The "Help me with my project" posts - Electronic Circuits Projects Diagrams Free

ThermalRunaway · 22nd July 2005, 06:42 PM

One thing I can't help having noticed while using this forum is the sheer amount of posts we get from people who need to do some kind of project. The projects they normally talk about are usually part of some final year assignment that they've been given and, by the time they come to this forum, there's normally only 3-months or so left to do it in. Normally people have not even started development at this point and are still stuck on the "what can I do for a project" stage.

At this point these people are already quite agitated, probably having realized that unless they come up with something within the last 3 months they're going to end up failing whatever course they're doing. So they post a rather vauge description of what they want to do in the projects section of this site and then request that someone provide them with all the schematics, documentation and microcontroller software to complete the task they require.

Perhaps this kind of activity goes in phases so that we're more likely to see these kinds of posts at this time of year due to the fact that it's end of term for most universities and colleges, but it got me wondering as to what we can do to help these people. It's fairly obvious that given a 3 month time-frame and some vauge piece of information it's rare that anyone here can (or is willing to) come up with schematics, documentation and software to fit the bill, so usually a few of us will post some light suggestions and then leave the poor student to sort it out for him or herself.

I was wondering whether the site could partner up with some kind of projects website in order to offer better suggestions to these kinds of posters. For example, if we could find a few decent websites that host a number of electronics related projects covering a wide field of subjects, and obtain permission from them to link to the projects from here, perhaps Electro Tech could provide a projects listing page. Students with these kinds of questions could then be directed to this page and choose a suitable project to follow.

Just a suggestion - don't know whether anyone else will think it's a good one.

Brian

zachtheterrible · 24th July 2005, 04:42 AM

My personal view is this: These people have probably signed up for the class only to goof off in it. Thats why they want all the schematics, documentation, software, etc, because they don't have a clue what they're doing! If we give them all of that, it's a hole in one for them because they don't have to do anything :evil:

They dug their own grave . . .

I don't mind helping people who have actually put forth the effort to come up with an idea, have tried to the best of their abilities to make it work but have failed, and come to this forum for help.

But these people who type one sentence saying: I need a project, I need schematics, and I need to know how it works. (and its usually in bad english) :evil:

**Jay.slovak** · 24th July 2005, 08:47 AM

I totally agree with you guys!
I hate when somebody comes and wants me to do his whole project! I don't do these things, but if somebody has a problem with his project (and I can see he is trying hard) then it's worth helping him (I know he will learn something). That's my statement!

**Nigel Goodwin** · 24th July 2005, 09:36 AM

I agree Jay, if WE do the project, then WE should get the qualification, if the student can't come up with a suitable idea, and implement it satisfactorily, then they don't deserve to be awarded their degree (or whatever).

As you say, if they ask for help and advice on their own idea, then that's fine - but the vast majority of the work should be their own.

Phasor · 24th July 2005, 01:05 PM

So, are we going to come up with an 'official' line of action vis-a-vis these project posts?

**Jay.slovak** · 24th July 2005, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phasor

So, are we going to come up with an 'official' line of action vis-a-vis these project posts?

Well, maybe we should add this to (or make) one Announcement and refer to it everytime somebody posts such Topic. The Announcement should politely explain our reasons not to do their whole project.
Agree with me? :idea:

mstechca · 24th July 2005, 04:34 PM

I find it funny myself when I read similar posts. I don't understand why someone would just some out of the blue, and make up a stripped-down profile of him/herself and ask us to literally "think" of a project AND do it!

So, in the mean time, I simply play into their game. If they go vague, I go vague. In other words, if someone said: "I'm in a communications class. What project will give me top grades?", I would probably say "Make a radio". I did answer the question, but the answer is vague, because there are several radio circuit configurations, and several parts required to construct a radio.

I think a better idea is to modify the forum in such a way that if a certain question pattern is detected, it will direct a user to a common answer in a FAQ page.

D.J. · 24th July 2005, 06:58 PM

I agree.

When someone is veg, only writting a quick sentence, then they want the whole project done for them. But when they present their schematic and explain what they have tried, you know it's a hard working student stuck on a problem.

It should be an anouncement, school problems should be explained well so that we ca assist, or the message will be deleted.

That way if someone really knows what they are talking about and is just stuck they will explain the whole situation (becuase they can). The one asking for a frebee won't be able to explain any situation.

D.J.

**Jay.slovak** · 24th July 2005, 07:13 PM

Ok, Announcement would be cool, the problem is they don't read them. They come, register and immediately hit New Topic... They don't bother reading Announcements or trying to search the forum.

zachtheterrible · 24th July 2005, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay.slovak

Ok, Announcement would be cool, the problem is they don't read them. They come, register and immediately hit New Topic... They don't bother reading Announcements or trying to search the forum.

Yeah, they probably won't read it when they first sign up, but we refer them to it.

**Jay.slovak** · 24th July 2005, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zachtheterrible

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay.slovak

Ok, Announcement would be cool, the problem is they don't read them. They come, register and immediately hit New Topic... They don't bother reading Announcements or trying to search the forum.

Yeah, they probably won't read it when they first sign up, but we refer them to it.

Yep, that's the plan

D.J. · 24th July 2005, 08:35 PM

Ya I guess no one is going to read the anouncements that soon.

Make it a big flashy message at the top of each forum, somehow to get their attention.

D.J.

**Jay.slovak** · 24th July 2005, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D.J.

Ya I guess no one is going to read the anouncements that soon.

Make it a big flashy message at the top of each forum, somehow to get their attention.

D.J.

I don't think that's possible with PHPbb2 ... :cry:

D.J. · 24th July 2005, 09:09 PM

Sorry, whats PHPbb2

Just anything that would get amediate attention, so that we can help(or most likely you guys help, i'm still learning)

Sorry my spelling is a little off, I have been up since 11:00pm last nigh and it's 2:30pm now

D.J.

**Jay.slovak** · 24th July 2005, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D.J.

Sorry, whats PHPbb2

Just anything that would get amediate attention, so that we can help(or most likely you guys help, i'm still learning)

Sorry my spelling is a little off, I have been up since 11:00pm last nigh and it's 2:30pm now

D.J.

PHPbb2 is a pre-written program (in PHP), this whole site is written in it (it is really simple to start forum like this, I have one too), and it is not possible to make any highlightnings in topic titles...

And I am sorry if my spelling is a little off too, I am not native English :lol:

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

22nd July 2005, 06:42 PM	(permalink)
ThermalRunaway	The "Help me with my project" posts One thing I can't help having noticed while using this forum is the sheer amount of posts we get from people who need to do some kind of project. The projects they normally talk about are usually part of some final year assignment that they've been given and, by the time they come to this forum, there's normally only 3-months or so left to do it in. Normally people have not even started development at this point and are still stuck on the "what can I do for a project" stage. At this point these people are already quite agitated, probably having realized that unless they come up with something within the last 3 months they're going to end up failing whatever course they're doing. So they post a rather vauge description of what they want to do in the projects section of this site and then request that someone provide them with all the schematics, documentation and microcontroller software to complete the task they require. Perhaps this kind of activity goes in phases so that we're more likely to see these kinds of posts at this time of year due to the fact that it's end of term for most universities and colleges, but it got me wondering as to what we can do to help these people. It's fairly obvious that given a 3 month time-frame and some vauge piece of information it's rare that anyone here can (or is willing to) come up with schematics, documentation and software to fit the bill, so usually a few of us will post some light suggestions and then leave the poor student to sort it out for him or herself. I was wondering whether the site could partner up with some kind of projects website in order to offer better suggestions to these kinds of posters. For example, if we could find a few decent websites that host a number of electronics related projects covering a wide field of subjects, and obtain permission from them to link to the projects from here, perhaps Electro Tech could provide a projects listing page. Students with these kinds of questions could then be directed to this page and choose a suitable project to follow. Just a suggestion - don't know whether anyone else will think it's a good one. Brian

24th July 2005, 04:42 AM	(permalink)
zachtheterrible	My personal view is this: These people have probably signed up for the class only to goof off in it. Thats why they want all the schematics, documentation, software, etc, because they don't have a clue what they're doing! If we give them all of that, it's a hole in one for them because they don't have to do anything :evil: They dug their own grave . . . I don't mind helping people who have actually put forth the effort to come up with an idea, have tried to the best of their abilities to make it work but have failed, and come to this forum for help. But these people who type one sentence saying: I need a project, I need schematics, and I need to know how it works. (and its usually in bad english) :evil: __________________ I'm no electronics god, i just talk too much.

24th July 2005, 08:47 AM	(permalink)
Jay.slovak	I totally agree with you guys! I hate when somebody comes and wants me to do his whole project! I don't do these things, but if somebody has a problem with his project (and I can see he is trying hard) then it's worth helping him (I know he will learn something). That's my statement! __________________ "I share, thus I am" Jay.slovak Read this! ICD2 Clone Best PIC/DsPIC Bootloader Read my Inchworm ICD2 review!

24th July 2005, 09:36 AM	(permalink)
Nigel Goodwin	I agree Jay, if WE do the project, then WE should get the qualification, if the student can't come up with a suitable idea, and implement it satisfactorily, then they don't deserve to be awarded their degree (or whatever). As you say, if they ask for help and advice on their own idea, then that's fine - but the vast majority of the work should be their own. __________________ PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at: http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

24th July 2005, 01:05 PM	(permalink)
Phasor	So, are we going to come up with an 'official' line of action vis-a-vis these project posts?

24th July 2005, 04:34 PM	(permalink)
mstechca	I find it funny myself when I read similar posts. I don't understand why someone would just some out of the blue, and make up a stripped-down profile of him/herself and ask us to literally "think" of a project AND do it! So, in the mean time, I simply play into their game. If they go vague, I go vague. In other words, if someone said: "I'm in a communications class. What project will give me top grades?", I would probably say "Make a radio". I did answer the question, but the answer is vague, because there are several radio circuit configurations, and several parts required to construct a radio. I think a better idea is to modify the forum in such a way that if a certain question pattern is detected, it will direct a user to a common answer in a FAQ page. __________________ -=: The best low-priced components to troubleshoot with are the speaker and the LED :=-

24th July 2005, 06:58 PM	(permalink)
D.J.	I agree. When someone is veg, only writting a quick sentence, then they want the whole project done for them. But when they present their schematic and explain what they have tried, you know it's a hard working student stuck on a problem. It should be an anouncement, school problems should be explained well so that we ca assist, or the message will be deleted. That way if someone really knows what they are talking about and is just stuck they will explain the whole situation (becuase they can). The one asking for a frebee won't be able to explain any situation. D.J. __________________ 1.618 http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/davinci/ http://www.coasttocoastam.com/

24th July 2005, 07:13 PM	(permalink)
Jay.slovak	Ok, Announcement would be cool, the problem is they don't read them. They come, register and immediately hit New Topic... They don't bother reading Announcements or trying to search the forum. __________________ "I share, thus I am" Jay.slovak Read this! ICD2 Clone Best PIC/DsPIC Bootloader Read my Inchworm ICD2 review!

24th July 2005, 08:35 PM	(permalink)
D.J.	Ya I guess no one is going to read the anouncements that soon. Make it a big flashy message at the top of each forum, somehow to get their attention. D.J. __________________ 1.618 http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/davinci/ http://www.coasttocoastam.com/

24th July 2005, 09:09 PM	(permalink)
D.J.	Sorry, whats PHPbb2 Just anything that would get amediate attention, so that we can help(or most likely you guys help, i'm still learning) Sorry my spelling is a little off, I have been up since 11:00pm last nigh and it's 2:30pm now D.J. __________________ 1.618 http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/davinci/ http://www.coasttocoastam.com/