Another thread about CD etiquette? You bet.

[Madison]

I spend a lot of time these days moving threads into the proper forums and making titles more explicit and closing threads that are no longer useful. My life and yours will be a lot easier if you do these simple things while posting here on ChiefDelphi:

When starting a thread, keep this in mind:

• Are you posting to the correct forum? I know there are a lot of them, but many people do not read all the forums. A question about motors posted to the Programming forum is going to be overlooked by most of the people that can answer your question quickly and correctly.
• Can someone browsing through things get a very good idea what you need from the thread title? "I need help...," "Question...," and "CIM Question" are not good titles. "Removing pulley from large CIM Motor" is better. Capiche?
• Did you search the rules for your answer? Did you do any research at all? Don't ask me to find something for you simply because you're lazy. If you don't include some information in your post that indicates you've done some homework prior to coming to us, I won't answer it. I can't speak for others about that, particularly, but it saves everyone time if we don't repeat work you've already done.
• For heaven's sake, don't 'bump' your thread. Not only is it against the rules, it's annoying. Nobody's answered your question yet because nobody knows what you're talking about or because you haven't done one of the things listed above.

If you're replying to a thread, this is for you:

• Does your answer about a rules question include phrases like, "I think," or "I'm pretty sure?" If it does, please don't bother posting. When answering questions about rules, particularly, do not post unless you can quote the rule chapter and verse because "someone on ChiefDelphi said so," doesn't fly when your robot can't pass inspection.
• Does your reply contain the phrase, "Read the manual" and little else? Again, don't post. We don't care if it's in the manual unless you're going to prove it. See above.
• Are you in a forum other than Chit-Chat? If you are, please -- for the love of all that is sacred -- make meaningful posts. If you're in Chit-Chat, just remember that for every post you make in "1 to 1,000" that I and others have to see, you make us upset.

Forgive me if this is a bit sarcastic or too much of a killjoy, but things are very busy for many of the most dedicated people around these parts this time of year and I know already that many who are knowledgeable, friendly and helpful avoid this place because of the ridiculous amount of static there is. For six weeks can we please remember that every post we make is like calling someone here into a meeting. For the thirty seconds or five minutes they take to read your post, look up a rule, and reply, they could've been teaching someone physics or something.

Edit: Please note the irony that Greg's posted about the same thing while I was writing this.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

[*]Did you search the rules for your answer? Did you do any research at all? Don't ask me to find something for you simply because you're lazy. If you don't include some information in your post that indicates you've done some homework prior to coming to us, I won't answer it. I can't speak for others about that, particularly, but it saves everyone time if we don't repeat work you've already done.

This annoys me more than anything. CD IS NOT YOUR PERSONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA!!!!!!!!!. It takes a lot more work to create a CD account and post your question than it does to read the rules, which almost certainly contains the answer.

Adobe Acrobat Reader has a search function. Use it and look in the rules for key words that apply to your question. If you want to know about CIM's, hit "ctrl-f" and type in "CIM". CD should not be the first place you look/ask. CD too has a search function. Odds are that at this point in the game, if you have a question about the balls/motors/field, it's already been asked. Use the search button!!!!!! You'll save your time, and ours.

[doobs110]

Originally Posted by Cory

This annoys me more than anything. CD IS NOT YOUR PERSONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA!!!!!!!!!. It takes a lot more work to create a CD account and post your question than it does to read the rules, which almost certainly contains the answer.

Adobe Acrobat Reader has a search function. Use it and look in the rules for key words that apply to your question. If you want to know about CIM's, hit "ctrl-f" and type in "CIM". CD should not be the first place you look/ask. CD too has a search function. Odds are that at this point in the game, if you have a question about the balls/motors/field, it's already been asked. Use the search button!!!!!! You'll save your time, and ours.

This is exactly the problem with people these days.... too lazy to be lazy and use a search tool, And don't even get them started about looking through the rules themselves....

[Josh Drake]

CD has lost some of it's credibility as a good source of information. I feel in part because users put so many miscellaneous posts, that it's harder to thumb through them. So the question is, do you go to other sites for reliable answers and leave CD as a big "facebook" community, or does CD gain some of their credibility back and try to discourage some of the games that are played on the forums?

[JaneYoung]

There are some good reminders here to read and think about, put into action.
Resources are valuable and available.
Knowing how to use these resources is important as well. Members of FRC teams are comprised of different ages and different levels of experience. It is important to think about creating positions on the team that help in areas of obtaining information and communicating well.

Telling a team/team member to read the manual is a little different from introducing the manual and explaining the importance of it and how it will impact the success level of the team. Telling a team/team member to check out ChiefDelphi is a little different from introducing them to ChiefDelphi and showing them the different sections and how they break down such as electrical, programming, control system, team organization. A guided tour would prove to be very helpful during one of the team meetings.

In CD, when people start threads with a ‘quick question’ it can become frustrating and seemingly unproductive – but at the same time, it provides opportunities to help guide the new member of ChiefDelphi in the direction of proper research, searches, and understanding the process and work involved. There are moments in the shop when something is going on and a problem arises. Someone will say, hey ‘Joe’ – go post on CD and see if they can answer this. So Joe follows orders and posts on CD and then gets told to read the manual. These things happen. It’s good to remember that each of us is a resource and how we interact with our fellow FIRSTers in ChiefDelphi is important. If we are pointing them in the right direction, that is a good thing. If we are adding to the confusion without contributing much of anything, then we should pay attention to that as well.

There will be a lot of rookies accessing ChiefDelphi and learning about FRC and what that involves this year. A big part of that is discovering the value of the resources provided and how to use them wisely and efficiently. We can all help with that.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by DRAKE343

CD has lost some of it's credibility as a good source of information. I feel in part because users put so many miscellaneous posts, that it's harder to thumb through them. So the question is, do you go to other sites for reliable answers and leave CD as a big "facebook" community, or does CD gain some of their credibility back and try to discourage some of the games that are played on the forums?

I'm going to have to totally disagree with you about that. CD is still the definitive and best place to share and acquire information. It is well structured so if you don't want to see the miscellaneous post you don't have too.

It is also a great place to meet people from all around that share a like interest.

This is the first I have heard of anyone saying that CD has lost credibility.

[JesseK]

An addition for a slightly different perspective on the same topic:

Is your thread requesting help or feedback on a design?

• You must be able to clearly articulate any specific questions about your design. If you don't know the questions you need to ask, it is better to put pride aside and say so! This keeps random conjectures about what everyone thinks you're asking to a minimum.
• Link to any research, including CD links, near the end of your post.
• Do not bump old posts on the same idea that have pages and pages ... and pages ... of discussion on the same or similar topic. It is very difficult for the rest of us to remember the fine details of those old threads and it takes too much time for us to read everyone's thoughts on the subject. Instead, link to specific posts within the thread that you want to reference. (There's a button on the right side of every post that will give you the link to that exact post in the thread.)
• If there is information that you are deliberately leaving out due to trade secrets and whatnot, please say so. We won't chastise you for it; we understand the varying perspectives on team secrets and IP. Simply put, if you don't say so then there will be an infinite cycle of small bumps and off-topic sub-discussions that spawn from people asking questions that you don't want to give answers to.

Doing so will

• Keep discussions more on-topic
• Spread around what you've found to others who may also find it useful
• Allow new ideas and findings to be discussed in a more relevant thread
• Allow for better searching on the CD forums of relevant data rather than having to sift through pages and pages of data that sometimes do not apply any more.

[Madison]

A friendly reminder for a new season.

[Taylor]

bump.

Gentle reminder as we start getting excited for the new build season, teams reconvene after a several month sabbatical, etc. When posting a new thread, be cognizant of the thread title - make sure it sufficiently summarizes your post, rather than something along the lines of "A quick question" or "HELP!"
Also, a reminder to be considerate to those who may be new to FIRST and/or Chief Delphi and are not fully aware of our conventions and guidelines. Checking out stickies is always a good thing.

[Wayne Doenges]

May I also add $.02?
Please! Please, use correct spelling? If I see a bunch of misspelled words, I stop reading.

[Tom Line]

Both capitalization, punctuation, and the occasional paragraph break are nice.

reading stuff typed lik this makes m3 think that a near-sighted one-armed munkey got hold of ur keybored

[Carol]

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

May I also add $.02?.

Me too. When you refer to a place, please include not just the city name but the state (and country if appropriate.) when someones says "In Lancaster they have...." do you mean Lancaster, PA or Lancaster, CA? Not everyone is familar with your part of the country.

This applies to your identifying info as well. I've seen some people's location line include just the city.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Madison

When starting a thread, keep this in mind:

• Are you posting to the correct forum? I know there are a lot of them, but many people do not read all the forums. A question about motors posted to the Programming forum is going to be overlooked by most of the people that can answer your question quickly and correctly.
• Can someone browsing through things get a very good idea what you need from the thread title? "I need help...," "Question...," and "CIM Question" are not good titles. "Removing pulley from large CIM Motor" is better. Capiche?
• Did you search the rules for your answer? Did you do any research at all? Don't ask me to find something for you simply because you're lazy. If you don't include some information in your post that indicates you've done some homework prior to coming to us, I won't answer it. I can't speak for others about that, particularly, but it saves everyone time if we don't repeat work you've already done.
• For heaven's sake, don't 'bump' your thread. Not only is it against the rules, it's annoying. Nobody's answered your question yet because nobody knows what you're talking about or because you haven't done one of the things listed above.

If you're replying to a thread, this is for you:

• Does your answer about a rules question include phrases like, "I think," or "I'm pretty sure?" If it does, please don't bother posting. When answering questions about rules, particularly, do not post unless you can quote the rule chapter and verse because "someone on ChiefDelphi said so," doesn't fly when your robot can't pass inspection.
• Does your reply contain the phrase, "Read the manual" and little else? Again, don't post. We don't care if it's in the manual unless you're going to prove it. See above.
• Are you in a forum other than Chit-Chat? If you are, please -- for the love of all that is sacred -- make meaningful posts. If you're in Chit-Chat, just remember that for every post you make in "1 to 1,000" that I and others have to see, you make us upset.

Summing these up for humors sake (as well as shortening)

public void newThread(String post)
{
	if(!checkForum())
		return;
	if(!checkTitle())
		return;
	if(!userSearched(Forums)||!userSearched(Rules))
		return;
	if(isBump())
		return;
	Thread.post(post);
	return;
}

public void newReply(String reply)
{
	if(reply.indexOf("[(I think)(I'm Pretty Sure)]") != -1)
		return;
	if(reply.indexOf("Read the Manual") != -1)
		return;
	if(!checkForum("Chit-Chat"))
		if(checkMeaningful(reply))
			return;
	Thread.postReply(reply);
}

/humor

In all seriousness, think before you post. I will use myself as an example. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=andrew+schreiber look for the 8th link down. This is my public profile here on CD. On that page is a very simple link that says, "Find all posts by Andrew Schreiber" That link takes me to http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/se...archid=1859737 . In 3 clicks a potential employer has now found every single post I have made on CD...ever. The point is, anything you post online tends to stay there, what do you want to have that show?

PS: I would like to second what Sam is saying, I have met several wonderful and inspirational people on CD in the last year, and I have learned so much from them. CD is still a wonderful resource and will remain that way as long as we are all respectful.

PPS: Just felt I should add, none of the google results are actually me until the CD profile.