What Would You Say To The Newer Members Of CD - 2nd Edition

[Conor Ryan]

Originally Posted by EricH

I thought it was read the FULL manual--as in cover to cover, multiple times, by the end of Week 1, and review for the next 5 weeks...

How about both?

[JaneYoung]

I thought of one today - it goes something like this -
Gracious Professionalism does not take a holiday.

I thought of creating a thread asking what would happen if it did..but my toes started curling and that is never a good sign.

Busy season, slow season, bored season, stressed season, each of us works to spread GP in the Chief Delphi community. Our choice of words, our responses, and sometimes what we don't say - are very important in communicating Gracious Professionalism. It is a big part of what the FIRST community strives for when building robots and building people.

[Andy A.]

I've come to realize that, during the season, I manage to post one reply for every two that I start. That is to say I write twice as many posts as actually make it on the site. Half are worth posting, the other half get trashed by me. Don't be afraid to do the same kind of thing. It's never to late to hit the back button till it is.

I like to think about this in a signal to noise concept. Signal is worthwhile posts. The stuff that answers questions, poses important questions and is helpful. Noise is everything that shouldn't be posted in the first place or should stay in Chit-Chat. The ratio between the amount of worthwhile stuff and the junk is the signal to noise ratio of this system. When the signal outweighs the noise, things are productive.

Honestly read what you've written before you hit the post button. Are you adding to the discussion? Are you answering a question? Are you qualified to answer the question? Is this post signal or noise?

If your posts boils down to "I don't know the answer" then it's probably not worth posting. Educated guesses are usually fine, wild guesses are not. During the season people are usually asking important questions and looking for the correct answer. Wildly incorrect or pointless posts add up to a whole bunch of 'noise' when your looking for that bit of 'signal' that the answer represents.

If you know the answer, pipe up! But first make sure you are in fact correct. Then, fully and completely answer the question. Research your post and include pertinent links to information, quote the rule book, reference other posts that might answer the question. Do what it takes to communicate your self even if it does mean taking a few extra minutes. We all reap the benefits.

The better the signal to noise ratio, the better the season will run.

-Andy A.

[CraigHickman]

One thing that I try to do most times before posting can help keep the content of postes quite understandable. The technique is simple, read what you just wrote. And not read silently. Read it outloud, or at least on your breath. Because many grammatical errors, and sentences make no sense, and cannot be discovered until you read it to yourself. This helps me to remain somewhat coherent on here.

Also, welcome, may this new home for the next 4 (or more, hopefully) years of your life be enjoyable. Also, don't let all the scary people with very forcefully presented opinions scare you off.

[Schnabel]

Don't take anything too seriously! I'm serious.

[indieFan]

In addition to reading the full manual, make sure you read the Updates that FIRST puts out.

If you have time, cross-reference the Updates and the Manual. (i.e., actually write in your manual at rule x.x.x that it was replaced by Update 3, Page 2)

indieFan

[Chris Hibner]

Here's a BIG one for me:

If you start a new thread PLEASE be sure to take time thinking about the thread title - make sure it clearly encapsulates the point of the thread. The thread title of this thread ("What Would You Say To The Newer Members Of CD - 2nd Edition") is a great example of a good thread title.

Usually at the beginning of the year I try to be helpful and read all of the threads. After a while there is just too much clutter and I don't have time to read everything. If I don't know exactly what a thread is about by the title and I don't have all day, I tend to skip it. A good thread title let's people know if they can help before they have to spend time reading the thread.

Examples of poorly thought out thread titles:

"Help"
"Control System Help"
"CMUCam"
"The Chamionship"

Making good thread titles out of the above poor titles:

"Help Needed With printf()"
"Help Needed With Reading A/Ds"
"CMUCam Parameters - How to Compensate for Ambient Light Changes"
"Are there good places to eat near the Georgia Dome?"

[iCurtis]

If you are not 100% sure of an answer, do not answer a question without checking your answer. If it's something you can't check it for some reason, don't answer, there are more than likely plenty of people here who can.

If you answer a question about rules, please, please, please reference the rule, ie <R32>, or even better, put the rule directly in your post via the nifty quote function, denoted by the speech bubble on the toolbar on the "Reply to Thread" page. As an example (and if you don't know, you get the header for the quote by putting an = directly after the word "QUOTE", the tag below would be [quote=1.3.37 "Really Important Rule"]

Originally Posted by 1.3.37 "Really Important Rule"

Be sure to review the manual before posting a question. Also, check the official FIRST Q&A to be sure it has not been answered there. And always remember, rules from prior years do not apply this year.