dieterzakas

Cars have a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) that is shown on the title, registration, and insurance card. How are motorcycles similarly identified?

I have a 2002 Chevrolet Impala sedan - a former police car - with a 3800 V6 engine. Would it be possible to add an engine block heater? There's nothing like having to suffer in the winter, and I'd like to minimize that.

Because of the way the system is currently set up, a respondent to a question not only receives two points for answering, but one point for every thumbs-up they receive from others on Y!A.

However, points are NOT deducted for the thumbs-down they get when others give a particular answer a thumbs-down because of the wildly inaccurate, incorrect or patently false information it contains.

(I've also received the thumbs-down on more than one occasion for my answers, even though said answers were based either on research, personal experience, or personal knowledge. However, these were likely from persons unknown who were likely trying to be "cute.")

Just today, I came across two or three questions in the Photography forum that each had a handful of answers that received about five to six thumbs-down each, and were consequently hidden due to their low rating.

So I got to thinking: What if the current system were modified so that each thumbs-down rating meant a loss of one point from one's total? Do you suppose this would lead to fewer stupid and/or inane answers, such as those I described above, or the dumb things like "idk," et a? Or would this behavior remain unaffected overall?

What are your thoughts?

Now, I'm not talking about the inane, foolish, or just plain idiotic questions, but those that are best answered by going to the relevant entity for those answers.

I generally stick to three categories: Consumer electronics (Cameras); Cars & Transportation (Insurance & Registration and Rail), and Arts & Humanities (Photography).

In each of these fora, I see the same questions asked over and over again, EVEN WHEN they've been answered before. This is part of the reason I no longer participate for as long as I once did.

Then there are those questions that are best answered by being posed to an authority, whether it's a municipal court, state agency (e.g., the DMV), an attorney, a product's owner's manual, or the website of a company about whose product the asker wants to know something, to cite some examples. I get tired of seeing these questions because Y!A, for all its interesting questions, is definitely NOT the place to go when seeking advice or information on topics that are best addressed by someone schooled in a specific area or body that is charged with administering something, such as motor vehicle issues.

I apologize for what seems like a rant, but it's something that's irritated me for the year and change I've been on Y!A.

I've noticed that my responses, or my willingness TO respond, to questions has diminished. For a while I seemed to put forth a flurry of responses, which helped me become a "Top Contributor" here, but I've noticed I'm not answering as many questions lately.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I guess my diminishing decline has to do with the mind-numbingly boring repetition of what are essentially the same kinds of questions: "Am I pretty?"; "Can someone photoshop this for me?"; selective color questions; "What kind of camera should I buy?"; "Which Polaroid camera should I get?"; "How do I do _________ with my camera?" (I dunno; did you RTFM?); and so forth. (My personal favorites are the ones having to do with film cameras.) Et cetera.

I suppose if one were to check the demographics of the askers, it would reveal that they're overwhelmingly teenagers. Then, the stupidity of the answers would make sense, in a weird way. By the same token, though, they probably don't have anyone at home TO ask, for whatever reason.

So, has anyone else found himself answering fewer questions, particularly in this forum?