Let's try to give rustyj a little benefit of a doubt here on the way he phrased his post by laying out the time line sequence of posts (these posts are dated and time stamped, by the way).
Beginning with Opening Post: Posted by toneng CT (My Page) on Sun, Nov 1, 09 at 19:16 Dumb Question ....BUT.............
I recently got an old tractor and I can't figure out how to open the hood (hood release?) Can anyone help? Thanks! First respondent:
Posted by blueknightbob RI (My Page) on Sun, Nov 1, 09 at 20:16 Hello. That's an easy question. Where the gas tank is just spread the hood open by pulling the sides outward. The hood will then tilt forward and open. Second respondent:
Posted by rustyj14 W/PA (My Page) on Sun, Nov 1, 09 at 20:18 Dumb answer: Check where the hood hinges are placed! Some open, hinged at the front, other are hinged at the back! Look carefully at the time stamp and note that rustyj's response came a mere 2 minutes after blueknightbob's post. I DO NOT think rustyj even saw blueknightbob's post until after he had posted his own response.
rustyj opened his post with the words "Dumb answer" as a reflection on toneng's opening words "Dumb question". He was not saying blueknightbob gave a dumb answer.
Think about the elapsed time between the two posts. 2 minutes! This would mean that rustyj would have had to jump on getting his post worked up as soon as he saw blueknightbob's post, and get his posted BEFORE 2 minutes elapsed time.
If you go back and read the Opening Post first, then rustyj's post (skipping blueknightbob's post) you will see why rustyj's response was appropriate and not hateful at all.
rustyj obviously misinterpreted the gist of the OP's query (which was "looking for a hood release") and instead took it to mean "does this hood tilt forward or backward to open". rustyj may be a bit gruff sometimes, but that's what 84 year old curmudgeons are supposed to do. | 
