At the risk of presenting another question that may remain unanswered, why do so many questions that are asked on this forum, remain unanswered? In particular, I’m referring to questions that are asked in response to the original posts. Frequently, there are details lacking when the conundrum is brought to our attention, and those who are attempting to assist often ask for additional information. Then it’s crickets. Or, a dismissal of the question while dancing around the subject. It isn’t just my questions either. Honestly, we’re trying to help. We can’t see, hear or touch your car and most of us aren’t very good at reading minds. Even what seems like the most detailed description might generate a few questions.
Then there are the OPs who not only don't answer helping questions, but never make a second appearance! I guess we experienced contributors have developed unreasonable expectations that infrequent posters can't or choose not to meet.
Of course. I’d never considered how unreasonable it is to expect someone to remain engaged in a conversation that they initiated.
I'm going to risk a response to this; it's a cultural question and one I've thought a lot about. For reference, I'm a college professor in my 60's who has interacted with the last several generations of young people as they transition from high school all the way to professional careers. I'm also going to hazard a guess that both Landshark and Insightman are also from my generation (not so affectionately called "boomers" by the generations to follow). Point 1: over the last 20 years it's become less and less possible for younger people to own things, not just because some sectors have gotten ridiculously expensive (think homes in many metropolitan areas, cars that aren't econo-boxes, etc) but because the model of ownership has transformed. Software? You don't own it, you pay a subscription. Ditto music, books, videos, and even access to friends (through mobile phones). Even cars are going to this model. Younger people not only don't envy us our ability to own things, they see it as poor choice, getting anchored down instead of riding the waves. Point 2: Whether you like it isn't important; that change is happening for solid reasons. First of these is that the pace of change has gotten so much more rapid. A 3-year old iPhone is very different than a 1-year old iphone. A social media app that's 3 years old isn't even compatible with the way someone communicates using an app that's 6 months old. The devices require so much constant updating that the price continues to go up because of competition for more sophisticated materials and more sophisticated manufacturing techniques. These are the opposite of "inflation-proof" or "durable goods", they are "guaranteed obsolete". Ask a 25 year old if they care about the collapse of Twitter in the last few months and you'll discover they couldn't care less because they're using three generations of apps younger and have been for what they consider a long time. Point 3: The resulting skyrocketing costs are real, even if they don't make sense in some markets (like real estate). Some of the items my generation considered essential to own, like cars and homes, are now effectively out of reach to younger generations. For the typical college-age or recent graduate, owning any vehicle more valuable than a 12-year old Corolla with 180k miles is unlikely. They are absolutely unable to own a home without multiple incomes and parental help and a full 30 years of high debt. So they're not the ones buying Claritys or Teslas of electric vehicles- they might lease one but if that's the case they couldn't care less about the details of how the vehicle works. And if they went the 12-year-old Corolla with 180k miles on it, they care even less from the start about it. Point 4: Ironically, the younger "can't own things" generations can be uniquely uncompromising when they have to buy something. If they HAVE to buy a car, for their job or whatever, it damned well better be really, really good and up-to-date. There's little sense of "I need a car but an econobox will have to do"; instead its "if I'm going to go into debt for this car, I better get something with value". That's had an interesting effect on the car market, with new entry-level sedans a lot less desireable, selling a lot less, and meaning the major car companies having to find their profits at the higher end (if they can find any at all). There are plenty of people in younger generations who are exceptions to all of these, of course- individuals who are really into cars, somehow manage to reach their late 20's without high levels of debt, maybe creating their own career or working their asses off and starting "real life" in their late 20's. But they're rare; most young people aren't going to own a mid-level new car until they're in their mid-30's and can't expect to put a down-payment on a house before then either, if ever. They simply are not investing themselves into cars, homes, belongings, financially or psychologically- it makes little sense when owning things is so painful and if they did own things, they'd be hopelessly obsolete in 3 years anyway. Having accepted this generational change, I understand an accept that most of the internet-using world now are looking for a quick bite of info without making any investment into it at all. Ask your question, see if the first answer or two works, but regardless moving on. Not a long discussion like I just entered into. When you see someone post a question, and it's intriguing to you enough that you want to follow along and see where it leads, you are the invested exception. And specifically here, invested in discussions about a vehicle that, whether we like it or not, is going to be of fading interest. I love my 2018 Clarity but like so many here I'm wondering how long I'll drive it and what I'll drive next.
I liked ralfalfa's reply. I work at a university and hire and train students. Been doing so for about 30 years. Anyway, a decided change happened maybe even before 2008 of a true pessimism among younger folks. Lots of folks saying things like "I have to be realistic" perhaps in a self derogatory tone. As in "I'd like to get that internship, but it will never happen, so I won't apply." My own opinion of my high school graduation was more of a completely unrealistic idea of everything, super-excited for the future and happy to throw my hat into the ring. And yup, an assumption I'd have to work really hard to get anything. But I do think there were more possibilities for decent work (say stuff that pays above $22/hr which almost everything seems to now). Enough money to support a family. Those jobs exist, but some younger people feel like its more likely they'll win the lottery than getting one. The only option of course is to do the best you can with whatever you've got (And I do tell the students to "go for it"), but the point of my note is that I don't remember any of the 18 year olds when I graduated high school who had a pessimistic view. Quite the contrary. And yep, many didn't succeed (even then) but the assumption that one won't succeed out of the gate is not helpful and seems somewhat common now. BTW, I didn't get into any of the reasons for younger pessimism, like climate change issues, threat of nuclear war, social justice issues, pandemic and so forth. It might not seem logical to some to invest yourself in difficult work to achieve success if the game will change before you get there. One last thing, many people are honest and hard working. It is very damaging to work in an organization where hard work and honesty isn't valued. I think the number of organizations that promote for bad reasons has increased, promoting someone precisely because they're willing to be dishonest is a crap deal. And it lends less credibility to the idea that if you work hard you will succeed. Why mention this? It's directly related to pessimism in the workplace. And it makes people feel less interest in staying engaged generally-- if they believe the deal is rigged from the get-go.
Thanks for the responses. First, there’s no risk in saying something that may elicit a response from another member. I asked a question to start a discussion. If we don’t respond to each other, there’s no discussion. I appreciate the perspectives that have been proposed. However, the current financial situation of someone in their 20’s or their potentially pessimistic attitude toward everything isn’t particularly relevant to the issue of not answering questions on this forum. Everyone who posts about their Clarity, owns a Clarity. They joined a vehicle specific forum. Many are collecting vast amounts of data on the vehicle through apps, home chargers and OBD tools. Some do their own maintenance and even attempt to do maintenance they probably shouldn’t be attempting. Those behaviors do not suggest a lack of interest in the vehicle. Furthermore, I’m not certain that we have evidence of anyone in their 20’s who owns a Clarity, or for that matter, has ever actually been seen in one. I understand the whole “younger generation” theory. For those to whom the above generalizations apply, does this imply that they’ve also lost the ability to communicate effectively? Were they not taught that it is considered impolite to not answer a question when asked? No one is under interrogation here. There are no negative consequences for answering a question on this forum. No community service, no jail time, no fines, no lashings. The only outcome is the potential to learn something. We aren’t asking personal questions. We’re asking questions that relate to the subject that was brought to our attention by another forum member.
I understand your frustration. I would have loved to see the answers to many of your very pertinent questions to clarify issues we all may have to face down the road (like, for instance, my recent "adventure" with the AC) but to no avail. Respect of the age-specificity of Clarity ownership, we could start a poll, but the few ones I know personally belong to my age group, a.k.a. boomers. Now allow me to put my 3 cents on the generational issue: I agree with the observations above. I came from a place where there is actually NO FUTURE, and hasn't been one for almost 70 years. We came to this country looking for an actual future in which "we could own things" like a house or cars, which were out of reach in my home country. However, my own youngest son, who is 27, is 100% convinced a societal collapse is around the corner for America. No plans of forming a family, living day to day, working for a living as a software engineer (graduated with no debt because I paid for it) and stuck to a motorcycle and a 1996 Toyota Tacoma, because he thinks those would allow him to survive better than a fancy car when the fecal matter hits the fan. What hasn't been mentioned is the impact of the media on the latest generations. Has anyone seen ever a SciFi or futuristic movie or series from Hollywood that isn't dark or catastrophical? None is like the old Jules Verne tales. Brain washing is for real...
Has your son ever initiated a conversation with you on any subject? If so, during the course of the conversation did you ever ask him a question? Did he answer the question? That would be similar to someone posting on a forum and opening up a discussion about something they, seemingly, want to talk about. Maybe there is a correlation between disenfranchised people in their 20’s and 30’s and an inability to answer questions. Personally, I haven’t seen it and I know a few disenfranchised doomsday preppers of all ages. They can all carry on a conversation and are happy to answer questions.
Just a quick note to say I agree, there is not a lot of evidence that 20/30 year olds buy Clarity new. And frankly only some disciplined or wealthy few young people that buy a new car period. So the idea that say 20 year olds have no patience (which may be true), isn't really relevant. It's probably more along the lines that a whole group of people don't follow through. i.e. Post a question, thinking it would be nice to know answer and forget they did (either literally or just get busy) and fail to respond.
Thanks for the reply. My intent was not to dig into your relationship with your son. It was to try to demonstrate that when someone starts a conversation, they will generally continue the discussion, perhaps to the point of resolution. I agree with your views regarding people on the spectrum. I would add that our recognition of it as prevalent in younger people, is in part due to a tendency to diagnose everything over the past 10-20 years. Someone who years ago had a few quirks, would now have an alphabet soup of disorders. That is simply an observation that we weren’t previously diagnosing these conditions, particularly the more mild cases. It’s certainly possible that a diagnosed or undiagnosed condition could be the explanation for why someone won’t answer a question that is relevant to the conversation they initiated.
In general, there are few “one and done” posts on this forum. Most will at least have a response of something like “Thanks, I’ll try that”, even if they don’t return to say “Yes, that worked”. What I have seen are responses that indicate the questions have been read and a conscious effort has been made to not provide an answer. This is particularly evident when a second request is made for the same information. In some cases, the responses suggest, indirectly, that the questions or comments may not have been constructive to the conversation. On at least one occasion, I asked if it was constructive to the conversation for someone to not answer a question. Not surprisingly, that question was not answered.
It has been a while since this post had any activity, but it was a poll to explore the age of Clarity owners. There were around 130 responses. Not so may 20-somethings. 30's 40's 50's and 60's fairly similar: https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/clarity-is-for-old-folks-poll.6114/
It's interesting that more than 50% of owners in the poll are over the age of 50. Automakers salivate for the younger market so this might be another reason Honda dropped the Clarity (poor sales being the #1 reason).
Fascinating thread. Went from why don't we get answers to no one under 30 owns a Clarity. I know that explains something, but I'll be damned if I know what it is.
It’s possible that Honda discontinued the Clarity because they anticipated that owners wouldn’t answer questions on forums and didn’t want to be held responsible for encouraging such behavior.
