Hi,
I have noticed, that as of late, there is an increasing number of non-KiCAD questions being posted to the forum.
Whilst I appreciate we all have brain ‘fart’ moments and need clarrification on something, what is being posted recently is wildly different than a clarification request! It’s newbies asking fundemental electronic design questions which this is not the place.
Can I request either the mods delete/close these type of posts or we just dont post a reply ro tey an stop this.
Lets all try and ensure we keep this place about KiCAD.
Please do my homework for me or teach me electronics electronic design posts get closed as soon as possible.
The moderators are always busy with this or this forum will get swamped.
Perhaps this could be mentioned both at the forum landing page and in the projects category, along with a couple links to more appropriate sites. I suggest the eevblog forum, but maybe https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/ and stackexchange would be good as well.
Enough people have been ‘promoted’ to “leader” that help make these decisions. @RaptorUK (?) was chided once for being too quick on the trigger by another community member. In order to not appear to be unfriendly we let some things go on longer than others.
Basically it is a community effort at the end of the day. Some things go on longer than I think they should but if I see community stalwarts engaged in the conversation, I leave it to their judgement.
As a newbie, I might have been tempted to post something similar to what I have seen, so far all my questions / comments seem to be within scope and I have avoided chastisement
I have not seen anything (other than this post) that might have discouraged me, I think the suggestion by @JohnSG is worth looking at, especially the Category Post, if this really is a newbie issue a a few registration questions with a tick box could alleviate the seen and unseen issues.
Personally, as I have said before we should clarify what the “projects” category is for. Simply state that if your using Kicad and you have an issue that leans more towards the electronics side of things then post your question there, or indeed just transfer it there. From our point of view we can chose to go there and look or not and this would be made clear to the OP, it would mean you question may or may not be read. That way the OP knows where he/she/other stands. I for one would probably go and look there every now and then because I am sometimes in the ‘mood’ to consider some problems, and no I don’t mean doing homework ! Helping someone along if its the right type of question can be satisfying and noble. To conclude the OP uses ‘Projects’ and understands how it works as do we, then there isn’t a problem anymore. Of course this ‘disclaimer’ if you like, would contain all the usual pointers like EEVblog etc.
We are here to help and to learn ourselves . . . some topics are obviously non-KiCad related, some have KiCad schematics and/or layouts shown and others slowly descend from KiCad to general electronics.
If I see a thread naturally dwindling I’ll leave alone or adjust the close timer to a day or two after the last post.
If I see a thread going way off topic I’ll maybe suggest it comes back on topic.
IMO in an ideal world Moderation must happen but users shouldn’t really notice it happening.
KiCAD includes the NGSpice simulator which, by its very nature, leans more toward circuit design rather than PCB layout. I am naturally curious to know what sort of projects others are working on, whether they be design engineers by vocation, students, or hobbyists - and I don’t mind knowing what challenges or obstacles they encounter. Not only were we all beginners at one time but there may come a day when I myself may be walking the same trail they are on, and an occasional trail marker or blaze will be harmless, or even helpful.
While I prefer the emphasis of this Forum remain on “KiCAD”, I’m not opposed to occasional threads dealing with broader, related topics. Collect them in a clearly identified sub-Forum. I don’t have much respect for the “Please do my homework.” requests, but I’ve been known to lend a hand to the ones which say, “I have a homework problem. I’ve done , and tried , but I keep hitting .”.
Sheesh, I was probably the community member doing the chiding – sorry @raptoruk but sometimes, yeah, it does seem like some posts get closed kinda quickly. And 95% of them really need to close, though some topics lead to an interesting discussion. We have a lot of knowledgeable people on this forum, and I have learned all sorts of tips and pointers and new things in the non-kicad parts of the discussion.
Is there some way users on the forum can “subscribe” to different areas, such as kicad-primary-purpose, ngspice, projects…? Then everyone can quiet traffic they consider not-related to their needs.
The closing of crap posts is still needed of course, but some kinda-off-topic-but-perhaps-interesting posts could still exist for those who subscribed to that content.
And a great big thank you to all the moderators for keeping this forum on track – not an easy task!
Ahh, didn’t know you could do that. Perhaps “projects” could be muted by default when a new account is created, and folks could add it if they want it? Or just advertise this tweak more, so people can trim traffic as they wish.
Some forums have a “showcase” category where users can post things they have made (not an asking-project-question post) – would there be interest in anything like that? Few people will spend the time to submit to the made-with-kicad area, but with just a post category they might like to show off something they are proud to show off – a pic or two of their kicad project. Seems like a good user-engagement and kicad-promotion opportunity.
Feel free to discuss this in the meta category, but changes to the site by chrisgammell tend to be rare.
BTW it’s not the Projects category that attracts the off-topic posters. Many of them leave it at the default, Layout. Some change it to Schematic.
What happens is a newbie thinks: KiCad is for making circuit boards. I want to design a circuit so I can post there. Sure, it’s a shame because the people here are very knowledgeable about circuits, but this forum would be overwhelmed if we allowed circuit design questions.
Projects category is not the problem. I may be the one who started moving posts there for lack of a better place. But newbies will continue to post, they seldom read notices, and we just have to deal with them.
Sure we should shut them down but it doesn’t have to be always instantly or quickly. I get that there may be a moral hazard leaving them on too long but sometimes the posters can learn something even if it’s just what to do next.
it’s a fine line to walk.
but sometimes, yeah, it does seem like some posts get closed kinda quickly. And 95% of them really need to close, though some topics lead to an interesting discussion. We have a lot of knowledgeable people on this forum, and I have learned all sorts of tips and pointers and new things in the non-kicad parts of the discussion.