New forum instructions, feedback and comments

First off sorry for being late to this one.
Internet issues in Canada.

The first post re-direct was supposed to ONLY affect first time posters.
Having only seen it from the tester perspective (new account) and NOT in this forum or elsewhere it seems logical to assume that it worked as intended. This was shown to be the case in testing btw where I dont think anyone saw it outside the scope outlined.

That it has occured is of course a concern and extra checks or at the least observations will need to be made.
Tests were perfromed in two very distinct areas that are only seperated by a thin boundry layer.
I do however confirm we are fighting a battle with some additional software and it could be that this battle was lost in this instance ?

I see no valid reason to provide those test criteria in this section as it would break bounds of trust that have taken a very long time to bear any fruit at all (years).

Robin has access to the areas used to test so is privy to the guides or steps used to test any implementations so I dont see why he seems to be stiring the pot so to speak.

Have always asked for opinions and other views and where possible taken those into account as part of any idea to improve the current forum. Feedback from long term high post members has been (if I am honest) abysmal with only a few trully commited to the forum and arduino as a whole speaking out and I can count those on one hand !

We can if there is a general consensus simply have all the progress rolled back, so that bitching can go back to the old standards.

I see no valid reason to provide those test criteria in this section as it would break bounds of trust that have taken a very long time to bear any fruit at all (years).

As I am not a tester I do not expect to see either the programmers or testers test criteria, but the specification of suggested changes is a different matter

Have always asked for opinions and other views and where possible taken those into account as part of any idea to improve the current forum.

Can you cite some examples of this ?

ballscrewbob:
Robin has access to the areas used to test so is privy to the guides or steps used to test any implementations so I dont see why he seems to be stiring the pot so to speak.

I am coming to the conclusion that I should be removed from that group. I don't think I have ever managed to get into the mindset that seems to be required. The few times that I did try to participate it seemed to have the same barriers between us and the programmer and the managers as exists here in the public Forum. And I don't recall seeing the specs for any change or the results of the tests carried out by the programmer.

Arduino is an Open-Source system. I have no idea why the public needs to be shielded from anything as basic as the specs for a new Forum feature. I can understand how the programmer might like his salary to be private. I see no need for anything else to be secret.

It seems to me that sharing is more likely to bring benefits. It seems to work for the development of Linux.

...R

1 Like

Hi Robin,
I hope you are not removed! Even if you don't do testing I am working on something in there that I will eventually want you to see. It's not ready yet, although you may have a look if you like. I am not yet asking for feedback.

UKHeliBob:
Can you cite some examples of this ?

See conversations on github.
See examples in the moderator section.
See examples in this section.

The task list was all in RED prior to any work being undertaken.

@Robin

Am of the same opinion as Perry in that I think you still have a lot to offer and I certainly wont remove you unless that is your final word.
I just think you take "open source" too literal with some things.

ballscrewbob:
Am of the same opinion as Perry in that I think you still have a lot to offer and I certainly wont remove you unless that is your final word.

Thank you both for your kind words. I guess I'm not asking to be removed, but I am signalling that I may not be making much of a contribution.

I am certainly happy to help with specific things when requested.

I find it strange that my personal programming is not very "professionally" organised (for example with Git or equivalent) yet I consider order, method and open communication to be essential for any shared programming.

In all walks of life I consider that secrecy does more harm than good. It's only purpose is to enable personA to get an advantage over personB. Even for the police and military it should be restricted to immediate operational issues. Immediately the operation is over all the documents should be released to the public domain. We have the ludicrous situation where Governments are more anxious to keep things secret from the people who elect them than from other Governments. Against that I can see no reason for any Arduino secrecy.

...R

dougp:
Perhaps a tip could be added in the instructions letting the offender know the 'report to moderator' link to request to have a post moved is preferred over risking "the wrath of the moderators" after the fact.

When I came across 'report to moderator' I assumed it was for reporting spam & suchlike. Probably me not reading the instructions, eh Bob? :wink:

johndg:
When I came across 'report to moderator' I assumed it was for reporting spam & suchlike. Probably me not reading the instructions, eh Bob? :wink:

When you click Report to Moderator it shows this message
Use this function to inform the moderators and administrators of an abusive or wrongly posted message.

...R

Robin2:
When you click Report to Moderator it shows this message
Use this function to inform the moderators and administrators of an abusive or wrongly posted message.

You know it says that after you click it, and so do I (now), but new users don't. Jus' sayin'.

Just a thought - would it be worth using 'tooltips', ie messages appearing when the mouse is 'hovered' over various buttons? Unnecessary, or too much involved? Again, just an idea.

"Report to moderator" is sort of self explanatory IMHO.

Want something done that doesn't seem possible "RtM"
Want to report a problem "RtM"
Want to know why you got a timeout etc. "RtM"
Actually want a timeout for hijacking a thread "RtM"

Want to know what "report to moderator" actually is or does, well we have the SEARCH for that.

Need to re-invent the wheel ?
Ask the same Q somebody else has already answered !

When I wrote the tutorial there was an awful lot of stuff I wanted to put in but left out because I didn't want to fill up Arduino's servers too much make it far too long for people to read. Some of that extra material ended up in the long full version. I think people are generally familiar enough with how forums work on the internet to understand what 'report to moderator' is for.

Help! On my first post i am redirected here to read the guidelines and suggestions, but then there is no way to subsequently post. I am in an infinite loop!

TIA,

G

@itsjustme

So how did you post ?

Yay, my first post! Registration was confirmed when my profile picture and something about myself was added to see the date and time regiregistered. Local time is five hours behind Arduino. SSAP and JIRA are similarly obtuse without training. We are cliqueish in requiring trial and error, but is there any other way to teach/learn? TThank you!

I've just done my first post and need to make a small modification but can't find a 'modify' or 'edit' button anywhere. I know this is going to be blindingly obvious - would someone put me out of my frustrated misery, please?

john_anderson:
I've just done my first post and need to make a small modification but can't find a 'modify' or 'edit' button anywhere. I know this is going to be blindingly obvious - would someone put me out of my frustrated misery, please?

Look bottom/right of your post and click on "More"

Many thanks Bob. I can't have selected the post properly before because I didn't see 'More' down there.

Hmm, not sure if it belongs here.

Anyway, just got redirected to Perry's short version while logged in and in one of the forum sections clicking on a thread link.

sterretje:
Hmm, not sure if it belongs here.

Anyway, just got redirected while logged in and in one of the forum sections clicking on a thread link to Perry's short version

It certainly belongs here but I doubt there is anything further that can be done as we have lost internal Arduino support in my opinion and it is almost impossible to get answers to questions related to the current forum.