Evening all,
I'm not sure if this is the correct place to enter this thread, perhaps our moderator will allow it or shift it to the suitable place.
May I introduce a little bit of a plea into the electrical / electronics board please.
I have sat and watched as the temperatures and passions increased in the thread on switches. I am NOT taking sides with ANYONE or ANY POINT of view on this topic. But I would like to look at the problem objectively (I hope), having been at various times on both sides of the fence as questioner and answerer.
As a life-long electrical tradesman it does sometimes upset me to see some of the posts. In many cases the terminology is wrong, the questions lack the basic facts to allow a value judgement for an answer to be formulated. As has been shown in the thread, this can be akin to showing a red flag to a bull. To gain assistance from the forum (which is, surely the purpose of the exercise), can a simple process be followed in which people submit as much detail as they can so that the "pro's " who inhabit this area can have a good fighting chance of giving a decent answer.
I realise that of the many people who use this board have very widely based backgrounds, in many cases very highly specialised areas. We all have the same problem if you examine it, we all need experts at different times.
Having spent many years in electrical education I have an inbuilt tendancy to want to correct the technically incorrect statements and terms. I have now adopted a "let them get on with it" approach. Partly for the reason that you are likely to be shot at from many angles for attempting to help and tarred with the label of being a complete smart a*** for trying to help. I, for one, have had enough grief from this to be very wary of getting flamed just for trying to help.
Let's have an outbreak of peace and harmony guys, strike a balance or a deal.
(1) Let the learners provide as much technical information as they can.
(2) Then allow the people with the knowledge mull the problem over and take an educated stab at an answer.
You never know, it may just work. Oh yes, let's all refrain from throwing our toys out of the pram eh?
Just a private viewpoint, please yourselves.
Regards to all.