1. What is valuable here in CD and why is it valuable to you?
I use Chief Delphi as a research tool. I get design ideas, utilize their media section for white papers and pictures, and investigate new designs from other teams here (from which I shamelessly steal to improve our robot
).
2. What do you contribute?
Hopefully, I contribute answers to other teams technical questions. More often than not that falls within the labview / programming spectrum because I am the team's programming mentor, though I have a degree in mechanical engineering.
3. What are your favorite aspects of CD and why?
My favorite aspect of CD is the flow of information from experienced teams to newer teams. Conversely, my most un-favorite portion of Chief Delphi is the flow of information from any poster that is either ill-informed or simply rude/snarky/horribly formatted and typed.
I often wish that a mandatory portion of signing up on Chief Delphi required an email authentication system that utilized a mentor from each team as both an approver prior to allowing people membership and a policeman that could be contacted on any given team to directly address issues with posters.
4. If you are a veteran CD member and think that it has changed - what has changed, why, and what can be done about it?
I've watched Chief Delphi since my first 'First' year of '97. As the community has expanded I've seen an influx of newer and generally younger members. The board has changed somewhat from what used to be a collection of more technically oriented individuals. This goes back to point #3, in that many of the newer members do not seem to understand that this is not a personal facebook or twitter forum. It is a technical forum where spelling, grammer, punctuation and style are all important and valued.
5. (I'm adding one here). Potential improvements: I'd like to see a re-vamping of CD Media with drill down style topic menus that allow people to read through associated topics without simply utilizing the search feature.