Is it me, or....

Korishan

Administrator
Joined
Jan 7, 2017
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Does it seem like there's been an influx of new users who just get on the site, sign up, and just create new posts asking the same questions (almost exactly) as previous people did months ago?

There's a search option for the forum. It's easy to put in the search box "fuse amp wire size" or "storage voltage" or "discharge cell amp" or some other search criteria.

I'm all for asking questions. BUT, the question has mostly likely been answered or a variation of it already. Read, Research, Dig deep into the wealth of knowledge that's already been posted.

If you aren't willing to spend time reading and searching for your answers, then you don't have the patience to be working on something like a powerwall. It takes time, it takes patience, it takes doing things right the first time or at least learning from others have done.

I think most of the first 100 or so users on here spent days (almost literally hour for hour) watching youtube videos, reading online documentation and analyzing every little thing we could first. THEN we started asking the questions that we couldn't find anywhere else. Or started saying "What if we did...." and testing it out.

Knowledge is power, and Wisdom through knowledge. Gain knowledge through research, not through begging and being lazy. It could get someone killed in the end for being lazy.


That's my rant. I think we're all entitled to one good rant from time to time.
 
I hope you're not talking about me.

I try to research but conflicting information is all over the place and things change rapidly so some times a fresh opinion on an old topic is appreciated.
 
Sunplumber said:
I hope you're not talking about me.

I try to research but conflicting information is all over the place and things change rapidly so some times a fresh opinion on an old topic is appreciated.

No, you're not of that type. Your posts about the diode matrices and RV stuff I found interesting. ;)
 
Where do you guys find the used laptop batteries? What should I discharge each cell too while I am testing them and what is the best current to use for the test? Please help!

Haha, couldn't resist!?

I've only been here a month and muffed up once with the eBay Opus, otherwise the search engine here actually works well and returns usable data for any questions I have.

Now can you tell me what is the best wire for fuses? Haha....love ya!
 
LOL :p The best fuse wire to use is the one you can't hold on to when putting a dead short across it ;)
 
If it is in the interest of the community to share knowledge, then that knowledge should be presented in a manner which is easy to, find for the beginner and, refer to for those with more experience.
Not everyone has the time, or the patience to trawl sites. For those people, some type of FAQ thread could be created, either containing, or linking to, well articulated answers.
If beginners are not catered for, then I expect they may not interact with the site and may continue to browse for other sites from which they can obtain the information they seek.
It may also be that Google will rate such a thread highly, which will in turn attract more people to the site. As with any specialist interest site, there is always a danger of becoming exclusive, which may deter the growth of the community.
 
There will always be questions being asked over and over again. thats normal even on forums. Some FAQ can always get some of the questions answered but at same time many of the questions are so dependant on information that a FAQ cant answer it.

Its a fine line and its always hard. It do cost time to answer every single persons questions :)
 
@Power Up,

I understand your point of view, but not every successful site is "catered to beginners." I enjoy the EEV Blog Forum and there is extremely high level conversation of that site and they are extremely successful. Although, they do boast a "Beginners Tab" so maybe that's a good idea for Pete and the gang.

I don't think the purpose of this site is to teachanyone.It's a sharing site forhobbyists as they explain in the intro. Give it a read. Pete clearly lays out the what the users expectation should be.
 
The problem with the search feature is it does not easily filter results.I just searched capacity testing and came up with 6 pages of stuff. Lots of info but hard to digest. I think a newbie section with the "Basics" would be an excellent addition.
 
Daggerzz said:
The problem with the search feature is it does not easily filter results.I just searched capacity testing and came up with 6 pages of stuff. Lots of info but hard to digest. I think a newbie section with the "Basics" would be an excellent addition.

but the fisrtpart of your posts sums how many people act now a days:

"I don't want to read more than I have too. I just want my questions answered now and without having to be bothered with the labor of reading any 'unnecessary'information."

To those folks I say, DO YOUR OWN EXPERIMENTS AND GET RESULTS! Quit relying on the word of other people AND GO LEARN!
 
Daggerzz the search function isnt that smart and will never be. Google on the other hand use a very advanced AI behind and cannot be compared. I know that many people are use to Google search engine and expect every site to work like that but its not working.
You also need to take into account on how you are going to search. By posts or threads.

If you want an advanced search engine use google on the site.

Example of using google to search: https://www.google.se/search?q=gooe...te:http://secondlifestorage.com+capacity+test


And also as mentioned even though a forum do contain a lot of information its a DIY site and do mostly contain personal experience and perhaps not something that can be used 100% on your install.

Its always possible to write together good threads that later on can be pinned by us for FAQ and other things.
 
Just for the record I'm not complaining about the quality of info on this site or how easy or hard it is to find information. I was just giving my 2 cents on why people may not use the search feature. Personally I read the new posts every day and do go off on my own experiments. But I do appreciate the info here and getting pushed in the right direction. I hope I have not asked too many silly questions LOL.
 
daromer: I was thinking the same thing with Google. It can do the super advanced search on the site outside of the sites own search criteria.

Inverted: I agree. Too many people basically have the attitude of "I don't want to read more than I have too" and repost the same question thats already been answered. This is the main reason why I ranted on this. Several times I've seen questions asked that, had they looked a few posts down the thread list, they'd found their answers. In fact, several others have answered with: "Go read this post [link to thread]"

Daggerzz: I'm not against "silly" questions. We all ask them, even some pretty down right dumb ones at times because we weren't thinking, had not enough sleep, too much to drink, etc, etc. It happens, I get it. That's fine.
I just don't like the repetitive question asking when it was already answered 2, 3, even 4 or 5 times already within a month time period.

How hard is it to just skim through the site threads by heading. That pretty much gives you a lot of information based on what someone may be looking for.
The Powerwall Builds section is one that every thread should be read, or at least skimmed through because there are so many different variations of designs, thoughts, plans, suggestions.
Cells and more section is pretty self explanatory and if there are questions about charging, this is probably where it's at. Or discharging, or procedures, etc, etc.
Electronics section, wow, easy peasy. Where others are planning their own chargers, or other types of designs.

The sections are so clear of what the thread content is going to be. Mike did a great job in getting things straightened out. I just dont get it why some people don't first look in the threads (and go beyond page 1). It's so easy.

Ok, that's my sub-rant :p
 
No worries :)

The search function in forum is not the best and even I use Google for it sometimes. So thats my tip. There is no "easy" way out of it what i know of. I know some that have changed the search and such but i havent seen any perfect result.

But I am on some places where we have built up FAQ sections but it takes time and the ones that is in for the easy answer still tend to ignore those pages. But on the other hand you can link them in to people. Its worth mentioning that it differ between people who have used forums for years to people just starting. Im the generation using forums since the first ones came out :)
 
Inverted18650 said:
@Power Up,

I understand your point of view, but not every successful site is "catered to beginners." I enjoy the EEV Blog Forum and there is extremely high level conversation of that site and they are extremely successful. Although, they do boast a "Beginners Tab" so maybe that's a good idea for Pete and the gang.

I don't think the purpose of this site is to teachanyone.It's a sharing site forhobbyists as they explain in the intro. Give it a read. Pete clearly lays out the what the users expectation should be.

The difference here is that the EEV Blog is for those interested in electronics. Powerwalls, in the proposed form,are a relatively new concept, andopen up a world of efficient resources use for many people, in addition to the fun of building one and the community spirit which may be offered. Each well consideredsite will have a target market, which may, or may not, be related to the existing education of the site visitor.

Those who are interested in renewable resources, and the concept of powerwalls may not have the technical knowledge of many of the site members. The Tesla powerwall is, at the moment, out of the reach of many. However, the possibility of individuals making their own, at less cost, is appealing.

Pete has been very generous with his knowledge, and experience, through his learning process. His efforts to educate others should be recognisedand appreciated. I, for one, have learnt from Pete, and I am grateful to him. I expect that many others do not intrinsically have the knowledge to build a DIY Powerwall on their own, and the contributions of those who are breaking new ground in this field, and educating the rest of us,(such as Daromer, Pete, Mike, jehugarcia, avaeagejoe etc etc), should be appreciated and encouraged. :)
 
PowerUp said:
Those who are interested in renewable resources, and the concept of powerwalls may not have the technical knowledge of many of the site members. The Tesla powerwall is, at the moment, out of the reach of many. However, the possibility of individuals making their own, at less cost, is appealing.

Pete has been very generous with his knowledge, and experience, through his learning process. His efforts to educate others should be recognisedand appreciated. I, for one, have learnt from Pete, and I am grateful to him. I expect that many others do not intrinsically have the knowledge to build a DIY Powerwall on their own, and the contributions of those who are breaking new ground in this field, and educating the rest of us,(such as Daromer, Pete, Mike, jehugarcia, avaeagejoe etc etc), should be appreciated and encouraged. :)
I agree with all that. I have no problem sharing information. That's not what sparked my rant. It was those who don't want to take the time to read what had already been posted. I saw several posts within days of each other asking the same question from different users. That's wherein lies my disgruntlement.

Here's the issue:
* Initially questions are asked, ideas are raised, problems are tackled. These are all posted and replies are given
* Secondly, there are questions that question the first group, or at least further refine the existing information
* Thirdly, as information is collected, it now becomes a resource for harvesting and learning from. We do this using the search tools (either the sites search, or Googles site search)
By the very nature of those three together, makes the site a very powerful learning tool. However, what happens is when someone starts asking questions (without searching first), when later someone who actually "does" search the site, they get in the mix the posts that have short answered, non-informative answers, or where no-one replies. This in tern gives the implication that no-one really care about the information on the site and a new user may just move on to someplace else frustrated for getting dud results.


In removing the dud/repetitive/non-thought-out threads, then the searches become far more powerful and meaningful.
I've been to forums where you do a search, 20+ results, and over 1/2 of them are basically the same question and the responses are short and kinda informative. Or there's no replies at all. You have to spend time wading through the junk responses before you get to the ones that are actually informative and full of life.
I just would like this site to not become of those kinds of sites. I like Mike's 18650 DB, that's awesome. It'd be nice if the other sections are just as clean and clutter-free. Let's hope they can be :)
 
Oh good it's not just me :D
I watched nearly every 18650 powerwall related video available in early 2016 and going forward, read the whole forum before registering and continued to read for like 3 months before first posting.

Just had a thought, what about a quiz before being able to create your first thread in Solar & Wind. 10-15 questions, all of which have answers available on the site and can be linked to.
 
I agree it seems the same questions are being asked again and again ....

It might be helpful to have some key pieces of information laid out in a prominent position , some hard facts which no one disputes ...

For example I think the most important thing for newcomers to understand is the benefits of not charging too high !!!

Charge to 4.2 V you can expect a cell life of 400 cycles .... Charge to 3.93V you get the maximum possible ... 3,200 cycles!!! (from a new cell)....

Only charging to 3.93V you get 65% of the full rated capacity @4.2V ..... so 5 times more useful work from a cell, over it's life , by charging only to 3.93V and not 4.2V.
 
I think you'll never be able to avoid 'lazy' people asking the same questions over and over again (I'm sometimes lazy, too )... but I agree with you all, the information quality suffers from that. But for constantly high quality, a board like this is not the right tool. If quality is the main goal, we should set up a moderated wiki or at least a seperate moderated forum.
From my point of view, it's enough to tell people asking already answered questions to use the search function or to point them to the old/original thread. If they do it again, they can be warned and if they still continue, they can be banned.
 
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