farmer, my fairly new hired hand, and I were walking through the barn. I mentioned to my buddy that I may not know how to run the machine he rented (referring to the control pattern). My new hired hand who had about an hour on a mini ex started telling me what each control did as we walked toward the machine! After an hour or so of hauling the spoil I was loading, my guy decided I was a quick study.
Your first sentence is a very important fact to understand. In my verbiage, there is a HUGE spread between knowing how to "run" something and knowing how to "operate" it. I can operate a Grader. I can operate a Backhoe/Excavator. I can run a Dozer.
I usually start off the conversation of operation saying that machines today are easy enough that a nine year old can make the machine move. The operators can run the machine in a way that you can make money. I was on a logging site a few days ago looking at a machine when the owner of the company working down the road called out on the CB saying an empty logger was coming up the road and would I mind taking a stab at loading him. My reply was that I didn't think he could afford me running his shovel. He popped right back asking if I thought I was that good. My replay was that I didn't think he could afford the damage I was likely to do the the log truck.
My thought is if I have time to pay attention to someone elses work, im not paying enough attention to my own!!