Tutorial Forum?

[RodM]

I program in picaxe and atmega. One of the invaluable sites at AVR Freaks is the tutorial section. There seems to be a lot of information amongst the senior members here and good information is often lost in threads, only retreiveable by the writer. How about a tutorial forum?

 

[KTarke]

I program in picaxe and atmega. One of the invaluable sites at AVR Freaks is the tutorial section. There seems to be a lot of information amongst the senior members here and good information is often lost in threads, only retreiveable by the writer. How about a tutorial forum?

What is a tutorial forum exactly?
-If it is a normal forum section, the needed data is lost in the threads just the same way as in other sections...
-If You mean section, where is no conversation, only "sticky tutorials" from the guru's... that is a little much to ask. The guru's write every day answers and a lot of valuable data to this section.

And the "search" IS working! (since it searches inside the threads)
Specify Your interest in more than one words, and I quarantee, that You have answers with the search.

There IS one thing, that could be done. (moderators... )
I have noticed during my presence here, that many times a thread grows long, and the conversation "wanders".
Finally the thread can contain some very valuable information and code, which the original headline does not tell anything about.
So, could it be possible to (later) modify the first message so, that the first message contains a few lines of information about what is achieved in that thread?
Of course, the beginner can do that, but no one else...

 

[MFB]

KTarke, In answer to your question " What is a tutorial forum exactly?" please see following link for an example...

http:www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=45341


I agree with RodM that such a section would certainly help PICAXE users.

 

[Rickharris]

In general the answer to your question about editing posts, updating information in headers etc is that everyone here bar 1 is doing this voluntarily with no recompense for the (sometimes) considerable time and effort spent so spending more time to make it more user friendly or readable or accessible isn't likely going to happen.

Most information is searchable and we do ask users to post with sensible titles to the post to make them more accessible in the future.

I have long thought there is a book in these forums of valuable data if only someone had the time (and permission) to sift out the valuable and distil it into a suitable format.

 

[Dippy]

The idea of a Tutorial Section has cropped up a few times.
Something akin to a Wiki. Would be nice.

I'm not quite sure whether I like the idea of a free-for-all-reply Tutorial forum.
Unless it is managed properly it could get as messy, meandering and meaningless as some threads do right now.
Red Herring-itis creeps in so often.

Ktarke, if you want to go through zillions of threads editing out the good stuff from the rest then feel free.

There are only a few members here who seem to have plenty of time (or are simply Forum-holics ? ).
They seem to have more spare time in the Southern Hemisphere - lucky things.

 

[SAborn]

There are only a few members here who seem to have plenty of time (or are simply Forum-holics ? ).
They seem to have more spare time in the Southern Hemisphere - lucky things.

See Dippy thats the beauty of going metric and having 36 hour days, we only work 12 hours a day and have 18 hours to please our self with..

You must remember our ancestors was picked but some of the best judges in the UK to come here.

 

[manuka]

Aside from the metric days, it's tempting to teasingly relate that distances can be staggeringly great "down under",with outback farm post boxes along 20 mile driveways,& 7 hours drives for groceries typical. Such solitude clears the mind of the stress & urban clutter abounding "up top". Our past tyranny of isolation has made most colonials pretty handy with available materials as well- us Kiwi's in particular can rustle up #8 wire workarounds to many problems.

With such clear thinking I expect any day a Southern Hemisphere #8 PICAXE solution to that BP Gulf oil leak! Stan.

 

[KTarke]

The idea of a Tutorial Section has cropped up a few times.
Something akin to a Wiki. Would be nice.

I'm not quite sure whether I like the idea of a free-for-all-reply Tutorial forum.
Unless it is managed properly it could get as messy, meandering and meaningless as some threads do right now.
Red Herring-itis creeps in so often.

Ktarke, if you want to go through zillions of threads editing out the good stuff from the rest then feel free.

There are only a few members here who seem to have plenty of time (or are simply Forum-holics ? ).
They seem to have more spare time in the Southern Hemisphere - lucky things.

Here I agree with Dippy. A free-for-all-reply Tutorial forum does not feel good for me ,too. I doubt, is the information more easily found??

In my first reply to this thread I also pointed out, that the "guru's" have no time to make tutorial-books...

So, my point was to make SEARCHING easier and more accurate.

I did not mean, that no-one would go through every thread, and manage them. I was thinking that if ANYONE reads old threads, and thinks that in that thread there is valuable info also on something else that the title says, could "report" it, and a "description" to the thread could be added (to make SEARCHING easier)
This was just a thought, I was wondering if it could help the needed information WITHOUT asking the same questions again and again...
(guilty of that too, because did not find the "old" answers wit search...)

Of course, the title should be chosen so, that it is useful! (NOT "some questions...")
BUT often, when discussion is long, there comes up things, that are valuable, but outside the title!

Here comes a example about what I meant:

Next thread is started by me. Title is what I asked, but later the thread shows valuable code to something else (a new code to measure temp FAST) and more: different codes to "translate" 1820's output.
I edited the fist message to tell about, what the thread has achieved.
Could that kind of a edit be "marked" so, that SEARCH could more easily find the wanted things??

Have a look this link, first message http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=15278

 

[Haku]

And the "search" IS working! (since it searches inside the threads)
Specify Your interest in more than one words, and I quarantee, that You have answers with the search.

I often find the search ability of forums to be annoying & lacking, too many options, some can't search for 3 or less letter words, and a lot you have to be signed in for the search to work or you have to enter a CAPTCHA, so I turn to Google.

eg if I want to search this site for information on "screenkeys" because I have an unused one I got given in a box of random electronic bits, and I want to find out if anyone has managed to get one working with a Picaxe, I enter this into google:

siteicaxeforum.co.uk screenkeys

 

[westaust55]

Had mny say on this before and can only reiterate . . .

Post 4 here http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=15020

And

Post 33 here http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14695&page=4

 

[Dippy]

Well, this is going to go round and round like the similar threads.

This is simply my personal opinion which matters not-a-lot:-
A properly categorised sub-Forum would be nice with an index.
No replies and only modifiable by the Author or Moderators/Technical.
If people wish to ask a question or suggest a correction they can make a separate thread so that the Tutorial doesn't get Carpet Bombed with drivvel.
Subjects would be generalised rather than too specific - anything specific would be more appropriate under the Finished Projects section.

A sort of 'How To..' I suppose.

 

[westaust55]

I often find the search ability of forums to be annoying & lacking, too many options, some can't search for 3 or less letter words, and a lot you have to be signed in for the search to work or you have to enter a CAPTCHA, so I turn to Google.

eg if I want to search this site for information on "screenkeys" because I have an unused one I got given in a box of random electronic bits, and I want to find out if anyone has managed to get one working with a Picaxe, I enter this into google:

siteicaxeforum.co.uk screenkeys

There is a tutorial (with example) prepared about 18 months ago to help folks search the PICAXE forum:
http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=11053

and yes, use of Google was also sugegsted back then then for 3 letter words/acronyms.

 

[Janne]

I think that a good tutorials section in the forum would increase interest towards picaxe. For many I'm sure the forum contents play a big role, when they decide what chip to get started with. There are, after all many other options beside picaxe to get started with microcontrollers.
So the time invested in the tutorials section by rev-ed would most propably come back as increased sales.

 

[rodmcm]

I agree with Dippy. A Tutorial section that is not changeable by everyone, and a method of submitting to the (overworked) moderators for inclusion with a grand index.