Quote:
Originally Posted by DylanVK
Not at all... if you browse YT you'll find 20 unqualified hacks spouting as self proclaimed experts for every one guy who really knows his stuff. Experience and reputation trump all.
Showmanship and presentation go a long ways, but once you sift thru the BS its pretty easy to tell who knows their stuff and who doesn't. The longer you look the more obvious the holes are... some of the most qualified, most talented, and experienced people in the detailing world are the ones you hear from the least. They are also the ones you rarely if ever see engaged in online p*ssing contests about process or technique.
As a very well respected friend of mine in the business once told me - "The ones that run their mouths the most, tend to be those who actually know the least"
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Dylan, I agree with you but to a point.
First and foremost, detailing at some point is somewhat of an art to some of us which by nature makes it subjective. I think we agree on this since once you've established your technique based on proven standards, the rest is up to the talent of person. But how do you get to this point? Like you implied, you research, watch videos, network with others of similar interests, perfect your craft and occasionally you'll even disagree with those "in the know" along the way. All that said,
detailing is not rocket science and is something that for the hobbyist or even the weekend detailer, is something that you can learn, perfect and speak about based on that shared experience even if some of what you've learned is from YouTube.
Do online p*ssing matches occur when those shared experiences differ in a public online forum? There's probably enough well document evidence of that within this one section of this forum to confirm that and for sure you, Todd, Matt, me, AJ(Junkman) and host of others can probably all raise our hand and say "yep been there.." But it doesn't make any of us an less of an expert than the other, particularly if we can identify those self proclaimed YT'ers experts. If all we learn from them is "what not to do" and then share it with each other as bad, inaccurate, or misinformation and discuss it amongst ourself respectfully, I think we're better off as an online community.
It's no different than some one on in this section pointing out a bad technique and all of us jump on them for the bad info. The challenge is doing it respectfully, but honestly.
So, if I'm being honest for those of us who have been hanging on the forum for awhile read between the lines of your post and the response to me, your comments appears to be a direct shot across Junkman's bow. There are several of the experts in this section who would probably jump right on that bandwagon and enjoy watching those sparks fly if that's the case, but there are just as many who relate to the techniques he demonstrates- the California Duster being one of them and many on the forum related to his demos and followed it with satisfactory results in their minds.
Here's my main point regarding the YouTubers- Seasoned detailers will know what is usable and what is disposable, but we can learn from the disposable even if it's what not to do.
As far as the real experts, if they're passionate about sharing their craft and communicate it in such a way that others can repeat that technique for the sake of community, then God bless and thank you to all them. Many of us fall I to that group. The rest of them who are not silent, are probably vendors who want to sell you (us) something, just be up front about and don't try to hide behind cleaver posts filled with double entendre.
Sorry to drone on. Guess I've been silent too long and need to get my car out.