Continue to Site

Welcome to our site!

Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

  • Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

What is ETO?

Status
Not open for further replies.
A while ago, my wife suggested that it would be good for me to join Internet forums on subjects that might interest me. So, I did join a few. I found out that all the forums work mostly as question/answer boards rather than discussion boards. There are some discussions here and there, but posts without queations often generate very short-lived threads. I probably won't be doing the forum thing for much longer, but who knows, life always find ways to surprise you. I don't think it's important whether participants are hobbyists or hired professionals. I found ETO to be better than others because nobody tries to sell or push something through the forum, and I think we should all be grateful for this.
 
A while ago, my wife suggested that it would be good for me to join Internet forums on subjects that might interest me. So, I did join a few. I found out that all the forums work mostly as question/answer boards rather than discussion boards. There are some discussions here and there, but posts without queations often generate very short-lived threads. I probably won't be doing the forum thing for much longer, but who knows, life always find ways to surprise you. I don't think it's important whether participants are hobbyists or hired professionals. I found ETO to be better than others because nobody tries to sell or push something through the forum, and I think we should all be grateful for this.
Not doing the forum thing for much longer, would be a shame and a loss for all here especially my son Little Ghostman.
I agree that who participates isnt important, who the site is aimed at, in my opinion is important.
 
NorthGuy's assessment that these forums are typically not discussion forums is correct. Even the old NNTP sci.electronic newsgroups were not discussions.

ETO is probably different for each and every member.
 
maybe i should post here what i actually said, in the other thread. It might save people the hassle of reading through the other one.
for the sake of clarity the following is a cut and paste from the other thread

First of all i am posting so everyone knows i have read the thread. i am not going to get into the whole LG side of things, at least not in this thread. I will post a different thread at some point and i will give my views.
As to the rest of this, i can see different sides and views and i dont feel at the moment i have anything worth contributing, so in other words i will keep my mouth shut.
But Mickster has raised an interesting point that i would like to see discussed, this would probally be better in another thread, but to outline it.
Mickster is of the opinion this is a hobbyist forum and i agree with him, thats exactly how i view ETO.
But is it? what kind of forum is ETO exactly? There are some who bristle at the idea of this being a site mainly for the hobbyist, some will only refer to it as a technical forum, others i feel see this as a place for engineers, and hobbyist are tolerated (just). I think its time to have a open and honest debate on what ETO is and who it is aimed at.
The reason is, i see a constant conflict on here about what should and should not be posted on a thread. Some who would like to view it as a technical/engineers site, cannot tolerate any form of banter in a thread, there is constantly shouts of keep on topic (not so much of late granted). There is also alot of nic picking on small technical issues, and at times OP's post a question and it is clearly stated they have little knowledge. There question is seemingly answered fairly quickly and in a way that most OP's would grasp, then along comes all the Mr/Mrs nitpickers and technical perfectionist, before long the thread descends into (from some OP's perspectives) a totally pointless debate on some small technical issue, and they go away more confused than when they arrived. The funny thing is rarely is there ever a shout of keep on topic or anything else.
Not so much at the moment but in the recent past, there seemed a concerted effort to turn this forum into a dry and arid desert of purely technical talk, the OP was expected to post the question with ALL relevant information, with complete disregard as to whether or not, the OP had enough knowledge to supply every last detail and schematic of what they wanted to do/fix etc. Then they get one or two highly technical answers and the thread was considered done with and over, on an engineering forum aimed mainly at professionals, i would expect this kind of stringent straight question and answer format, everything nice and tidy, all information in some kind of chronological format.
But i wouldn't expect it on a site aimed mainly at the amateur or hobbyist, yes its great that ETO holds so much information, but what is it? Is it some kind of hybrid Wikipedia for electronics, or is it a place where people with the same interest come and share projects and discuss electronics, with the overall information contained within seen as a bonus, and not the primary point?
Like i say probably best done in another thread, but i would really like to hear others views, i have been open with how i see things and i would like to know how others see it. BUT above all i would like to have one simple question answered.... WHO IS ETO AIMED AT, AND WHAT IS ITS PRIMARY FUNCTION? ok actually two questions :D.
Before i go one thing i will say about the op being discussed, it would be helpful if we actually knew his situation, for example, is he someone that has blagged himself into technical jobs, over a long period of time, with no prior knowledge or training? in which case billy hold your hands up, everyone. ESPECIALLY in the current climate has a right to do whatever it takes, to put food on the family table and pay the rent. But time to own up, honesty in this instance would go a long way to you getting respect and help here, i would also advocate one of two things, get proper training (maybe say night classes) or consider another career.
Or is the OP someone that somehow passed exams and just isnt any good at what they do, in that case Billy, feed the family by all means, but start looking for other jobs outside of this field, i see your time of getting help here shortening by the hour.
JASON
p.s Billy if i have offended you, feel free to pm me and i will gladly tell you what i think, particuarly to some comments that have been posted
 
ETO is different for people here.

PG1995's posts is probably as different as it's ever gonna be. This is his ONLINE notebook and ETO really appears to be his student teacher.

salty joe's thread is probably the longest running and longest thread period here and it's about the design of a wave and tide controller for a homemade aquarium. It all started because a commercial pump failed, but it was cheap. It is also a set of protections for a 2 phase brushless motor. The innards of a failed carcass was sent to me for measurements, observations and even some ideas of "failure analysis".

It did require "reverse engineering" for the purpose of understanding, not duplicating.

It seems to be in "final testing" at this point after over a year.

LG might be the youngest member here.

Me, I like helping people until they mess with me. Then I will turn off like a switch. But, I'm in the top ten poster group. So, I derive pleasure as long as I don't have to do any "real work". I make exceptions. Reading threads adds to my own education. it's rare for me to get an answer to my questions here.

ETO is not an Engineer's board. This is an engineering board: https://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/87369?frmtrk=cr4sd#newcomments shown with with a hobbyist question. If you go there as a student and don't say your a student, watch out. If you go there with an Engineering question you might be told relative standards to use. many cases people as what standard to use.

ETO seems more hobbyist related, with, probably, a lot of "retired" whatevers answering questions. But it is not 100%. If it fits, wear it.

Generally, I see ETO as civilized and broad topic. Spam seems virtually non-existant.
It's also a place where quality matters.

There is at least one poster on ETO that I would rather not try to argue with because sometimes you feel like your beating a dead horse to death.

Is ETO a place to "make friends"? Probably not. Why? The person answering the question probably wants to control his use of time. This can mean that posts could get delayed for a few days.
 
ETO is a place for people who enjoy electronics.

That person could have as little knowledge as need in to ask what value of resistor to use when powering an LED, all the way through to someone who can make a microprocessor controlled widget and not need any help with either the software or the hardware.

MicroWidgetMan is here because he enjoys it and does not mind helping others.
MWM is probably employed in, or retired from a place where he did electronics/programming for a living.
To the general public he may be seen as a sad old git. It is highly probable that I fall into this category.
MWM may also (re)learn a thing or two here on ETO, I know that I have.

As for going "off topic", one of the things which I appreciated here was that threads could drift about a bit to encompass related subjects.
In more recent years, posts have been deleted or commented as "off topic", this makes me disappointed sometimes.

ETO is a place where a wide range of electronics related topics may be openly discussed, I hope it continues for a long time.

JimB
 
Hi,
I would say 'kiss' and 'joe' explain ETO in the same way as I see it.

Its a Site for the hobbyist/student and the professional/experienced engineer, without the latter who would give advice and help to the hobbyist/student.?

Usually the there is minimal disagreement on the quality and detailed advice given to OP's, personally I think we have some top quality engineers on this site who have many years of experience and are eager to pass on their knowledge.

There is bound to be some disagreement on how Moderation deals with an OP who 'appears' to be a troll.

If Moderation jump in too early we are accused being nazi's, if we delay, an unholy row often develops on the Thread and Moderation then has to take action against members who are posting to the Thread and again we are accused of being nazis',,, there is no way of pleasing some people.

All I would say, if you believe an OP is behaving in an inappropriate way, use the Report button, let Moderation deal with the problem.
If you start making abusive remarks in your posts against the OP it does not solve the problem, it just causes bad feelings and more problems for everyone.

Sadly we do have one or two members, who for reasons of their own, who would like to see ETO degenerate into a free for all, as some web sites have become.

To air a personal point, I have always and still do enjoy helping the younger generation with their technical work and will continue to do so as long as I am able too.

Eric
 
Last edited:
I figure things this way. Every enthusiast starts somewhere and ETO is a great place for those with an interest in electronics to get help. That help can range from simple solutions for the new student to more complex solutions for technicians and even engineers facing complex problems. So ETO is a little online community with a focus on electronics and related topics. Actually since I found this forum and I only belong to one such forum I have found myself not only exchanging emails and some parts with other members but even Christmas cards. Go figure that? :)

Like most forums along the lines of ETO there is a collection of "regulars" and the visitors who come in with questions or problems needing some help. The majority of those seeking help generally leave happy with answers to their questions. That alone says quite a bit for ETO. Reduced to its simplest form, what is ETO? An excellent online community for electronics enthusiast and hobbiest.

Ron
 
As I said in the other thread, I agree with Eric. I do not think ETO should become a nanny site. Within very broad limits, anything should be up for discussion. I don't see how the OP's location should affect what can be discussed. Location is helpful at times in determining what resources to suggest. Anyone who continues to discuss a circuit after the OP has refused to post a schematic is practicing medicine without seeing the patient.

There are certain disruptive behaviors that our moderators quickly and effectively address, such as profanity and name calling. What we are discussing here seems to be a different type of disruptive behavior. Within the past year, Pommie was the first person I distinctly remember using the term "troll" to describe that behavior. I don't think he invented it, but I was unaware of that application of it. I had thought a troll was more of an abusive character as defined in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)). In reality, I think applying it to apparently harmless, repetitive, and almost meaningless posts is in better keeping with its other meanings. Personally, I thought some people were just posting to practice English or to get to some threshold of posts so they could use attachments and spam the site.

Trolls are disruptive. It is a control mechanism that some people use. Most people probably have had the experience of being at a meeting where one person asks endless questions, can't seem to understand after multiple explanations, and ends up completely destroying any purposeful outcome from the meeting. The Internet allows such individuals to be silenced or ignored. I think the proper action in the vast majority of instances is for members to simply ignore trolls. Moderation is not needed. In a very few instances, maybe just two over the past year in my opinion, would intervention by moderation even have been appropriate. In neither case, did I see a requirement for intervention.

Does the reward system on ETO (i.e., "likes") facilitate such trolling as it does on certain social media? I think that is something our moderation group and EM should consider. It became pretty obvious in one of those aforementioned threads where comments to the effect of, "I only post here to get positive rep," were made.

John
 
Fascinating views.
Does the reward system on ETO (i.e., "likes") facilitate such trolling as it does on certain social media? I think that is something our moderation group and EM should consider. It became pretty obvious in one of those aforementioned threads where comments to the effect of, "I only post here to get positive rep," were made.

As i remember it LG posted that, it was a tongue in cheek comment. LG is not allowed to post in this thread, I feel that anything he thinks or feels about the topic, could be seen in different ways by different people. But LG has said at home many times he thinks the like system is doing more harm than good.
He prefers squares of old, i think a system of some sort is needed as it provides a kind of quality control, even new poster with say 100 posts and 15 likes, shows that they are someone who is helpful and with knowledge. But i agree that it is only of use if used correctly, and sadly one or two dish them out for nothing.
Back to the comments, i am pleased no one has come to grind an axe, what i wanted was an insight into how others view the forum, that i now have. As someone that has been around the internet since the days of JANET and phone coupled handsets, ETO is on the whole a great site.
The use of Troll on forums is actually from way way back, i can remember it from 20 years ago. Most forums allow the culling of trolls, it is often seen as sport! The danger with that is everybody starts to look like one after a while.
Thanks again for all the replies.
 
"I only post here to get positive rep," were made.

John

Hi John. I hope you are referring to me and my constant amusement at Flyback "liking all posts"...in spite of people basically wanting to get rid of him and his never ending I****** posts??? Just like a fly, keeps coming back even if you try to swat it...

Regards,
tvtech
 
Re. g11 and tvtech: I was referring to several comments of that kind, not just LG's or yours. I think it is quite obvious when a zero-content post or a "deleted" post gets rep'd. That person is "trolling" for comments.

As for the general matter of rep, I think our current system is much improved over the previous one. I think it may be tweaked a little, but that is really not the topic of this thread, is it?

John
 
Seeing the comments above..YES green boxes were better than the "like" system. Anytime.

Green boxes meant approval and recognition from real people. Not possible spammers.

TBO..that is the one thing that really peed on my battery with the new software....I worked really hard with relatively few posts to get lots of green. There are many here I suspect that feel the same.

Speak your heart out guys. I believe it not only bugs me....but a lot of good people that have helped here over the years that worked for every green box that they had appear under their Avatar.

I remember Nigel and Eric and a few other members sitting on green of note when I joined here a few years ago. That told me immediately that these guys were up to speed and would help and not confuse me. They were A1 rated....and their beautiful green boxes showed WITH EVERY POST they made....

There for all to see. Not on some "like" system. Where there are numbers but no real values.

Sorry EM. The "like" system sucks. Hopefully, xenForo has a way around this.

Regards,
tvtech
 
Last edited:
I have been a member here for quite some time, posted a little initially, but slowly wandered away from here to a less formal setting. I used to check in now and then and read for a while etc, but rarely posted. Recently however, I have kind of got my mojo back and have made more of an effort to at least participate. Hopefully my meager contributions have at least helped some folks out, I know that I am most grateful for the help that I have received in the past from here, not to mention the little snippets of gold that I have picked up all along the way on topics that I wouldn't have thought interested me at first.

I personally like a little banter in a thread, not only does it make your day a little brighter, but I think it helps to distract you just long enough to provide some insulation from the technical detail and give your brain time to absorb the material being discussed, perhaps even spark some new ideas. Especially true for a complete novice not up on the jargon or style of posting. I feel it is as much about helping the op become confident enough to post, even when they are offtrack or out of their depth with a subject, irrespective of their technical ability, knowledge or qualification, as much as it is about helping the topic of the thread roll along. In time folks usually begin to focus and learn to frame their responses better, thereby allowing threads to become more in depth, or, in some cases, sprout arms and legs, such is the nature of the subject and the enthusiasm of the participants :)

I would say that the exact target audience of these forums is hard to nail down. The needs of those visiting seems to fluidly switch from a requirement for strong professional technical content to experienced enthusiasts all the way down to the lowly one off complete novice. I see things happen in "waves" here and elsewhere, sometimes it's Uni students looking for help with yet another temperature controller, other times it's a complete novice in electronics from some other industry entirely, mechanic, farmer, painter etc looking for a simple, elegant electrical/ electronic solution to a problem they encounter in their own field, sometimes it's just a youngster looking to build some flashy disco lights for his Corsa and unfortunately sometimes it's just one troll after another. Of course there are also highly experienced professionals visiting here, retired or otherwise, that also need help, come here to learn about or share new technologies or to freely give their time to help others.

ETO is like the technical sections of a good library, you never know who might visit, or from where, but all are there to get something out of it :)

I know nothing about the "like" thingy, I'm not up on social media, nor really want to be, so the whole thing is pretty meaningless to me. If my help has been well received by the op, or others, it's usually pretty obvious to me within the thread. Likewise, the opposite is also true :)
 
Ditto with tvtech on the "Like" system. Too FB for me (and, frankly, not a little too juvenile).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the green/red boxes were more of a "peer review" sort of assessment, right?

If not, just how did the box thingy work (used to know but sort of forgot...)?
 
A while ago, my wife suggested that it would be good for me to join Internet forums on subjects that might interest me. So, I did join a few. I found out that all the forums work mostly as question/answer boards rather than discussion boards. There are some discussions here and there, but posts without queations often generate very short-lived threads. I probably won't be doing the forum thing for much longer, but who knows, life always find ways to surprise you. I don't think it's important whether participants are hobbyists or hired professionals. I found ETO to be better than others because nobody tries to sell or push something through the forum, and I think we should all be grateful for this.


Hi,

Hey if you are interested in this stuff why not stay with it? We do get into discussions sometimes which are interesting, mostly electronic related.
For example, several of us got into a discussion about what it takes to get an oscillation (as a min requirement) as compared to what was put forth by Barkhausen.
 
Personally I feel any subject relating to the site, should be discussed in an open manner, like in this thread. Just as an example, the question of location pops up now and then. Obviously some have very strong views on this, some views are seen as racist, and at times i feel the default setting is to assume the comment is meant in a racist way, Some are certainly racist but I think these are the minority.
My own view is, most of the problems come purely because of the differences in culture, what is seen as rude in some cultures is actually the norm in others. You also have the language problem, things get lost in translations and sometimes words are used in the wrong context, or in a manner that makes some prickle. But maybe after this thread is dead and gone, it is another subject worth discussing in the same manner as this one
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest threads

New Articles From Microcontroller Tips

Back
Top