Rant: Rude electronics forums

[blackbeard]

This is a trend i've noticed with allot of electronics forums with SOR being one of the few exceptions (actually SOR is probably the best for finding friendly and helpful people in our hobby!). What is it with some electronics forums that makes people want to be so rude to anyone who asks a question? It's bad because when i do a google search on some topics i get spammed down with forum posts where all people do is tell people to google things! It annoys me to no end when i see someone who's brand new going into the forums to ask where they should get started and they get spammed out. This is why i boycott forums like Electro-tech-online personally. Anyone else notice this particularly with electronics forums?

[Razor Concepts]

allaboutcircuits is filled with EEs that are bored of their normal work and will do anything as a distraction 
Often times, when the questions seem good enough, they will actualy devote a lot of time, run simulators for you, draw circuits, etc etc. As long as you dont phrase the question as "do this for me plzzzz i ned it tommrow" they can help.

See here:
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=39518
One guy made a simulation circuit in SPICE and showed me the results!

[blackbeard]

i've never been on the allaboutcircuits forums but i've used the resources which are pretty good!

[madsci1016]

In my opinion

Forums for robots/electronics are usually filled with smart people. Some smart people tend to be condescending jerks.

I really see two types of people. Those that are here to converse with a community, help others and show off their own adventures in science. These people are more then likely friendly people. Then there are those that don't really have an interest in electronics/robots as a hobby and are here to either help others (which is noble, but rare) or berate and belittle people and get some enjoyment out of it. I notice in some of those places there are a lot of arguments involving who has a bigger stick, and I try to avoid those people under the "don't feed the troll" premise.

I try to avoid giving the google answer, but i'll be the first to admit i'm not a perfect person. If i don't agree with someone's idea, i'll try to engage them to figure out why i could be wrong, or to get them to realize why i'm right through thought. The trolls of the internet would rather just inform you how wrong you are, and how you should listen to them because they know everything.

[waltr]

How I answer someone depends on how the questions are phrased and what research they have show to have done. The ones that just ask a overly broad question that could easily have been answered with a few seconds of googling I refer them to google and Wiki with a few keywords to help. The ones that ask a specific question and have shown that they have put some time into trying to learn I give a detailed explanation and help walk them through the problem so they can understand.

[paulstreats]

A lot of the time, people get frustrated with answering the same basic questions time and time again until they give up and just say "Google it".

 Also, sometimes when you are genuinely trying to help somebody by explaining something in easy or layman terms another expert will shoot you down (when people are asking a question its because they dont know). Some experts on forums will insist on using correct terminology and in depth calculations that if the beginner knew they wouldnt be asking the question in the first place, so when somebody tries answering a question in a way that the beginner can understand but gets shot down by other experts for not being "correct" or "technical" enough then you just give up too.

[SmAsH]

Some experts on forums will insist on using correct terminology and in depth calculations that if the beginner knew they wouldnt be asking the question in the first place, so when somebody tries answering a question in a way that the beginner can understand but gets shot down by other experts for not being "correct" or "technical" enough then you just give up too.

Seen this far too many times and it has even happened to me a few.

As with all forums, there will always be some ignorant jerks on the forum but sometimes it is best to ignore them rather than start a flame thread.

To the google par, sometimes people ask questions on the forums that could be answer in about 5 seconds by googling, so by the user suggesting the person google it,
They are partially teaching the person how to find their own information instead of coming to the forum with every small question they have. They're not being rude or anything...

[blackbeard]

Some experts on forums will insist on using correct terminology and in depth calculations that if the beginner knew they wouldnt be asking the question in the first place, so when somebody tries answering a question in a way that the beginner can understand but gets shot down by other experts for not being "correct" or "technical" enough then you just give up too.

Seen this far too many times and it has even happened to me a few.

As with all forums, there will always be some ignorant jerks on the forum but sometimes it is best to ignore them rather than start a flame thread.

To the google par, sometimes people ask questions on the forums that could be answer in about 5 seconds by googling, so by the user suggesting the person google it,
They are partially teaching the person how to find their own information instead of coming to the forum with every small question they have. They're not being rude or anything...

usually they are VERY rude. also just about every time i google i get like 3-5 forum posts the JUST have people telling other people to google. if they just answered the damn question the first time instead of wasting time even if it's something like one of those "how do i make a robot lol" kind of threads then everything would be simple.

[paulstreats]

Something that happened on this forum just lately...

 I answered a post by somebody wanting to use a particular sensor and had a program not written for a PC. There was an obvious error in the I2C commands sent so I answered the post sending the correct sequence of commands. Anyway it turns out that there were 2 other hardware devices in between a PC (what the program was written for) and the sensor that wasnt discussed in the original post and had a PM asking me to rectify the code. I dont use the particular language even though the sytax is similar in most languages this would have meant me having to learn the specific communications libraries of that language in order to to resolve that person problem... Its things like this that make you reluctant to answer questions because you become expected to make or guide an entire project.

[SmAsH]

Yeah, some people need to grasp the fact that this is a help/support forum, not a "we'll do your project for you" forum.

[Admin]

There are two technical forums that always treat me like a noob, and/or just flat out say I'm wrong . . . I'm thinking, 'you *do* know who I am, right?'

So I know exactly how you feel . . .

I'm also a member of a non-technical but educational forum, and people seem to be fairly kind/helpful there too.

I find that forums that exist for educational purposes have mostly kind members, and forums that allow more chit-chat tend to have more trolls. Trolls dun like to be edumacated, no?

A theory is that forums tend to take on the personality of the admin/mods

[madsci1016]

A theory is that forums tend to take on the personality of the admin/mods

While i'd like to sarcastically pick on you for this statement, (I'd never do that, right? ) this is a true statement. Forums moderated by jerks tend to be full of them as well.

So let's not forget to give John (Admin) a big !Hurrah! for his devotion to this board.

[blackbeard]

Oh I agree! And admin is verry friendly! I wonder if he also understands 6 million forms of communication?

[amando96]

"do this for me plzzzz i ned it tommrow"

This.

If they see you actually tried, they will help, if you just post a "how do i do i make a robot the follows light" I mean, that can be googled, and you WILL find everything you need to make one.
I've also noticed they don't like to help on homework assignments, and in my opinion that's fair.
Are you talking about a website in particular?

When I first started with electronics/robotics, I have to admit I got on people's nerves but as I grew a bit, I wanted to know more but without help, every now and then I will ask someone for something that I don't quite get, but even then, just a hint is enough, I'm not exactly asking for the whole thing.

[voyager2]

There are two technical forums that always treat me like a noob, and/or just flat out say I'm wrong . . . I'm thinking, 'you *do* know who I am, right?'
...

Point being, that no matter who you are, even if your an Admin/Mod on another forum/website, you are still just another n00b or slightly knowledgeable person on other forums.

Take me as an example,
I have a website, I therefore am an Admin.
But does that give me any power over anyone here, or an any other forum?
No!
unless they're on my website, spamming my forum or whatever!

[amando96]

They shouldn't treat you differently just because you're an admin, I thought he was referring to the fact that he has a commercialized product designed by him.

I could be a super admin on a gardening website with 1,000,000 users, register in a robotics website and be treated like a noob, because I would be one in robotics.

[voyager2]

Still, even if your the President of the United States, that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be treated well on a forum.

If you have a thousand posts on SoR and are knowledgeable in robotics , but then you join a new robotics forum, then until people see that you know your stuff, trolls and ungrateful members will pick at you just for being a new member!
I once joined a programing forum like this, my programing experiences with that language did not last long.

I will also say that I have been "Google it'ed" on SoR (I will not revile by who).
But he/she did provide some useful information to help with googling...

[amando96]

If you have a thousand posts on SoR and are knowledgeable in robotics

Not always, you could have 900 posts asking for help, and 100 useless posts that no one understands, post count isn't in anyway related to knowledge.

[voyager2]

I said "and" as in "both"
But indeed what you said is true, and in such cases as that most post might contain something like this:
"OMG coool bot"
Or if that user was particularly into thinking:
"OMG cool robot, I wish I was tat good"