To my fellow Prius owners: I am a memeber of several unrelated forums; sports, audio-video, & Honda Goldwing to name a few. This forum is, by far, the best of them all. Why do I say this? Simple really. The people! In general, the people on this forum exhibit a high level of intelligence. They can write AND read well. They are most helpful. There's almost no bashing or flaming here. A person can express themselves without fear of being trounced upon. Respect. Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief. Veteran or Newbie. It seems everyone is afforded respect, at least until they disrespect someone else. The humor on this site is, well, humorous! We are a diverse group here; yet I feel we could all meet in a pub somewhere and have a back-slapping good time. A tip o' the hat to y'all. It's a pleasure to be in good company. Rick
I agree. I spend a lot of my 'Prius forum time' elsewhere, but find myself slowly migrating to PC, for exactly the reasons Rabid1 enumerated. A toast, to you all.
when i started on this forum a while back, i was also active in 4 other ones. now i am only really active in this one and another and its probably a 80-20% ratio at that. i have learned a lot about many different things besides my Prius and ya, i do frequently get a good chuckle from being here
I know just the place in Bend, we can meet and toss back some Fat Tire! It is a comfortable place here.
The useful info and helpful people on this board made me want to find and generate useful stuff to contribute.
What does it tell me? Well, I agree with Rick on his post. There are many peole here of many different backgrounds. Lots of really intelligent folk, yes. But the one thing I've noticed is a higher than average level of intolerance towards cars that aren't Priuses. I mean, we have people who are otherwise eloquent, intelligent, adn civil in their posts, but mention an SUV and WHOA, stand back. You'd think you just insulted their mother or something. That is the one thing I don't get. There are (mostly) civil discussions on religion and politics, but mention any vehicle that gets less than 40 mpg and you are spawn of the devil. Other than that, an all around wonderful group of people. (Now don't turn this into another SUV nashing thread, there are others for that. That's just what I learned from this forum)
Hey, wait for me! My best friend (who's almost ready to take the Prius Plunge) is from Bend, but now lives in The Dalles. I have to swing by and pick him up. B)
Kiloran has become a Top Generator in a hurry. Somehow the place keeps attracting people of his quality. I feel a little uneasy singling him out, because there are so many fine "old hands" around (just click on the Top 100 Posters and read backward 10 pages or so), who have consistently made positive contributions, for 1-2 years. But I guess that's the point. They set the tone. Makes ya wanna give back.
Paradoxically, two sides of the same coin, Doc. Prius + "enthusiast" usually = wise use of resources and/or cleaner environment. I think only a tiny handful are "vicious" about it. Just because I call an SUV a Chevy Mastodon or Ford Excrement doesn't mean I hate the people who own them. A lot of that's just needling. Heh.
If this keeps up, we could have a rally Bend is famous for car rallies. I can just picture a Parade O' Prii...
Agree. Ask and ye shall receive. Heck, sometimes, they'll even do the searching for you. This board has the nicest, most intelligent group I've ever encountered. Most boards will just tell the noob to rtfm or use the "g*d damn search feature". Not so here, they'll just simply answer (go check the Fuel Economy forum and count the no. of repeated threads on mileage) and/or guide you to the right thread for information. As such, I'm willing to do the same to those who have come after me. Aside from one or two recent 'heated' arguments, the atmosphere here is rather cheerful and humorous.
Heck, I drove my '97 Expedition to work today just because the Ford commercials say it'll make me "tougher"! Ok, actually my wife took the kids to Little Rock in my Prius for the weekend.....
It looks like there's quite a few of us in the Pacific Northwest. I'd be happy to put something informal together soon as the weather breaks. In the meantime, if you're in this neck of the woods, let me know!
Bend is a great place not withstanding the Deschutes Brewery. Great place for fishing, skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, horse back riding, hiking, camping and did I mention fishing?
I'm nearly on the oppostite corner of the US from ya, but a rally sounds fun!! And check out this thread. The consensus seems to be a "Pride of Prii." And I completely agree about the intelligence and courteousness on this forum, compared to others I've encountered. Now about those SUVs.....
I agree, this chat room is full of sophisticated/educated individuals who appreciate what the Prius has done for the industry on several diferent levels. Engineers can appreciate the serene wizardry of it all, and intellectuals seem to gravitate towards the car as a "green" machine. On any account, I imagine the average IQ here is probably higher than any other chat room on the net. As a hypothetical, I wonder what we would find if we polled Prius owner IQ's and compared it to other vehicle owner's groups? I think it's obvious. As a side note I also love driving my Escalade, and as a Super Hornet pilot I've probably done more to wreck the environment than any Prius owner in history