This week I will have been a subscriber here for two years. Time was when I logged in at least twice a day but now it's only once every few days, perhaps even once a week. So I now find so many unread topics that I give up after a quick look through a few pages and must miss a large number of interesting contributions. I suppose PriusChat fatigue has set in for me. The first symptom is when you find yourself missing a day. The interval gets larger. Two weeks would be really serious. I don't think there's a cure. What's the cause? Possibly too many technical questions, too many hackneyed topics. One doesn't get tired of the Prius itself but you don't want to be reading the views and experiences of others every day. I still like the strong American flavour of PriusChat: the USA vernacular and some of the political comments. I'll watch election results soon with much more interest than I would have had if I'd never read PriusChat comments and attitudes. And of course I'll still consult PriusChat if I have a car problem or want to raise a topic.
Your PriusChat fatigue is probably exacerbated by the strain of driving on wrong side of the road. Tom
Oxo, mate, it almost sounds like a "Dear John" letter. Do you have any good recommendations for an English equivalent? I'd love to keep tabs on such a board. I'd love to learn more about English vernacular and points of view. That'd be brill.
It was awesome around here when the car was getting "figured out" by everyone. HSD, and how it works...Amazing. Then modes of operation...Stealth, Regen, Warp...Yeah baby. The EV Switch mod. Jackpot! Then came the driving technique discoveries... Pulse and Glide! That was an exciting time. Here lately I've been seeking something else groundbreaking....but I do not find. Seems it may be all figured out. We need PHEV.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(9G-man @ Sep 20 2007, 10:15 AM) [snapback]515253[/snapback]</div> I'm still waiting for the Least Cost But Most Definitive Solution To The JBL "Premium" Sound System...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Sep 20 2007, 09:58 AM) [snapback]515239[/snapback]</div> I do not know, I've been giving some hard looks at the mazda mx5 PRHT the past couple of weekends... anyone want a black 2006 Prius w/NAV, leather, etc. in Minneapolis? rpm
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Sep 20 2007, 10:02 AM) [snapback]515242[/snapback]</div> Not me. I drive in the middle...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ Sep 20 2007, 10:04 AM) [snapback]515243[/snapback]</div> Tell me more. Who is 'dear John'? Have you read Bill Bryson's books about living in England. It's becoming a different place to the images accepted abroad. I read yesterday that Leicester, a fairly big English city now has more coloured residents than white ones. In Southall, a town just north of London airport, there are more shop fronts, cinemas, etc in the main streets with Indian and Pakistani names than there are with English names (if any - I haven't been there lately), English vernacular? I suppose it's there but I now find it difficult to understand the speech of people in their teens or early 20s, especially girls who are shop assistants and often seem to be speaking another language.
We need a Thread(s) of the Week thread, may be a sticky, with just links to the best (in somebody's NSH opinion) stuff on Prius Chat for the past week. The Best of PriusChat. Gonna be up there with Sunrise Earth's Greatest Hits.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Sep 20 2007, 10:58 AM) [snapback]515239[/snapback]</div> There are a lot of new, or soon-to-be-new Prius owners such as myself (I fall in the soon-to-be category) who are registering and tapping into the wealth of knowledge from the forum and its posters. Of course, newbies tend to have tons of newbie questions which can drown out a lot of other more "advanced" posts. And us new owners (at least I do) love to read and absorb as much new information as possible, especially views and experiences. As the Prius community grows, so will, unfortunately, its cachet of exclusivity and that tight-knit community that drew you and a number of others to forums such as these. Not necessarily bad things, but we, the n00bs, appreciate your backlog of information. MAB <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Doc Willie @ Sep 20 2007, 02:38 PM) [snapback]515368[/snapback]</div> I second this motion. It's a great idea and really helps to focus readers' attention. MAB
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Sep 20 2007, 02:01 PM) [snapback]515349[/snapback]</div> That's a good idea. As my great-grandfather used to say, when asked why he drove down the middle: "It gives me room to move over." Interesting logic. Tom
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Sep 20 2007, 02:01 PM) [snapback]515349[/snapback]</div> Well, I'd be driving on both sides of the road equally! When I was in the Navy and we had a port of call in Britain, the one thing I'd look forward to the most was the fantastic beer on tap at the local pubs. Rick #4 2006
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zenMachine @ Sep 20 2007, 11:41 AM) [snapback]515269[/snapback]</div> That's been figured out too.....disconnect the center speaker. Sincerely makes a difference, and I can now listen for long periods of time.
Actually, one thing that would be really useful [and has been talked about before] is to start dredging through those gigabytes of back posts and the various other resources and finally, after all this time, start designing the real be-all and end-all Prius FAQ. From the basics to the obscure, structured in a way that's accessible to the noob but could also teach the old hands a few things. Then, of course, threads would reduce to noob asks question, someone says go read ->this<- from the beginning, end of conversation. But it would take up a lot less space in the database... . _H*
Or more simply, we could start a thread call Top Prius Posts, or something like that. Then any of us, after doing a search could post the tag to the best thread on a given subject. It would not take the extensive editing work that a FAQ would, although it would not have that organization and polish that a good FAQ has.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hobbit @ Sep 20 2007, 07:04 PM) [snapback]515557[/snapback]</div> Well, if you're willing to write one up, the KB is open to articles. I'm trying to bring it back to life so any useful additions would be great!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hobbit @ Sep 20 2007, 09:04 PM) [snapback]515557[/snapback]</div> Imagine a nice little book with lots of pics of Prius scenes and many anecdotes about the Prius as well as basic advice and comments. An appendix would contain a list of the specifications for each year's Prius, starting with 2001 and there might be a summary of the book about the Japanese history of the Prius. ("The Prius that Shook the World" by Hideshi Itazaki) With all the publicity this would get on PriusChat, it could be a good seller world-wide, especially as it would be on sale (or even issued free) in all the Toyota garages. I sniff some $$$£££s to be made here for an energetic journalist/author (probably a Prius owner) willing to put some time into this by wading through the depths of PriusChat and sifting through the usable stuff. There's no copyright problem, is there? And the title? IN PRAISE OF PRIUS? Well, would you buy it?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Sep 21 2007, 06:31 AM) [snapback]515685[/snapback]</div> Probably as a gift. Everything I need is already here.
I've toyed with the idea of a "Hybrids for dummies" book for a long time (along with my 2.4 million other genious ideas I never act on), but yea, something inexpensively bound but printed or available for PDF download in a nicely organized and written format with good pix would probably sell several thousand copies. Someone really great at marketing might even be able to get dealers to buy copies to give as gifts to new buyers.
