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As I stated in another META post, I have been a moderator/admin/owner on several forums, usually dealing with high performance muscle cars. One area of continuous contention arises from motor oil. It seems there are more opinions about motor oil than there should be. In an attempt to prevent future problems on the subject, we should discuss what should be allowed, what sources are factual, and at what point should comments/posts be edited or removed because they fall off topic.

Some areas of concern are:

  • Synthetic oil (Full v. Semi v. Conventional)
  • Weight considerations (factory recommendations v. opinions)
  • Oil filters (good/bad/ugly)
  • Bob Is The Oil Guy (Forum and website)

These are just some areas I came up with off the top of my head. I'm sure there are other areas of concern and stuff we should look at.

What are your experiences and how should this topic be handled?

(NOTE: In the other thread on META, it was suggested I should start this thread.)

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    I'm the oil guy? Since when? ... pause for laugh ...
    – Bob Cross Mod
    Jan 9, 2014 at 1:39
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    Also, please feel free to bang out unformed ideas in the chat, too. That's sometimes a place to get thoughts straight before committing a more final version to a meta post. Just a thought. Also, we get lonely in the chat.... ;-)
    – Bob Cross Mod
    Jan 9, 2014 at 1:43
  • @BobCross ... I would be happy to, but cannot access it at work (where it seems I get most of my thoughts to put on here :P).
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Mod
    Jan 9, 2014 at 12:13
  • Brother, I hear you. The chances that I can connect to site X (for any value of X) from work are at best 50%.
    – Bob Cross Mod
    Jan 9, 2014 at 12:30
  • Seems we run in the same circles ... rather to say, I'll see you later on the wheel :-)
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Mod
    Jan 9, 2014 at 12:44
  • @BobCross ... and to answer the question in whole, I cannot log into the chat from work. Looks as though something is blocking it, probably firewall related.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Mod
    Jan 9, 2014 at 13:12

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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These are three of the examples from the Help topic of "avoid asking subjective questions where …"

  • every answer is equally valid: “What’s your favorite ______?”
  • your answer is provided along with the question, and you expect more answers: “I use ______ for ______, what do you use?”
  • there is no actual problem to be solved: “I’m curious if other people feel like I do.”

I would argue that most of the questions on the topic of oil are going to fall into one of these clear examples and therefore should be closed/removed.

This question addresses the basic question about oil selection and hasn't spiraled out of control. How do I select the right oil for my car?

I could see a gray area of specific problems relating to oil being allowed as questions, but anything that was straight up "should I use X or Y oil" should be closed/removed.

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    While reading the thread you provided (How do I select ...), I went to a link which was provided, that being Car Bibles - The Engine Oil Bible. As far as true information on oils, this is a very complete guide on oil facts ... I had not seen this source before and find it to be non-opinionated. It doesn't ping on oil manufacturers or types, other than where fact can back up what he's saying. Very good reading.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Mod
    Jan 8, 2014 at 15:44
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    I would recommend the "closed / removed" be potentially replaced with "duplicate", redirecting to a question on our site (possibly the one that @jzd suggests). If we keep that reference question clean and up to date, we should be able to deal with Paulster2's well-founded concerns and educate those who honestly don't know at the same time.
    – Bob Cross Mod
    Jan 9, 2014 at 1:41
  • @BobCross ... Very good thought, Bob. The thread is as advertised. Is one of the cleanest threads on oil I've ever seen. A redirect would squelch a lot of potential issues, as long as somebody doesn't clutter it up with bad answers.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Mod
    Jan 9, 2014 at 2:14
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    @Paulster2, the de-cluttering is up to us as a community (with the mods acting as the hammer of last resort). Our core group seems to be pretty tight.
    – Bob Cross Mod
    Jan 9, 2014 at 3:57

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