Do you people agree that when someone goes to post a topic on a forum here they should be forced to read the "how to use this forum" articles? I can personally tell you when i first joined the forum my posts where horrible (and still are somewhat). If i was forced to read the instructions i think my postings whould have started out better.
Every forum has its forum Nazis. They get pleasure in pounding newbies for missing some subtle point in their wonderful advice. People need to get over themselves.... seriously..... so a newbie says 'help' as a title..... big deal.... Its a quick cut and paste... to request more info or direct to 'how to ask a question', but small minded people think they show some silly sort of power by attacking newbies mistakes. I pray I will never become so petty!
Brosco:
Every forum has its forum Nazis.
Like every forum has its whining trolls.
They get pleasure in pounding newbies for missing some subtle point in their wonderful advice.
This statement of yours is complete nonsense.
There may be some people who are curt, all try to help in their own way.
.
1 Like
Brosco:
I pray I will never become so petty!
It's a bit late for that 
I was tempted to write a few words in your defence (or at least to soften some of the criticism) in the other Thread but your comment in this Thread has been successful in alienating me also.
...R
Edit to add ... For the avoidance of doubt this is the content of Reply #1 that I am referring to
Brosco:
Every forum has its forum Nazis. They get pleasure in pounding newbies for missing some subtle point in their wonderful advice. People need to get over themselves.... seriously..... so a newbie says 'help' as a title..... big deal.... Its a quick cut and paste... to request more info or direct to 'how to ask a question', but small minded people think they show some silly sort of power by attacking newbies mistakes. I pray I will never become so petty!
Brosco:
Every forum has its forum Nazis. They get pleasure in pounding newbies for missing some subtle point in their wonderful advice. ... I pray I will never become so petty!
I think your time with us will be short. In case you haven't noticed (and I have) most if not all of the people with high post counts are retired, experienced, electrical engineers or programmers. Or just people with an enthusiasm for the hobby of microcomputers, programming, and having fun making things work. We have had many jobs, learned how to relate to other people, we have had kids, and have had fun in life.
Now we are trying to give back to the community by helping others enjoy the world of programming, electronics, design, and implementation. Often we are successful. It certainly isn't in anyone's personality (that I have seen) to "pound newbies".
We get a little frustrated when, day after day, people jump in without reading any posting guidelines, and make a thread with poor spelling, no details (such as what Arduino you have, what code you are using, and how your circuit is wired up). Then the thread title is: "Help! Urgent!".
So we sigh and reach for the much-used boilerplate, and ask for more information, and can you please put your code into code tags, so it is readable.
This usually works, except a few people take exception, and let fly with the insults.
This is a free forum, we posters (and moderators) are not being paid. So if you wish to leave: Goodbye!
I received a PM from @Brosco which I have no intention of replying to. Anything that needs to be said should be said in public. I have no intention of indulging in secret slagging of other Forum members.
And in this particular case I have nothing to add to my Reply #4 above.
...R
Robin2:
I received a PM from @Brosco which I have no intention of replying to. Anything that needs to be said should be said in public. I have no intention of indulging in secret slagging of other Forum members.And in this particular case I have nothing to add to my Reply #4 above.
...R
So funny Robin2, so apparently you prefer other forum members to be slagged off in public, as AWOL has done to me? But don't worry Robin2, I wont bother you again, this forum is clearly not the place for newbies, as has been echoed by many other newbies in this forum. So long and thanks for the fish.
Bye
LarryD:
Bye
bye larry ...
(Edited by moderator to remove expletive. Don't hurry back Brosco.)
Have a good one.
.
Sorry but i just had to comment on this subject.
First off, of all the forums that I have join, this is by far the friendless one.
Secondly, when it comes to attacking newbies, the people on this forum need to take lessons from the other forums.
When it comes to spelling I am the worlds worst. And English is my first language. Thank you for spell check. Unfortunately there is no spell check when your writing code. So when they find a spelling error in my code. No mater how they word it, I say thank you. That"s why I posted it. I needed help.
As to the how to use this forum This is by far the first thing that should be read but isn't. Why? because they are newbies they have oen thought on there minds. HELP. What does this have to do with my problem. Nothing. Just let me ask my question.
I have joined several forums over the internet years. and I still posted my first post with out reading the forum rules.
As a newbie you can get over whelm when reading "how to use this forum". There are so many thing that don't apply to them (or so they think). It's not until later that they realize they need help.
Maybe the title to "how to use this forum" should be change to something like "want to post like a pro" or like "cool tricks the pro's use" or something a more exciting. After all how many of you read "terms of service" when you join something new.
I have troubles reading how to due things here at Arduino learning, but thanks to some cool headed people here on the forum I now know how. Maybe a learning forum with out the five minute rule. Spammers will be terminated.
Naneen:
First off, of all the forums that I have join, this is by far the friendless one.
I hope you intended to say "friendliest"
As a newbie you can get over whelm when reading "how to use this forum".
I can understand that. A big part of the problem is that it is very difficult for an experienced person to remember what it was like when they were a newbie.
If you can find the time to write some advice for newbies based on your own experience and your state of knowledge it could be very useful. Don't worry too much about spelling - someone can help you with that.
...R
I know people posting here are often beginners, and take that into account. However there are courtesies to take when you ask for free advice. One is to familiarize yourself with how questions should be asked.
See my signature?
Please post technical questions on the forum, not by personal message. Thanks!
I still get a personal message every couple of days asking for help. The asker must have seen the signature to know I am one of the frequent posters. The other day when I replied "Please ask your question on the forum" I got a snarky response suggesting I "wasn't approachable".
You will get a friendly, helpful response if you take the time to put some effort into writing a good question.
- Post in proper English, not mobile-phone abbreviations, like "r u able 2 hlp me?"
- If you have a problem with your code, post (or attach) the code. If posting, use code tags.
- If you get an error message, post the error message (it has information in it that we will understand even if you might not).
- Describe what went wrong. Say what you expected to happen, and contrast that to what actually happened.
- If your program produces debugging output, post that output.
- If it doesn't, perhaps you could start by adding some.
- Having said that, don't put debugging prints inside an Interrupt Service Routine (ISR). See my page about Interrupts
- Don't cross-post (post the same question twice). That enrages so many people you are likely to get less answers, not more.
Once someone responds, try to take their advice on board. If they suggest you neaten your code (eg. with the auto-format tool), don't reply "I don't have time for that" or words to that effect. People are trying to help you. Use their advice.
1 Like
Yes it was meant to read friendliest. I used the spell checker here and picked the first choice. Unfortunately the spell checker it not smart enough to figure out what I really mean with all the letters or lack of to figure out what i meant to say.
Now you hit the nail on the head.
If you can find the time to write some advice for newbies based on your own experience and your state of knowledge it could be very useful. Don't worry too much about spelling - someone can help you with that.
That is 64 thousand dollar question. As a former programmer of automated factory equipment. I would write a new routine or change one. Then I would have to write a detail exclamation as to what to do. I would have supervisors, mechanics and operators coming to my office asking what do you mean. I could explain it to the operates easier than the supervisors or mechanics.
OK. lets look at loading a sketch. I had problems with this. No offense to you Nick Gammon. This is the way I read this set of instructions.
- If you are posting code or error messages, use "code" tags
For code, error messages, program output, etc. select the code, and click the "Insert code" button, as shown
(Sorry there should be a picture here.)
This makes the code much more readable, and also stops things like the following turn the entire rest of your post into italics:
you show the code in the POST not the IDE. Confusion #1 for me.
Then you show this code:
Code: [Select]
a = b [i];
What is this for? Confusion #2 for me.
Now I'm lost and I stop reading.
LerryD Help me to get my first code posted. Now I do it in my sleep. Simple.
In the IDE I click edit, I click "Copy for Forum" // That way I don't have to scroll through the program
Now I go to my post and click on code brackets. </>
Click in between the brackets and paste.
I think for me the big problem is everything is shown in the Post not the IDE.
I'll let you think if any of this makes sense or not. If not please let me know. I'm good at making a fool of myself.
Reading Reply #14 leads me to think that the experienced people here assume that a newbie knows how to copy text (whether code or anything else) FROM a PC application (such as the Arduino IDE) and the instructions are ONLY intended to explain how to paste the program text in the Forum in the proper way.
This raises the complex question of how new a newbie should be assumed to be.
Personally I think it is reasonable to assume that anyone who has aspirations to program an Arduino should already be competent with basics PC skills - including the need to read instructions and use Google (or equivalent) to do some research.
There have been a few Threads from people who are very young - (13 or 14) and when that is known I am prepared to make a special effort. However the kids that come to mind do know the basics of using their PCs. Everyone else is treated as an adult who has completed high school and has acquired the ability to take and give a bit of joshing and the common sense to help themselves as much as possible. Unfortunately some of them seem not to have progressed beyond kindergarten.
...R
Naneen:
Yes it was meant to read friendliest.
You are going to have to make a bigger effort.
First off, of all the forums that I have join, this is by far the friendless one.
"Friendless" is like "less friends". Look up friendless
alone, abandoned, deserted, isolated, lonely, cut off, alienated, solitary, shunned, estranged, forsaken, forlorn, unattached, lonesome, all alone, ostracized, without ties, with no one to turn to, without a friend in the world
That is the exact opposite of "friendliest" - ie. most friendly.
Relying on a spellchecker to choose meanings for you is totally fraught with danger. Both words are spelt OK but have opposite meanings.
At the very least, look up the meaning of a word if you aren't certain.
In the IDE I click edit, I click "Copy for Forum" // That way I don't have to scroll through the program
Doesn't that scramble the code with colour tags, or has that been fixed?
Then I would have to write a detail exclamation as to what to do.
You really need to break your reliance on a spell-checker
a detail exclamation as to what to do
I find this very therapeutic - usually it's "WTF did I do that for"
Then again, maybe it's what NOT to do!
...R
AWOL:
Doesn't that scramble the code with colour tags, or has that been fixed?
Looks like it is fixed recently. Now it just puts code tags around the code.