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Author Topic: A Quiet Plea?  (Read 2179 times)

sweeper

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A Quiet Plea?
« on: April 14, 2007, 10:08:37 pm »

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. 
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: A Quiet Plea?
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2007, 10:28:07 pm »



Amen


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OMK

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Re: A Quiet Plea?
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2007, 01:06:29 pm »

Total, total respect!
I only wish I had your gift of stringing words together like that.

Duly heeded.
Lessons learned.


From one sparky to another... Thanks.
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BarryM

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Re: A Quiet Plea?
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2007, 02:18:38 pm »

I think that the problem here is that simple text does not always reflect the same emotions and nuances as the spoken word. We judge meaning by what we hear. Thus one man's attempt at brevity, clarity or whatever, can be interpreted as another's incitement to assault. Unless we are going to turn every posting into a full-blown descriptive passage of narrative (Jane Eyre on ESCs?) , then the risk is always there. 'Smilies' can be naff sometimes but perhaps they have their place?    :)

Barry M

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OMK

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Re: A Quiet Plea?
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2007, 02:45:29 pm »

That much is true.
I confess, I wish it were me that could be credited with the following paraphrase, but that accolade goes to Doug 99.
He once said: "The written word is not as flexible as the spoken intonation". Which, in my book, pretty much says it all.
But even though I and loads of others are aware of the dangers of misread words and misread understandings, I have to admit, no matter how hard one tries, it comes back to that old adage that one cannot please ALL the people ALL the time.
Screw it. I know I don't mean any offence to anyone. And I'm dammed if I'm going to succumb to the use of so-called 'smiles' or mdrn txt spk. So I'm heeding wise words. From now on I too am taking onboard the same let-them-get-on-with-it approach.

Model boats, model planes, guitars, wimmin, RC electronics is my bag.
This arguing malarky is too heavy.
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sweeper

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Re: A Quiet Plea?
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2007, 11:53:39 pm »

Hi there PMK,

I was tempted to send you a PM regarding this thread but I feel, that in the interests of openness, it is better done "on board".

The comments were not aimed at you, in fact I can empathise with you in many respects in your frustration. Perhaps not quite as short a fuse may be the solution you are looking for? You can often see more if you are on the outside looking in on the problem.
Sadly, no matter what you try to do in assisting someone, you will invariably upset someone else - sod's law. From a personal point of view I hope that you don't shut up the shop. There are a number of people on this forum who can and do produce fascinating posts, to the point of being worth reading for educational value even if the topic is not something that lights your fire.
I would suggest an approach of offering information in the spirit of helpfulness using the old kiss theory (keeping everything as simple as is possible) and let the reader make their own mind up as to the validity of your knowledge. In my mind you can offer information but the individual has the divine right to ignore it if they choose. After all, if some sprog or wannabe boy electrician considers that they know more than or choose to ignore a well versed pro - who are you to argue with them? If they know so much, why are they asking in the first place? A suitable motto for some is "that they don't know enough to know how little they do know".
Keep the faith man, arguing only does your blood pressure a mischief!
Until speech technology becomes the norm on forums we will always run into problems with intonation.

Hope all is well in the land of the apple juice!
Regards
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BarryM

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Re: A Quiet Plea?
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2007, 07:58:30 am »

Gents,
If this topic is headed "A Quiet Plea", our silence seems to be taking up an awful lot of room?

Barry M   ;)

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sweeper

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Re: A Quiet Plea?
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2007, 10:43:22 am »

Back to intonation again?

Try reading it as a quiet plea - as opposed to the screaming,  ranting and hair tearing that went on in the original thread.
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