How to fix stuff like this?

fix

This is an open, anonymous forum. ANYONE can answer questions, whether they know the answer or not, in fact whether they want to answer the question or just insult the asker. If you ask a question in this forum, you take for granted that not everyone who answers your question necessarily knows any more than you do. If there are several answers, and many seem to agree, that's helpful. If there's only one or two answers, and one just calls you an idiot, that means the information is not that well known, not that easy to come by.

Those are just the rules we live by here. Some people are simply not mature enough to participate in a forum like this. We take it as a given when we log on. EVERY discussion on the Internet has a certain signal/noise ratio. We have to learn to discriminate, to pick up on the signal and ignore the noise.

I think the 'bare metal' comment was ill-considered. But you don't see unpainted helmets the way you see unpainted furniture (actually now that I think of it, I haven't seen an unfinished furniture store in a while They used to be common.)

If you were really interested in gathering actual wisdom, you would find a more relevant forum. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we have BARF - Bay Area Rider's Forum. I'm sure there are many more regional discussion groups.

And if you see a wrong answer and care enough, you could always post your own answer--'Hey, waitaminute, that's not right!' I do see some of those. Occasionally I post one myself.

Actually, you can paint a helmet. My plain, white Shoei came with painting instructions. Not to mention all those custom helmet painters (Troy Lee started as one). It's just that you can't use certain paints. Then again, my helmet was fiberglass. Not sure what the other guy's helmet was made of.

But like you said, I'm sure it wasn't steel, unless he bought it "used" from a museum.

As for your Q, humility can be the best cure. Especially since you cannot contact the parties directly. Some of your choices are:

1) setting up a website that denounces the answerer's links, or,

2) asking the same question yourself, several times, and hope that you get more answers. This will move your Q to the top of the general search, the next time someone looks it up. In your Q, you can denounce the bad links.

You see the little checkbox where it says, "report abuse"? The nature of abuse can include wrong information. That also helps the person learn to stop giving wrong answers, or learn to think before answering at least.

Modern motrcycle helmets are plastic, not metal. Back in the 1970's I had a tanker helmet with the big ear flaps that I wore riding my first motorcycle. It was better than nothing and served me until got a real motorcycle helmet.

You can't fix stupid man trust me I have tried and have given up for good, I have been in the maintenance field a long time and have heard and seen some of the dumbest S*&$ ever, and you better bet there is more to come, remember stupid people are breeding!

Natural selection will eventually get them.

You can write to eHow and inform them of their stupid statement. Better yet, become a writer for them, as they do pay.

As for 'Nick', he bought a helmet of which he doesn't like the color. With no experience, he's going to DIY his helmet. He's unfixable.

I can't fault 'Lozza' for providing an answer, but maybe she could've scrutinized the eHow answer a little more.

Google was trying to change their search engine algorithm to ensure that eHow answers didn't make it to the top. fyi.

I feel for us brother ,sometimes we just have to laugh it off and thank god we don't fall into that category..Just like the kid who asked-20 hrs ago-about why his warrior atv wouldn't start with the start button or the recoil pull but it would run if he got a push start and he awarded the best to someone who said he needed new pistons and rings and that his transmission was toast..ILMFAO when I saw that.Let's all just hang in there and roll with the punches.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4897184_paint-motorcycle-h...

How to Paint Motorcycle Helmets, by Marie Mulrooney

Marie Mulrooney has written professionally since 2001....

She does not know about paint. She does not know helmets. She is a writer.

eHow, like Wikipedia, is stuff written by whatever idiot wants to write.

eHow is driven by advertising. They don't care if things are correct or not.

"... you do need to get rid of the clear varnish finish on the helmet ..."

heh! I use quality varnish on my helmet -- http://valsparglobal.com/val/resident/manowar.jsp <NOT!>

yea but sometimes the dam question is so stupid I have to give a wise a s answer. I get tired of idiots who don't have a shop manual asking questions about real shop work.

Well you could try to e-mail directly to the asker but it will most likely be ignored as they have an answer already.

As comedian Jeff Foxworthy said...."You can't fix stupid".