Forum Clutter - Students (and others) posting in this forum 5

[human909]

Hi

Maybe it has become worse. Or maybe I'm just getting older. But there seems to be an increasing number of student or very inadequately trained engineers posting in this forum. Occasionally such posts can tangent to useful discussion but most of the time it is just clutter. Kootk posted quite strongly on this topic recently in one of the many threads posted by a student or severely inadequately trained engineer.

IMO the solutions is in our hands. Either;

• REPORT the thread and rely on admin to remove it and/or;
• have a strong direct reply and a strong request that nobody else replies so the thread dies a natural death or;
• do nothing as a fix isn't needed.

At present many of these threads are kept alive but questions and answers that got in circles or by people who add to the replies telling them to post elsewhere. (I perpetuated this today.) I believe content could be improved if we all made a better effort to ignore such threads. The "Truss" thread I initially ignored as I wanted to let it die, then after multiple replies from others I perpetuated it by replying.

Any thoughts? A useful discussion? Or will this thread die quickly....

Personally I think a combination of the first two solutions could readily shut down poor quality threads. The second only works if people listen and agree that the thread is better off dead. I believe it would work a reasonable percentage of the time.

 

[GregLocock]

I’ve done stress analysis for 43 years. The number of 101 level errors I see here by the code following people makes me think a bit of gentle theory based discussion is not out of place.

 

[human909]

Sometimes we get aerospace/automotive/mechanical people responding that seem to miss the mark. But often they can add a different perspective. As @GregLocock has mentioned, us structural folk can be too code focussed

 

[Ron247]

Or the aerospace engineers who somehow feel the need to respond to topics in the structural engineering forum when it is clear that most of the time they shouldn't.

I don't have a problem with other fields involved in these discussions and find their variety of viewpoints helpful many times. I don't mind giving them ideas or advice on structural issues they are trying to address, but I draw the line at wanting an actual final design via ET.

"Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it." Lee Jun-fan

 

[IDS]

The number of 101 level errors I see here by the code following people makes me think a bit of gentle theory based discussion is not out of place.

I very much agree. The idea that some posters should be banned because some people think their questions are too elementary is just ridiculous if others think it is worth their time to respond.

Specifically with regard to the pretty girl threads, I have responded to several at length because they are on subjects I am interested in, particularly because different codes have significant differences in the way they treat the problem, often with significant differences in the design outcome. I have often learned something from these discussions.

As for her name being a problem - seriously?

 

[Ron247]

I very much agree. The idea that some posters should be banned because some people think their questions are too elementary is just ridiculous if others think it is worth their time to respond.

I just got through inquiring in another post concerning foundations, about how/why someone analyzes something as they described. It is not that I think they are wrong, but I want to understand the mechanics behind their comments. My questions may sound elementary to some, but that does not change their validity to me. If the response makes sense, I have learned something new. If they don't make sense, it does not mean I think the other person is wrong, but I won't feel comfortable applying the method. It just may not fit my way of working.

Even if the questions and answers go back and forth, it is a discussion, not an argument.

 

[Greenalleycat]

I don't mind someone posting a genuine engineering question that is thought provoking, particularly if they're wanting to understanding engineering principles better themselves
I take a very dim view on:
a) students blatantly posting their homework
b) people blatantly wanting free professional engineering advice
c) people who post potentially interesting situations and give absolutely no information (drawings etc) to work from

I do my best to be rude to the above people on the same philosophy as Koot shares - if we don't define and maintain a set of core principles then I think this forum will lose what makes it so valuable