Help - Or lynch mob?

[wade88]

Not that i am in any particular position to preach and that is certainly not my angle here lads so no head biting please, but is it just me or has anyone else noticed the increasing amount of "non useful replies" that generally end up in the OP just getting leathered and not receiving the help or advice they were after.

Now i also understand this is a forum for like minded sparks to come on and discuss topics and exchange knowledge, tittilate over new testers or moan about our missus', but when a genuine soul in need of some steering comes on with a bit of a daft question, the instant tactic has almost become shoot the bugger down like they are in control of a kamikazee plane. Is it not better to highlight their in experience if necessary and point them in the right direction in regards to finding a solution, instead of just abusing the poster and totally destroying any hope of help or any dwindling self confidence they may have had to begin with.

Dangerous questions and posters showing zero signs of any knowledge need to be swerved away for sure, but just because someone owns up to having done a course, or has qualifications that you may deem to be "good enough" because you did it a different way (and lets to be honest - a little ****ed off that the option to gain enough quals to work that way are now available), fact is that you can go our and work after completing these courses, and people are well in their rights to do so, and should therefore be treated as friends of the trade not enemies, they, like the rest of us, are just trying to earn a buck and get on in life after all....

....but not posting at all if they is nothing useful to say is a much better approach then lynching the man then and there for just trying to understand a bit better.

There is an absolute wealth of knowledge on this forum between all your heads - would be way better to see it put to good use, then have to keep reading posts where it ends up in a barny 60% of the time and then enduring the inevitable slanging match that follows.

I for one learn more from sitting here for 30 mins a day with my coffee at work reading what you lads write then i would pick up from stuffinf my face in a book - its interactive on here and the varied opinions open up the ability to understand better. It would be a shame if all i learnt (and hundreds of others for that matter) after the time i drink my last mouth full and have dunked my last digestive, is not a better understanding of electrics, but instead 5 more different ways to convince a man hes an :-------:

I may be alone on this, and feel i have backed myself up against that bullet hole riddled wall already but im just saying...

 

[telectrix]

Well, Ben, I for one agree with you. And please note that I am managing to use Capital Letters . I've been practising. LOL.

 

[trev]

Tell you what Wade, after some of the stuff that's gone on tonight, if it weren't for a fairly small group of people who are regular contributors (all of which shall remain nameless but most of whom I'm talking about will know who you are) I'd be seriously considering PMing one of the mods to remove my log in mate.
Why can't people accept that we will have differences of opinion and that there's no need to throw thinly veiled insults around?
Why can't people see that we're all in pretty much the same boat and that we should be trying to help each other out with advice not criticism?
Sometimes I despair, rant over

 

[SparkyJoe]

tldr ;p

(and flee.)

 

[trev]

tldr????

 

[trev]

Never mind SparkyJoe, I googled it

 

[Richard Burns]

TLDR = too long didn't read
Just as well he is fleeing!

Wade you are right, it is not reasonable to attack someone for asking a question, it is better to let them know, politely, if they are out of depth or dangerous. I have replied inappropriately sometimes, (hopefully not often) when getting frustrated but do try to be polite and if I can't be I do not answer.

 

[wade88]

My general philosophy is speak to someone here as I would to their face. The internet is great for cowards and ego trippers to hide behind when it comes to playing the big man, but at the end of the day is this not a forum for help and advice and friendly banter - not for winding people up throwing weight around?

If you don't like the look of something, move on. I usually end up on "Trev's joke of the day". I much prefer laughing then I do going all red in the face.

*carefully scanning for grammatical errors...Tel is out to get me with his army of grammar Borgs*

:95:

 

[Resu]

Welcome to the internets. This happens everywhere mate there's not a lot you can do about it.

 

[wade88]

Welcome to the internets. This happens everywhere mate there's not a lot you can do about it.

No I understand that Resu, it's just a shame.

 

[telectrix]

ben, you going to enter the civilised world north of watford next week for elex in manchester?

 

[parker56]

Why don't people think back to when they were young & asking for advice,did you expect to get abuse or pointed in the right direction,I think in this day & age it's easier to ask rather than find the answer & work the problem out,not saying thats the correct way.
These are differant times today everything is at such a pace now & knowledge is King, seems alot of people don't or want to pass on there knowledge.
but i have to say there is a good number of people on here that deserve respect for there helpfulness & knowledge,where others just like the war of words. (sad world realy)

 

[wade88]

ben, you going to enter the civilised world north of watford next week for elex in manchester?

Afraid not Tel I have my sons first little sports day on the Thursday afternoon then I have him for the weekend - and having not seen him for almost 10 days I am absolutely bursting to spend the small and frankly unfair amount of allocated time a fortnight I get to see him for. So I shall be knee deep in play doh and making castles out of the sofa cushions.

 

[Knobhead]

Ben,
Time with you son is more important than anything, enjoy it while you can. Believe me I know.

 

[parker56]

Ben have a great time with your son,every minute counts.

 

[wade88]

I know lads, and in 2 weeks his mother is moving away another 150 miles away with him back to her parents in Suffolk. So I shall be clocking up the mileage and seeing even less of him. Tears me to pieces to think about everything i miss - but perspective has taught me to be grateful for what I have all the same.

I just hope the weather improves by the weekend so I can do something nice!

 

[Adam W]

Why don't people think back to when they were young & asking for advice,did you expect to get abuse or pointed in the right direction,I think in this day & age it's easier to ask rather than find the answer & work the problem out,not saying thats the correct way.
These are differant times today everything is at such a pace now & knowledge is King, seems alot of people don't or want to pass on there knowledge.
but i have to say there is a good number of people on here that deserve respect for there helpfulness & knowledge,where others just like the war of words. (sad world realy)

It depends how a question is asked - often someone will state in their first post that they've been called out to a customer whose RCD keeps tripping and demand to know what to do, or again in their first post will demand all the answers to their homework. While I wouldn't partake in the flaming myself, these people are almost inviting it, and they don't help themselves by coming out with lines like "I thought this was supposed to be a helpline forum, well you're not helping".
I never experienced that myself because I believe there is such a thing as asking for something tactfully and politely, rather than harvesting the kindness of good-willed individuals.

Likewise when I was younger and wanted assistance I would try to make a topical conversation out of it and show an interest in learning, rather than barging in and demanding a series of one word answers from a load of complete strangers.

 

[Tonkatoy27]

I find some people jump to the cowboy references far too quickly on here sometimes, just because someone does something different to the way they do it. My now fully qualified apprentice sometimes takles jobs completely differently from the way I would, it doesn't make him wrong, it just means his thought process is different. Spouting off to someone and calling them names without knowing them isn't very mature and doesn't contribute at all. (schoolyard bully springs to mind)
I see this forum as somewhere qualified sparkies can discuss and learn from each other. However, the DIYer trying to get us to tell him how to wire up his new bathroom lights so he can save a few quid should only be told one piece of advice. Get an electrician in.

Read more: http://www.electriciansforums.net/e...esting-how-far-do-you-go-2.html#ixzz1xbRplWEh

 

[Adam W]

I think there's a difference between 'doing things differently' and 'taking shortcuts'. I'm not suggesting that everyone who takes the occasional shortcut is a cowboy because I'm guilty of it myself, but as I was told at college we weren't there to learn shortcuts because we'd figure them out for ourselves in the real world - we were there to learn how to do things properly. Similarly I feel a responsible answer on an internet forum, especially a public one, should encourage everything to be done 'properly' rather than sharing ingenious ways to cut corners.

 

[dingledong]

but its odd ... the people who know nothing shouldn't be helped the people who say they are apprentices shouldnt be helped either cos they work with an electrician and why dont they ask him ?? soare they really apprenices or people who know nothing making out . also there is 1 person on here who does no have a clue comes on here and asks basic questions ,ewhere he working somewhere charging people good money and we are telling him what to do !!! please have the decency to at least go on a course . rather than just using this forum