Sitting here shaking my head..

[tvtech]

OK. The thread title says it all.

Everybody who has ever had any Internet interaction with any Forums will be aware that they are not always friendly places to ask questions.
Some Forums treat Newbies as idiots...no matter the question. Like rather chase them away. And the "Pros" like to show off their "cleverness"....for the World to see...

Still happens all over the show. Most other Forums are like that. Some take pride in chasing people away.....like don't bother us....you are wasting our "precious time"......................................................

Trying to work things out for myself as a Normal Guy..that knows a little bit of stuff. But does not ask many questions.....even if I did...I would be helped instead of scoffed at like other places. Like my heart keeps wanting to burst for the absolute pride I have with being associated with ETO.

I seriously mean this. I do not offer much help....I mean I visit here mainly for the Chats and stuff and now and again a little Spar with Nigel.
Or maybe just to bring a bit of humour to all.

It's like such a nice place though. Like we make people welcome

Strange hey. A kind of vibe that canno't be bought. What say you ???

It's like....we all understand each other (I can be impossible).

I must stop thinking now.

Cheers,
tvtech

 

[Menticol]

You are not alone in your reasoning about the "warmth" found at ETO. After some years reading the forum I started to make an imaginary picture of the people behind the other screen, imagining how his/her life would be, many miles away, based on what they say or how they say it. I have one for Willien, Atferrari, Ericgibbs, KISS, Matt the Tesla guy, Bonkuk, Crutshow, Audioguru, to name the ones that come immediately to my mind. All of this without being myself an electronics expert or a specially active forum member.

Maybe we are going nuts! too much solder smoke, stripping wires with the teeth and eating next to PCB's

 

[audioguru]

I become frustrated by some people on these forums and some of my frustrations are not shown to the public due to me receiving many personal messages from nOObs.

 

[JoeJester]

tvtech,

There is nothing preventing you from stepping up and telling another member what you think of their response when dealing with a question. If you feel so strong about the various interactions step up.

I suspect people like audioguru gets a lot of PMs just like a number of others one can identify. If audioguru didn't want to get them, he has the power to say NO. That might not get 100 percent stoppage, but it would slow it down.

I'm sitting here shaking my head on why you would not contact the offender.

When I think it's important enough for me to jump into the mix, on any issue, I do. I have no problem addressing any issue.

You never know, the offender might not realize they are perceived in a manner that reflect poorly on the tenets of the forum.

 

[Menticol]

I become frustrated by some people on these forums and some of my frustrations are not shown to the public due to me receiving many personal messages from nOObs.

Many teachers from my university use a feature found on Linkedin: In order to add them as contacts or sending them a personal message, you must enter the personal e-mail address of the person.

Taking in account that you would never trust your e-mail address to a stranger or a noob, the method assures that only your closest friends on the forum will contact you.

 

[misterT]

Helping "noobs" is very difficult and frustrating. There is no common "professional" language. No proper specs what the "real problem" is etc. I try to keep away from them, but sometimes "noob" ideas are interesting. I just wish talking to them would be easier. I miss proper problem solving and brainstorming.. not interested to teach what a pull-up resistor is once a week, or how to calculate resistor for led.

 

[audioguru]

A few of the members here know how to deal with nOObs because they are teachers. But most of us enjoy helping our peers and we are not interested in teaching many people from the bottom up over and over.

 

[MrAl]

Hi,

I try to help anyone and everyone when time permits and i have enough information to go on and knowledge in the subject area. One thing i do get tired of though is being the query guy...the first guy to reply to the vague question with little detail. I often wait now for someone else to ask the OP the first few questions so i dont have to, and then after that i have a lot more info to go on in order to form a more comprehensive reply.

 

[JoeJester]

Helping the novices is a choice that some make. Therein lies the key ... it's up to the individual to render the help.

If someone was giving bad information to a novice, I think that most would set them straight, even those who typically do not "help" the novice.

Like Mr Al, there are times the communications skills, or the various internet translators, make the questions vague at best ... thereby rendering assistance difficult and frustrating.

I once asked a class if they had any questions, and the response I got back from one of the students was something to the effect like "Maybe we don't know enough yet to ask a cogent question." I don't remember the exact response from 1979, but I do remember the person's name.

Audioguru is a wealth of information, and I agree with him that some are better suited to deal with those in the homework section. I believe he too would correct someone giving out bad information.

Some forums have a low tolerance of those asking vague questions. It's been that way since NNTP and the sci.electronics.xxxx newsgroups. The topic in common is electronics.

 

[tvtech]

Anyway, this thread is dedicated to all that help here....and all the time and effort they put in.

Like I say, I travelled the Net a while ago, when we had our drama here. I registered for many Forums out there to actually see what they are/were up to.

One by one I decided to let them go. I tried to compare them to what I had before the Drama here...

I tested them as a knowledgeable newbie. I got trashed left, right and center....members trying to outwit each other to prove me wrong....these Geniuses were trying to help tvtech......and that was that. So I started thinking......

No depth of knowledge on those Forums...I need to get back to ETO.....problem...I had asked to be banned

So, after all the drama, I realized I needed to back here..having fun and enjoying my time.

So I apologized..took it like a Man on the chin. Best decision I ever made.

There is probably no other Forum out there like ETO. Solid advise, fun too. A bunch of people that know their stuff.....but don't brag.

Heaven

Regards,
tvtech

 

[JoeJester]

tvtech,

What do you think when someone states the need the answer before a certain date? Well, for me, that tells me NOT TO ANSWER, until the stated date, especially if the date is real soon and I get the feeling that the time management skills are lacking.

I tend to think that "homework help" means "online tutoring" and there is a certain amount of discussion and guidance provided to the OP. I don't think anyone is expected to answer the assignment without the OP demonstrating some effort.

 

[throbscottle]

I try to help newbies because they're usually the only ones I can tell anything useful to, and I really want to help! That said I haven't done anything except ask questions of my own for quite a while anyway...

Just wish that when I was first interested in electronics as a kid I'd had such a great resource, but all I could find were books that that told me everything I already knew (basic electrickery and magnetism), or were so far beyond me I couldn't get past the first few pages (lots of maths). So I didn't progress until I went to college. No internet in those days, no books in the library at the level I needed.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Just wish that when I was first interested in electronics as a kid I'd had such a great resource, but all I could find were books that that told me everything I already knew (basic electrickery and magnetism), or were so far beyond me I couldn't get past the first few pages (lots of maths). So I didn't progress until I went to college. No internet in those days, no books in the library at the level I needed.

I learnt mostly from magazines, in particular Practical Electronics - which my grandmother had on order for me at her newsagents and used to bring me when she came to visit on Fridays (no newsagent in the small village I lived, or library for that matter).

The first issue I had was January 1969, and I continued to take PE for MANY years after that

I also collected any old magazines I could (often cycling fair distances to collect them), and bought various magazines over the years - Practical Wireless, Radio Constructor, ETI - I never got on with Wireless World though

 

[throbscottle]

I used to get PE! It was after I'd started college though...

 

[audioguru]

I also learned about electrickery when I was young and learned about the basics of electronics in magazines such as Pratical Electronics, Popular Electronics and Radio Electronics, then ETI and Wireless World.
A company I worked for had every issue of the Journal Of The Audio Engineering Society from the dark ages to the time I saw them because the owner of the company was a very old man.

 

[JoeJester]

A company I worked for had every issue of the Journal Of The Audio Engineering Society from the dark ages to the time I saw them because the owner of the company was a very old man.

How many of the older issues did you read?

 

[audioguru]

How many of the older issues did you read?

I read and photocopied parts of many of them.

 

[JoeJester]

I had no doubt about that. I have a few older books that I've read from the 40s, some for research and others for pleasure.

Free ebooks also opened up avenues ... from the works of Aristotle addressing ethics and another addressing politics.