| ??? 10/16/09 20:28 Read: times |
#169815 - something softer would be better Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Richard Erlacher said:
Per Westermark said:
No, I did not discuss the 'Answer is wrong' vote from our previous debate, Richard. That is your view. My view is that such a design is broken. You can run a car on two wheels, but that is still the wrong way. All part of a totally separate debate. While I have some recollection of a few of our previous "debates", I'm not at all sure what you mean here. If a fellow, for example, can get an IC, which, in this case, shall remain nameless, and it can be made to perform the task at hand, I believe it's wrong to refuse to answer his questions about it when he specifically ask for help in doing a specific thing, and to admonish him for using such an old IC or advocate for some newer part that may or may not (a) be available to him or (b) may present more trouble. If the design is complete, many years in service, and fully functional, then it's not broken. If it were, then everything on Earth would fall in the same category, as it's seldom long after a device is fielded before someone comes up with a "better way." Just because YOU don't like it, doesn't make it wrong. If your "broken" design remark was targeted at the multi-MCU serial port driver board I designed in 1986, that's certainly the case. It did what it was expected to do, satisfied the customer, satisfied my employer, and met all the system requirements, and did so within schedule and budget. It also helped prevent the expenditure of many tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds on an old and useless mess of hardware ... a purchase too often made before its nature is discovered. It is a well known fact that a car can be driven on two wheels. If someone have problems parking their large car, a suggestion to drive it on two wheels is a broken solution, unless posted as a joke. If someone asks a generic question about sending messages to two processors, it is a broken solution to discuss running the processors from the same clock source, and release the reset at the same time to get them to run the same instructions at the same time. Such a solution would permanently deviate for any single signal that isn't synchronized with that common clock. It is a broken solution that should not be considered unless someone holds a knife to your throat. And it should not be suggested to a beginner without supplying the full list of problems with it. But as I already said - I did not post my comment about votes based on any debates you and I have had. I did it based on negative votes other people has received in different situations, where there are no logic reason to be found for the vote. Richard said:
But look at this specific thread. The original post contains two questions:
1: So firstly, they mostly operate on 5V right? 2: can you recommend a suitable and reliable supervisor chip for this family? Do you see a reason for flagging the thread as 'Looks like school work'? Do you see a reason why we should ignore the thread? I don't feel that's justified. The O/P declared his status and the nature of his project at the outset. His description was clear and concise, and he seemed to have done quite a bit of preparatory study. Exactly. ` Richard said:
The times when I marked a post as "looks like homework" have been when I recognized the nature and in some cases the wording of a query as reminiscent of one that appeared at the same time last term, and the term before, and the term before ... There are threads where the visitors expectations seriously clashes with the regulars on the forum. And I don't care if someone votes "looks like homework" when a poster shows up two days before the turn-in date and wants schematics and source code. And I do not mind any "Answer is wrong" vote when an anwer is wrong. But what I do not like is that a significant number of negative votes are used to demerit someones post for no real reason. If a poster says has a problem with a LED not turning on and someone asks "have you checked that the LED polarity is correct" and receives a "answer is wrong", it would be easy to assume that it was a noob OP who voted. But you have to be a member for quite some time until you are allowed to vote. And threads are remembered. So when the next person has a problem with a LED not turning on and finds the thread using Google, they see the "answer is wrong" informing them that they shouldn't bother checking the polarity. Had someone instead suggested that a LED should be connected to 12V, without mentioning the need for an internal or external series resistor, then a "anwer is wrong" will stop people from accidentally destroy their hardware. Richard said:
I've said I doubt the "scoring" system is really helpful. I thing something could be used that suggested relative interest in a given subject, but so long as threads aren't really sorted by subject, the subject often being something on the order of, "HELP!" I have to stay with my earlier (not only in this thread) remarks. Scoring related to how interesting people finds a post is way nicer to people. People who vote here may see the voting system as "I agree" or "I don't agree". But what does a new visitor think when receiving a -1 or -2 on their post? Isn't it more likely that they see the -1 as a "you suck"? Especially since the vote - besides the -1 - does not say a reasonably neutral "I don't agree". |
