ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
Sometimes they just want to know what time it is, not how to build a clock. Or who invented them. :happysad:
...but sometimes knowing what time zone they're in or asking about is essential.
Sometimes they just want to know what time it is, not how to build a clock. Or who invented them. :happysad:
That's all fine and well, but more importantly, did you install a timer to exercise your sump pump yet?:angel:
Sometimes they just want to know what time it is, not how to build a clock. Or who invented them. :happysad:
With all due respect, I don't see that as the gist of this forum. (the following is just using this as a jumping point, not a direct argument against you.)
The forum is specifically for those in the trade, not laymen and sometimes the best information here is found in the diversion. As such, if the answer is simple, then the OP should be challenged to come up with their own answer, not simply answered. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I am not trying to speak for the forum, but this is the way I interpreted the forum information years ago when it was presented to me by the great Dennis Alwon, a lowly moderator at the time. (Oops, not that is an off topic diversion)
This also isn't a disagreement with iWire's original post as I interpret it, which is more about straying off topic, not delving more deeply in to it.
OP: "How often do you have to strap conduit?"
Proposed answer, "What research did you do before you posted this question here?"
As such, if the answer is simple, then the OP should be challenged to come up with their own answer, not simply answered.
I see iwire'so point and agree with him. Too many times an unimportant details get more attention than the meat of the question being asked.
Strathead, I like your summary, and want to expand just a bit.The forum is specifically for those in the trade, not laymen and sometimes the best information here is found in the diversion. As such, if the answer is simple, then the OP should be challenged to come up with their own answer, not simply answered. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I am not trying to speak for the forum, but this is the way I interpreted the forum information years ago when it was presented to me by the great Dennis Alwon, a lowly moderator at the time. (Oops, not that is an off topic diversion)
I figured I would post this and let you know what some of the moderators are up to. There are a number of us that feel we have been letting threads drift too much and that is not great for the original poster (OP)
What I am asking is that we try to stay directly on the OPs question and not expand on it until we hear back from the OP and they ask further questions.
During the last cold spell, I had the reason to 'search the web' for information on draining air out of my hydronic heating system.
I did not need to know how the air got into the water, I wanted to know how to get it out.
I did not need to know the advantages of alternative heating systems, I did not plan to replace what I just installed.
While I appreciated the information that 'automatic' air removal devices are available (contact a local plumber), the problem at hand involved the equipment that was actually installed.
This experience got me thinking about how we treat people who visit this forum and how useful our threads are to those who just stumble onto them.
But isn't this example exactly what has you moderators close down a thread? To me this example is the poster child of a layman asking a DIY question.
It is a "poster child" only because we know Jim Dungar to be who he is. A first day apprentice or a PE, both working in the Mechanical trade, could also ask this question, and it is within the Forum Rules of a Mechanical Forum.
And on that note, if you are an apprentice or especially a PE, information on automatic systems, and/or how the air got in to the system is exactly the kind of information you may want, even if you didn't know it going in.
But what happens instead is a new guy gets the drink from the fire hose treatment.
But, that is the Forum readers ASSUMPTION. And it is not really responsive to Jim Dungar's hypothetical OP.
Tapatalk
Look, I'm not saying don't EVER go to "the fire hose". Just, refrain until it ties in with the original posters later posts in that same thread.
And on that note, if you are an apprentice or especially a PE, information on automatic systems, and/or how the air got in to the system is exactly the kind of information you may want, even if you didn't know it going in.