We need a bot.

[wildbill]

There are some topics which come up so often and have the same answer that I wonder if a bot would be useful. The issue that triggered this thought is someone having servo issues. It seems to me it would be a public service if *any* mention of servo in the thread title led to an automatic posting of something like this:

Most servo issues are power related. If you are powering the servo from the Arduino you are hosed and your Arduino may well be too. A 9V smoke detector battery is another poor choice. Get a separate power supply that can supply sufficient current for your servo model. Don't forget to connect the grounds.

I'm sure Mr. servo bot could have other useful canned responses too, but that one seems like it would be the right answer in 999 cases out of 1000.

[Delta_G]

But who would the noobs report to the moderators for rudeness when they get this perfectly reasonable advice?

[raymw]

hopefully it could delete the thread too? Else we'd have a plethora of short threads, which may not be exciting.

[Qdeathstar]

delete the poster. Terminator style.

[groundFungus]

I have some canned answers in Notepad++ for common questions.  So instead of typing the answer over and over I just copy and paste.  Also a canned read the stickies response.

[Robin2]

I have some canned answers in Notepad++ for common questions. 

Likewise - I find them especially useful for answers that include links which are so easy to get wrong.

...R

[raymw]

If you use a canned answer, then it usually shuts down the thread. The op most likely will clear off, or maybe repost the query in another section. It prevents discussion by those who may be interested in teasing out the details. It may be better not to answer at all. It sort of reminds me of bidding on ebay - who gets in quickest, and increases their status.

I can see the frustration, however, seeing the same questions repeated. This is why I think the structure is flawed, the way the topics are set out, etc, but apparently that will not be changed. There is not high enough 'fee' for entry, I guess. But, equally, I've not got any insight as to what function this forum is really meant to be fulfilling.

[Robin2]

If you use a canned answer, then it usually shuts down the thread.

I don't agree. Many of my standard answers include links to tutorials relevant to the OP's question.

...R

[pert]

If you use a canned answer, then it usually shuts down the thread. The op most likely will clear off, or maybe repost the query in another section. It prevents discussion by those who may be interested in teasing out the details. It may be better not to answer at all. It sort of reminds me of bidding on ebay - who gets in quickest, and increases their status.

Please explain your reasoning behind this opinion.

I don't see a difference to the OP between me posting a copy/paste answer vs me hand crafting an answer with the exact same information, but slightly different wording every time. OP will never even know it was a copy/paste answer because they would have needed to bother to search the forum to see my previous identical posts and if they had done that then they never would have needed to ask the question in the first place. The only difference is that I can spend a good deal of time writing and refining a high quality answer to common a question and after that it takes me only a matter of seconds to copy paste it every time that same question comes up. That means I can work more efficiently and have time to help more people. Everyone wins.

[pert]

The bot I really want is one that detects the language and blocks the post if it non-English language is being posted to the English language forum sections. Moving those non-English posts represents a major part of the work of being a moderator. The technology is available to easily do this reliably.

[raymw]

I guess it depends on which side of the fence you sit on, giver or taker.  Also, I suppose, depending on my coffeee content, my opinion varies. I am in favour of a more restrictive/exclusive forum, and a 'helpful' bot would help in achieving that, e.g. as Wildbill originally suggested. I've not been here long enough, but I get annoyed? by the op's who have been set a project, and instead of asking for further information from who-ever set it, they come here looking for a solution. If they get the answer, they clear off anyway, I suspect. (maybe it's possible to get some statistics on that.)


I have a belief that many an op asks a simple question (to him) but we know there is more to it than what he thinks, so we fire back with a stock response - send diagrams/ specifications. The op's then realises that more effort will be required by them, so clear's off. The op only sees that one stock reply. I see that type of reply in many threads, because I've not 'cleared off'.  So, on reflection, it will make no difference to the op, but it does to me, and visitors, this overall appearance of the forum.

It would be better, but maybe only for me, but probably not possible, if those short threads could be removed. A bot could do that, I guess.

Perhaps a simple enrollment test to enter, may be possible - like a captcha - but with a semi tech question. Maybe a  separate  area for the raw beginners.

[pert]

I could see how bot supplied canned answers could be problematic, since the bot will likely not be smart enough to know when the canned answer is completely irrelevant. But the conversation drifted to human supplied canned answers before you made your reply. My opinion is that if a human carefully reads the question and then selects the appropriate canned answer, this benefits everyone.

If we need more information to answer a question, then we need more information. I'm not going to avoid asking for that information out of the fear that it's somehow harmful to the appearance of the forum. I think much more harmful would be for us to just ignore the questions that don't have enough information to provide an answer, or even worse, to make a bunch of wild guesses.

[raymw]

I guess it's a bit like firefighting, putting out a lot of small fires, but it would be better if the small fires wre not allowed to start. (insert suitable word instead of 'better')
As I do not have a circuit diagram, or a defined description of what the forum hopes to achieve, I can't give any meaningful help. Where's the manufacturer's specification?   

[Robin2]

It would be better, but maybe only for me, but probably not possible, if those short threads could be removed. A bot could do that, I guess.

I don't see the short Threads (where the OP disappeared) have an effect on anything apart from the disk space needed to store them - and disk space is so cheap that it would not be cost effective to weed them out.

I'm assuming the discussion of having a "bot" is firmly tongue-in-cheek. If not then I would be against it. I can think of nothing worse than a newbie's post being dumped by some silly robot - no matter how silly the question.

To put things in perspective the Forum's anti-spam software can't even detect posts about search-engine-optimisation.

...R

[TomGeorge]

I have some canned answers in Notepad++ for common questions.  So instead of typing the answer over and over I just copy and paste.  Also a canned read the stickies response.

DITTO......