[AJD] Unusual looking Model L

Thu Sep 15 22:53:53 PDT 2005

Duane:

Just to set the record straight, any error, whether it be a typo, a spelling
error, a statistical error, a technical error, I would consider significant.
Others may take a less stringent view on this. The reason I use this tough
criteria is because publication implies use as a reference document.  Errors
uncorrected then tend to be promulgated as JR has mentioned. To lower the
expectation would be to accept an unacceptable low quality of published
material. Unfortunately we get what we accept. 

Most technical and professional publications that you and I are familiar
with have a high level of review which is quite rigorous and are typically
quite good but many still include insidious errors that are not deliberate
or inadvertent author error but those introduced in the transcribing,
printing and publishing process. 

One of the areas in the antique tractor arena that is most troubling to me
is in the area of serial number records. There seems to be multiple
philosophies regarding what references are used regarding the definition of
year. Model year, production year, ship year, sales year, etc. This area
alone creates a great amount of disagreement that is unfortunate and
empowered by different personal philosophies. It seems that each author
publishes their own view without recognition of other views. Many who
publish serial number lists are unable to even identify what philosophy is
being used. And others blindly copy them. 

A philosophical observation. Over the years I have collected quite a large
quantity of original JD manuals. Contained in some of the original manuals
is an errata sheet which informs readers of errors contained in the manual
that were found after the manual was published. That I consider a good
corporate publications ethic. As soon as errors are found, inform the user
as quickly as possible and get it corrected on the next issue. However, in
other cases JD has published documents with known errors w/o ever notifying
the future buyer. I guess I would call that inconsistent situational ethics.

However, many of the aftermarket antique tractor reference books, including
JR's books, that contain errors are blindly copied or continued to be sold
w/o those known errors identified or even corrected. Now in JR's case their
may be extenuating circumstances in that the author of the books no longer
works for the publisher of the books. But these books continue to be sold
for years w/o the errors being identified or corrected. Not good corporate
ethics.

So the error here is taking the statement too literally. All kinds of
insidious errors sneak into publications which may or may not be the fault
of the original author. That is why I take the view of not being too
critical of the author but more critical of the publishing house which has
an opportunity to, at the minimum, inform the buyer of known errors but more
importantly get them corrected on the very next printing run. 

An example of how we as a reading public have been trained to accept
mediocrity in published documents is to take a critical look at the content
and printed quality of today's newspapers. The quality has dropped
significantly over the last 30 years.  

Dean A. Van Peursem
Snohomish, WA 98290

Forbidden fruits create many jams!

www.deerelegacy.com

http://members.cox.net/classicweb/email.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: antique-johndeere-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:antique-johndeere-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of
Duane Larson
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 7:45 PM
To: Antique John Deere mailing list
Subject: Re: [AJD] Unusual looking Model L

Dean,

That is a pretty strong statement:
"I know of no
author who has published anything w/o significant errors."

Who is knowledgeable enough to identify "significant errors" in "anything 
published"?  I'd like to meet him/her... .  Having published in the 
scientific field and gone through the review process, I must disagree with 
your statement from a professional point of view.  Or perhaps you were 
thinking of a more limited perspective - surely not the Bible, for 
example..., or J. R.'s books :).
Duane Larson

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dean VP" <deanvp at att.net>
To: "'Antique John Deere mailing list'" 
<antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 3:47 PM
Subject: RE: [AJD] Unusual looking Model L

>I too agree with JR's desire to have all authors publishing accurate data.
> However, there are those in the publishing field who consider themselves 
> the
> "correct police" who criticize other publisher's mistakes when they
> themselves have dirty linen. One needs to be careful how critical one
> becomes unless one is dealing from a reference of perfection. I know of no
> author who has published anything w/o significant errors. The desire to 
> get
> those errors corrected in a timely matter is more important to me that the
> fact the errors occurred to begin with.
>
> Dean A. Van Peursem
> Snohomish, WA 98290
>
> Forbidden fruits create many jams!
>
> www.deerelegacy.com
>
> http://members.cox.net/classicweb/email.htm
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: antique-johndeere-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> [mailto:antique-johndeere-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of
> Bus Driver
> Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 12:03 PM
> To: Antique John Deere mailing list
> Subject: Re: [AJD] Unusual looking Model L
>
> I strongly agree with JR and appreciate the information he posted. For 
> those
> who wish to investigate a matter further, wrong information hinders such a
> search. NEVER has a newspaper quoted me correctly and rarely do they get 
> my
> letter to the editor correct. Locally a full gasoline tanker crashed into 
> a
> bridge support on the Interstate and burned. The bridge collapsed. It was
> reported that the weight of the HOT asphalt bridge surfacing caused the
> collapse. Until informed by the media, I had no idea that HOT asphalt
> weighed more than it does when cold.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "J.R. Hobbs" <jrhobbs2004 at yahoo.com>
> To: "Antique John Deere mailing list"
> <antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 11:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [AJD] Unusual looking Model L
>
>
>> Well, I guess you're entitled to your opinion.  Parts of the story are
> true, sort of, but development of a small tractor didn't begin at Deere at
> the behest of just one man. No doubt that the man mentioned  certainly may
> have had some input on the design, and may have done some field testing, 
> but
> I know for a fact that work had begun before 1936.  There are other errors
> in the story as well, but I won't dwell on them. The first "Y", and "62"
> Tractors certainly didn't sell for $375.00. The timeline described in the
> story just plain is not true.  There were other inaccuracies as 
> well----The
> President of Deere at the time was Charles Deere Wiman, not John Deere
> Wyman, etc.
>>
>> The point is, when this kind of stuff gets published, it somehow becomes
> "fact", and I guess that I just don't like to see inaccurate information
> published. I have no problem with a tribute to someone. I just want it to 
> be
> factual, because these kinds of errors do the hobby a disservice, in my
> view.
>>
>> And, quite frankly, I'm sick to death of the "correct police" bullshit,
> which is a favorite term on a website I won't bother to mention.  I don't
> believe that being correct as possible with information and/or restoration
> is wrong.  The term is misunderstood, anyway, as it was coined to describe
> those people who think they know it all, but actually don't know much of
> anything, yet feel that they have the right to criticize the work of 
> others.
> I've not yet seen a restoration I couldn't find a flaw in if I looked hard
> enough, but it's not my business to say anything about it to the owner.
> Most people do the best they can with the knowledge they have, and the
> budget they have to work with. On the other hand, there are people who 
> take
> no little pride in doing as many things as wrong as they can, because they
> somehow percieve that it's going to irritate people. That's their choice, 
> I
> guess.
>>
>> Chris C <jdnutinwa at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> JR -
>>
>> I think that's pretty poor to poo poo a story in
>> a local paper about a piece of history returning to
>> the area, with the story being told be family members
>> about the actions of another family member.
>>
>> I don't know enough about the background behind
>> the design of that tractor to know the truth, but I
>> wonder who would twist the truth more? The
>> manufacturer of the machine, or the guy that designed
>> or helped design it.. Sound like the correct police
>> to me...
>>
>> Or perhaps I am just oversensitive given my highly
>> agitatable state...
>>
>> Chris
>>
>> --- "J.R. Hobbs" wrote:
>>
>> > Not tonight, Frank, I have a headache. :-)
>> >
>> > Frank wrote:J>R>
>> > tell us more.........
>> >
>> > Frank
>> > gremaux at tein.net
>> > Central Montana
>> > http://www.angelfire.com/mt/deeregp/index.html
>> > ----- Original Message ----- 
>> > From: "J.R. Hobbs"
>> > To: "Antique John Deere mailing list"
>> >
>> > Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2005 1:27 PM
>> > Subject: Re: [AJD] Unusual looking Model L
>> >
>> >
>> > > Nice tractor. Parts of the story are even almost
>> > true.
>> > >
>> > > Louis R Godena
>> > >
>> >
>>
>
wrote:http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2005/09/09/local.20050909-sbt-
> MICH-B1-Homecoming_parade_of.sto
>> > >
>> > > And, good story too!
>> > > _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
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