I agree that could be a reason, but, every time you accept a too trivial question, it only encourages more to sidestep the homework forum or other forums.
Your answering means your name is passed along to others as one who will circumvent the rules of the forum, no matter how trivial the rules are.
There is nothing stopping you from initiating contact to some poster for private consultation. That is your business. The same applies to those who were the topic of this thread.
The only trivial question is the one NOT ASKED.
I still contend an answer could be giving them a reference to read. If they choose not to read a valid reference, do they really deserve more of your time? If they read the reference and have questions about the reference, they that is a valid additional inquiry in the thread.
I will continue to ask about the source of the questions and ask for a picture of the question they received.
I will continue to ask about circuit sources as well.
There was on TS who asked about the operation of a circuit. When they told me the source, I went to it and found out the theory of operation was explained on the page.
Non of the the people who PM are doing home work.
And, along with the technical stuff, we also discuss other matters. I particularly like learning about other people's life styles and society, especially countries not westernized yet - some of the things we take for granted they have not even heard of. Also non native English speakers have a fascinating and original word usage.
In one case the correspondent could not believe the wide range of foods available: Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Indian...
Yes, you think the same way as me- there is no such thing as a question too trivial.
An event that occurred at school when I was about 14 sticks in my mind. I kept hearing this term soft iron in connection with magnetism and nowhere could I get a definition of what soft iron was exactly or even why it was good for electromagnets. So one day I asked the metalwork teacher and his answer was 'Don't be so stupid' and that was it. I couldn't ask the science teacher because he did not understand science, besides which he was rarely at school. His predecessor was an excellent science teacher though.
And you still get the catch all bromides, like 'Ask no questions and get told no lies'
I was having a bit of trouble with an airborne radar unit in the servicing bay and could not work out what the power supply line should be. So I asked the corporal technician in charge of the section, his answer surprised me: 'You don't need to know technical stuff like that in the RAF. The only use for technical stuff is getting a job in civvy street when you get demobbed'.
Then the wonderful piece of advice from the radio engineering officer- a red hot technical man, after a long pause and much thought he proclaimed, in a most considered manner, 'Well, if the scan converter is not working, there must be a fault with it'.
All through my education, even now, the teaching/advice has been abysmal and downright misleading, when just a few word here and there would have put me right; How does a transistor work: you shove some current into the base/emitter leads and around a hundred times more current flows from the collector to the emitter- amen.
Mind you, the internet is an absolute boom, although there is also a load of arcane/incorrect information on the net.
The other thing is that some people, including me, can only understand things that are explained from the basics up.
spec
Since October 2015, when I became an ETO member all of the PMs asking for technical help have been genuine and meaningful. Often they ask questions that they consider to trivial/basic to put on the open forum and even though I encourage then to post they don't feel confident to post.
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