FAQ's Have Arrived!

charlie b · Aug 2, 2005

The Good News:

There are now a few of the more frequently asked questions posted in the FAQ threads of all Topic Areas, along with some of the more frequently given answers.

Within any Topic Area, go to the (locked) thread at the top of the page, with the title, "FAQs. . . ."

The bad news:

You will not have a visual indication that a new FAQ has been posted. The "white box with the 'locked' symbol" at the far left of your screen will not turn "yellow," to show you that a new FAQ has been posted, or that an existing FAQ has been edited.

The date of the FAQ thread does not change (i.e., from November of 2004), when a new FAQ is posted. Therefore, if you are reading the FAQs, and if you hit the "Previous" button, you will be sent to another thread from 2004. To go to new threads, you need to exit the FAQ thread by selecting a Topic Area from the pull-down menu at the bottom of the screen.

And now an invitation:

If you want to see any more questions included in the FAQ Threads, please reply below, or send me a PM.

If you wish to propose an answer to your suggested FAQ, that would help also.

Please note that we are under no obligation to include any suggested FAQs or to use anyone's suggested answers to those FAQs.

tx2step · Aug 2, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

Charlie -- I think it would be useful if you just manually typed in the most recent revision date for each of the individual FAQ topic answers at the end of each answer.

That would make it easy to see if a question had been added or an answer had been modified since someone last looked.

charlie b · Aug 2, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

Good idea. I have added a date to the FAQs that have been posted so far.

George Stolz · Aug 2, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

On the PM FAQ, it would be a good visual aid to include the

Good to see it up.

luke warmwater · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

Hi, Charlie b.

Looks good so far. One thing I would like to mention is in question #3. At the end of the link, you could put a space at the end before the period. This should make the link a direct-link by just clicking it, instead of copy and pasting. Just a suggestion.
Todd

charlie b · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

George and Ty: Thanks for the suggestions, but I don't think they will work. The word processing software that is used to post FAQs is not the same as the one used to post within the Forum itself. For example, when I typed one of the FAQs, I had separated the answer into three paragraphs. When it was posted, there was only one. When I first posted the FAQ on PMs, I did include the image of the icon. But it did not show up on screen. So I went back and edited that FAQ, to describe the icon in words. When I first posted the FAQ on the Free NEC, I did include a hyperlink to the site. But that link did not appear on screen.

I have sent a message to the Webmaster, asking if anything can be done. But I think we are limited by the software that is running the Forum. We may have to get used to the "low tech" limitations of the FAQ section.

Any more suggestions?

jim dungar · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

Charlie,

I know it can be overwhelming, but how about a list of the very common abbreviations?

POCO is one that comes up often.

physis · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

I agree Jim. I would really like to see an acronymn database. Trouble is, it would be just that, a database. I was looking at the same thing yesterday but it seems like it would be hard to make it work with the way it's set up.

I still like the idea though.

charlie b · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

I'm not sure how to make a list of abbreviations work within the confines of the FAQ Thread. That thread does not recognize the symbol for "new paragraph," so it runs all paragraphs together. If I tried to post a list, it would run into one long paragraph, and be hard to read.

However, just to get the ball rolling, here are some abbreviations that are commonly used. If I have any of them wrong, or if you can think of others, please let me know.

Perhaps we can figure out a way to have one thread that remains at the top of the page, and that has just such a list.

ABBREVIATIONS

AFCI ? Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter
AHJ ? Authority Having Jurisdiction
AIC ? Amps Interrupting Capability
CB ? Circuit Breaker
DIY ? Do It Yourself
EC ? Electrical Contractor
EGC ? Equipment Grounding Conductor
FLA ? Full Load Amps
GC ? General Contractor
GEC ? Grounding Electrode Conductor
GFCI ? Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter
GFI ? Ground Fault Interrupter
HO ? Home Owner
HVAC ? Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning
IMHO ? In My Humble Opinion
IMO ? In My Opinion (used by those who are not humble)
LMAO ? (I'll not translate this one)
LOL ? Laughing Out Loud
LRA ? Locked Rotor Amps
MCB ? Main Circuit Breaker
MCC ? Motor Control Center
MLO ? Main Lugs Only
NEC ? National Electrical Code
NETA ? National Electrical Testing Association
NFPA ? National Fire Protection Association
OCP ? Overcurrent Protection
OCPD ? Overcurrent Protection Device
OP ? Original Poster (i.e., the person who started the thread)
OTOH ? On the Other Hand
POCO ? Power Company
PPE ? Personal Protection Equipment
SA ? Small Appliance (as in "SA Branch Circuit")
UL ? Underwriter's Laboratory

physis · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

LMAO ? (I'll not translate this one)

Maybe it could be LMBO.

69boss302 · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

Charlie, how could an old salt like you forget HMFIC

charlie b · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

Don't think I ever saw that one. Would it be another of those that I would not choose to translate for the "benefit" of the membership?

69boss302 · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

Yes charlie it probably would be a benefit to leave it unknown except to those that recognize it. I thought all the squids knew that one, and probably most military people.

Edit: Just thought I would add it has to do with what most AHJ's think of themselves as, or even as some have mentioned on other threads, inspector's think they are.

[ August 03, 2005, 03:41 PM: Message edited by: 69boss302 ]

charlie · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

I always thought it was BMFIC with the B standing for big instead of head. Of course the other famous military terms are SNAFU and FUBAR (interesting, SNAFU didn't show up as a misspelled word).

physis · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

Charlie, I just noticed that you and Charlie don't have to use a last initial to know which one of each other you're talking to. (Did I say that right?).

charlie b · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

Originally posted by 69boss302: Charlie, how could an old salt like you forget HMFIC

OK, now I get it. I presume the "IC" part means "In Charge"? I would not have had access to classified information of that sort. I was just a lowly officer. I might have been called by that term, but not in my presence.

charlie b · Aug 3, 2005

Re: FAQ's Have Arrived!

Originally posted by charlie: Of course the other famous military terms are SNAFU and FUBAR (interesting, SNAFU didn't show up as a misspelled word).

I have a 25 year old dictionary at my desk (please don't tell my wife, the librarian

) that includes the word SNAFU. By the way, the "F" word is shown as "fouled." I would guess that a modern dictionary would have the other word as well, but I don't have one handy.

FAQ's Have Arrived!

charlie b

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