"Pop" wrote in message
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"Fred" wrote in message
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"SteveB" wrote in message
news:G1Hwe.7310$8o.1309@fed1read03...

"Fred" wrote in message
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I have a building in San Francisco where I had a licensed contractor did
some major work. A permit was pulled, contractor did the work, I was ...
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I cannot think off a better place to ask than the newsgroups. So far I
had positive responses from someone in the building department and a
registered engineer from another group, thank you.
=== Well, that's what you perceive, anyway, but that doesn't make it so.
There are certainly better and more reliable places to get answers from.
That said, what newsgroups ARE good for, with something as important as
you claim to have, are CONFIRMATION and CONCENSUS. It could help you
catch a con at work, or to separate some fact from fiction down the road,
and often even arm you with enough information to decide what questions to
ask of the people in power. But to say that you can think of no better
place; well, you need to think a little harder IMO.
You sound enticingly niave, so be careful.


You took this too literary. Can't be too naive or not careful enough being a
landlord in hostile rent control San Francisco.


Yes, the advice is free, but far
from worthless as long as you develop a selective filter. I would say
that much of the advice I've gotten through the years is as good or
better than the advice I'd paid for including my $400/hour lawyer,
$150/hour mechanic, $250/hour CPA, etc.
=== Woof! No wonder you take advice from a newsgroup as the last word on
something! You've no problems with paying the extra bucks and probably
don't even know it when you do. I'm not trying to sound offensive,
honest, but brutally honest with my opinion. In other words, you're sure
not driving an old Monte Carlo to the local courts to pay a speeding
ticket which you want to account for on your taxes.


I did say selective filter. What's wrong with newsgroups ones you filter out
and discard the bad information? Many people in newsgroups are pros just as
good as my lawyer, mechanic and CPA but that doesn't mean I don't use or pay
for professional services.



Flame them for bad advice? I have a condo conversion, an in-law addition
and a remodel to do in three different cities. Sorry, no time. (And
often times the bad advice is not intentional.)

Newsgroups are great! I just fix my chain saw the other day with some
free advice that my mechanic couldn't fix in ver 18 months under
warranty. I learn how to weld better, fix my cars, fix my properties,
invest better, etc. - all in all, save me thousands of dollars and
unnecessary frustration. So many good people here and much appreciated!

=== This last doesn't seem to follow with the rest of your post; you may
have learned by wathycing or something similar, but can you DO?

Sure you could, perhaps not for everyone. I've rebuilt my automatic
transmission with help from a factory manual - what so special about that,
people do this kind of things all the time. Then this guy on the web
building his house from the ground up (mostly him, his wife and their dog)
block by block - impressive! Didn't Andrew Grove (Intel Corporation) did
research on the web for finding a cure for his cancer? Now free advice from
this guy is priceless.



And perhaps that
$150/hr mechanic needs to be replaced. Either that or you need to realize
that even the best "expert" can miss things at times.
While the world isn't all zeroes and cone, you seem to make a case for
enjoying both but claim to be only one? Dunno - interesting verbiage.

Just be careful.

Pop