Date:         Wed, 21 Jul 1999 17:03:31 -0400
Reply-To:     "Fitz-Randolph, Douglas" <dfrandolph@TALKAM.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Fitz-Randolph, Douglas" <dfrandolph@TALKAM.NET>
Subject:      Litigation, Stupidity and the list (was N. NE. Mechanic...)
Content-Type: text/plain

Hey you guys - I'm not going to kill myself working on my van! End-of-topic
- OK?

Eric - I appreciated your advice about observing the driveshaft vibrations
while the wheels were spinning.

Steve - Your cautionary advice was appropriate as Eric's procedure is a
pretty risky one for a home mechanic.

Several other people suggested variants Eric's procedure via p-mail. If I
could do it safely it would be a valuable diagnostic tool. With my current
set-up - one heavy-duty floor jack and two high-quality jack stands, I
cannot safely perform the procedure. I've decided instead to have someone
drive the van at 45 MPH - sliding door open - while I lean out the side and
look underneath and try to see what's up. (That was a joke in case you
didn't get it.)

My point is that your intentions were both good. No one needs to be sniping
at anyone, and the debate over whether warnings for stupid people should be
included with all postings on the list should IMHO be discussed somewhere
else. Law, politics and philosophy are all interesting, but their discussion
does not seem appropriate in this venue. As I was the initiator of this
thread, I feel somehow responsible for it's maintenance, otherwise I would
have refrained from posting these off-list-topic opinions.

And for the record - not that anyone was insinuating it - I'm not stupid!
:)

Doug Fitz-Randolph
Yarmouth, ME
'90 Syncro