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Forum usage

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: MSP430F5438

After reading this forum for some time and writing 'some' posts myself (this is #720), I'd like to ask people to follow some guidelines when using this forum.
It makes life easier for the others.
This is of course not a must and I'm not a TI employee nor an admin. This are just my wishes based on my experiences here.

So my pleas are:

One question, one thread.

If you have a question, please open your own thread. Don't put your question at the end of an old and possibly totally unrelated thread. There is a 'new post' button on top of almost each page, which will allow you to open your own, unique thread (or opens a menu in which you can select the forum in which to start a new thread).

If you find a thread that covers the topic of your question and you just want to ask for some clarifications, then you may of course add the question there. But it is an absolutely unacceptable style to post ten pages of source code and a question about timers in a thread that is about SPI programming. It happened a lot in the last weeks.

Use the search function and the taglists.

If you have a question or a problem, please use the search function (the field with the spyglass, not the 'search by keyword' fields in the black top menu bar) or look for a tag in the taglist.
Chances are, that your exact question has been answered a gazillion times before. And by reading these answers, you'll save yourself a lot of time writing your question and waiting for the answers, while it saves all others the time to re-read the same question over and over again. One day, nobody will answer anymore.

Use a telling thread name.

Threads with a name like 'Help!' or 'Urgent!' are the ones with the least chance of being read and answered. The Forum is slow and opening a thread without knowing what it is about, just to discover that it is of no interest is a waste of time. And personally, I don't do it anymore.

Don't tag your questions.

The tags are used to find threads dealing with a special topic. The persons who will most likely use a tag are those who are looking for an answer, not those who are looking for a question. It makes no sense tagging a question. And every new tag makes the forum a tad slower too.
Edit: I'm told that the tags are too used by the 'officials' to assign new questions to the person who is best suited for an answer. So don't create a tag, rather use, if possible, one of the already known tags in the tag list. And limit the tags you use to those one or two that are closest to the problem.

Tag your answers.

If you answer a question, you should tag your answer. So everyone looking for a similar thread can easily find it by this tag. But only tag real answers and solutions. Not comments or smalltalk. And it is not necessary to use a tag that has been already used for a previous post in this thread.
If it turns out that your answer was wrong ('wrong' as in '1+1=3'), then please remove the tags as they serve no purpose anymore. If the answer was correct but did not match the question (or the problem turned out to be a different one), then of course the tags still have a meaning.

Tag carefully.

Excessive use of tags is counterproductive. It's like googling for 'Pamela Anderson' some years ago - one got gazillions of hits and it was almost impossible to find the few related hits in this mess. Use one or two tags which cover the topic but are not too specific.
'My great solution for timer A problems on an MSP430F5438' isn't a good tag. 'TimerA', however, is.
There is a 'select tags' button beside the tags field. clicking on it will show you which tags are already used (so re-using them is a good option). It will also show how many tags of no meaning (because nobody would ever search for them) have been used already. It's be far the majority.

Don't expect others to do the job for you.

This forum is E2E: Engineer-to-engineer. And not 'free individual code solutions for lame people'. I've read several posts in the past weeks where people asked 'My Professor wants me to do this. Can you tell me how or provide code?'.
The topic of this forum is to help engineers when they have problems using special features of the different MSPs. Or if documentation is unclear or does not match the apparent behaviour of the device. It is not a beginners school for C programmers nor a free software pool for 'own' projects.
Almost nobody here is paid for his time, so don't expect that you'll get your diploma thesis done here for free just because you bought a TI chip for $2.

and last but not least:

R.T.F.M.

Many questions are superfluous by a deeper look into the device datasheet or the family users guide. Maybe these documents are not complete or won't show the required information where one would expect it. Yet I often enough find the answer to a forum question right before my eyes when I open the datasheet.
If I read questions like 'what is ACLK?', then I can only shake my head.
I know it's easier to ask than to read (and understand) a datasheet, but in the very most cases, all who can answer the question do have the same base material as everyone else and no secret book with answers and additional information.

And one from Priya Thanigai: 

Mark the post as 'Verified Answer' if (and only if) it answers your question

This helps us help you and it takes very little additional effort.
By marking posts as 'verified'; unanswered questions filter more easily to the top ensuring that the next time YOU post a question it does not land in page#10 afer 3 days (where it may be forgotten).
Don't mark your own post as verified answer unless you indeed figured it out yourself and the post contains your solution.

And another thing...

Provide information

If you just cry for help "My code does not work. Please help!", nobody will be able to help.
Post your code. Post the exact compiler errors. Provide any information that might be related to the problem.
Don't forget to mention the processor you use. There are many different MSPs. With different possible problems.
And in some cases, even the schematics are important.

Final advice

There's an excellent article about how to ask questions. It not only covers what information to provide but also gives quite a number of really good hints how attract people to answer you rather than repel them.
This article can be found here.

Edit: Today (April 21st, 2015) I've seen an excellent video about questions.
Basically, before asking 'how', tell us 'what' and 'why'. And the more detailed you do it, the higher is the chance of getting an answer to the 'how'.

The video can be seen here:

Thank you for reading.
You can start flaming now :)

  • Jens,

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts and helping make this forum more effective.

    I will add one more request:

    Mark the post as 'Verified Answer' if it answers your question

    This helps us help you and it takes very little additional effort.

    By marking posts as 'verified'; unanswered questions filter more easily to the top ensuring that the next time YOU post a question it does not land in page#10 afer 3 days (where it may be forgotten).

    "Leave the forum more efficient than when you found it!!"

    Regards,

    Priya

  • A1 stuff guys.  Think this should become the template for a TI promoted 'how to use this forum' page.

  • Looks like this thread has lost its sticky tag.

    And almost instantly the number of 'I have another question' posts int he threads increased, as well as the number of threads without marked answers. Not to mention the many new tag creations.

  • Hi,

    I feel that everyone should read this post before they start-up with this forum.

    I would like to say that redundant tags can removed and only proper ones be retained.

  • The kind of people who post the lame questions aren't the kind of people who will bother reading this excellent post. Therefore, I think this thread should be presented every time the 'Start New Thread' button is pressed!

    And then, at the end, "Are you sure you want to start a new thread now?"

    In fact, the kind of people who need to read this most would probably still not bother to actually read it through - just skip to the end and press 'Yes'

    Therefore, I really think that each point of this thread should be presented in turn every time the 'Start New Thread' button is pressed!

    Sure, it wouldn't be perfect - but I think it would help a lot.

    The user's points score could be used to reduce the burden as the poster gains a "good reputation"

  • And is there any way that this can be linked to all forums - it is needed just as much on the Stellaris/Tiva/WhateverTheyAreCalledToday forums!

  • Although it is linked from JMG's sig, I think it would be worth giving greater prominence to the 'Smart Questions' article:

    http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

    And, specifically for the MSP430 Forum, a link to the MPS430 Resources post:

    http://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp430/f/166/t/18546.aspx

     

  • Thanks for the new, positive comments, even though this a rather old thread.

    Andy: I added the link to the first post itself, as 'final advice'.

    I don't think it is a good idea to force people to step through forum rules one by one. Some people are simply learning resistant and for the rest it would be quite a nuisance.

    But a gentle request to read the forum rules (or this thread, which I don't consider as being authoritative 'forum ruies' ) before posting would be good.

    Alternatively, one could be presented this when creating an account.

  • And also I would suggest the following for the ones who would like to answer a question.

    - Read the question carefully.

    - Understand that English is not everyone's first language so be flexible of bad spelling or grammar. (We don't practice our English here!)

    - Do not answer with purpose or get revenge, and avoid any insults, slap-downs, or sarcasm behaviour.

    *** And last but not least: WORK to HELP developers, not make them feel STUPID!

    Thank you.

  • Sorry, I have to disagree.

    If someone comes here to search for help, he has to understand that he cannot demand help from people who are not paid. And he cannot expect to be helped in his native language or expect people to take classes to understand a request that is translated into ununderstandable rubbish by Google translate or brabblefish.
    And this because he has bought a $0.5 processor and is too lazy to do his homework for university. After all, this is “engineer to engineer” and not “kid to nurse” or “we do your job for you for free” forum.
    Sure, not insulting anyone is a general (rather universal) forum rule for both sides. But if someone comes here with a nickname like “BestEngineerEver” (not a reference to your forum name) and then needs help to calculate 1+1, then this is definitely a reason for a loud laugh.

    The one who seeks help, and wants it for free, has to understand that it is in his own interest to make answering his question as easy as possible. Nobody here has to answer.
    Alternatively, he can hire someone to do the job.

  • I do not understand why you ignored the other suggestions of mine and focus on "English and Laziness"! Maybe a new fresh graduated decides to purchase TI product and start off his exploration of electronic worlds. Then we should kick him off the forum?! And of course not always the answers direct you to your goals. They give you hint to solve your problem.

  •  

    CaEngineer said:
    Maybe a new fresh graduated decides to purchase TI product and start off his exploration of electronic worlds. Then we should kick him off the forum?!

    As someone who graduated fairly recently, I have never had anyone be unnecessarily snappy in their responses. And most questions that someone just starting out has, have been answered in one way or another already on the forum.

    I think the intent of this post is to say "if you do your research first and still haven't found your answer, ask a question and provide details so people can actually help you." 

  • psa said:
    I think the intent of this post is to say "if you do your research first and still haven't found your answer, ask a question and provide details so people can actually help you." 

    This is fair! :)

  • I didn’t ignore anything, I just didn’t have seen a reason for a (negative) comment. But since you asked...

    Reading the question carefully is of course a prerequisite for any answer. However, often the question as written is not the same as it was meant. Sometimes a language issue, sometimes an indicator of a missing understanding of the problem on the poster’s side. Often, the question shows that the answer that is wanted is not the answer that it needed. After reading several thousands of questions in this forum, one gets used of the typical mistakes done when asking. And it is frustrating answering a question as asked, when it doesn’t really help the person who asked. Like a person with an axe in his head going to the doctor asking for a painkiller for his headache. Sure the doctor could give the painkiller, but I don’t think this would be the preferred solution.

    Some people get angry when their question is answered by another question, thinking they are considered too stupid to know what to ask. Well, not too stupid, but yes, often they don't know what to ask. So yes, reading the quesiton carefully is important. Askign the right question is more important, though. And some people need help to find the right question before they can be givn an answer that really helps them.

    But I have to admit that some of my almost 15.000 posts have been misled by misreading or misinterpreting the question. Many more, however, have been helpful by rightfully questioning the question.

    Also, your statement about giving help instead of making them feel stupid falls into the same category. Some people need help all their life because nobody told them to begin thinking on their own. Feeling stupid (and not liking this feeling) the starting point for mental evolution. And, sorry, some people simply are stupid. Unfortunately, the officials (TI employees) here in the forum are not allowed to tell them.

    psa: exactly. And add a "do the research before posting and don't expect other people doing it for you" (I can't count the number of cases where the answer was found on the first Google search result page)

  • Jens-Michael Gross said:
    But I have to admit that some of my almost 15.000 posts have been misled by misreading or misinterpreting the question. Many more, however, have been helpful by rightfully questioning the question.

    This is called the real meaning of having TI forum. A way to communicate and share what we think of technology!

  • CaEngineer said:
    This is called the real meaning of having TI forum. A way to communicate and share what we think of technology!

     I feel a little moderation as necessary to reduce spam is getting on and some basic wiki to redirect newbie too.

     Too many don't know how to set or reset bit and one internal reference can be of help other than struggling solve error growing in an exponential manner during thread.. See my last two post here, too many don't know nothing about how to do thing and it is becoming worst also on other processors forum.

     TIVA is also overpopulated of too many asking help on how to set a bit.

  • ,

    Its a very good suggestion, that you have provided. I think every one should read it before they post anything on the forum.

    thanks

  • Jens-Michael Gross said:

    Sorry, I have to disagree.

    If someone comes here to search for help, he has to understand that he cannot demand help from people who are not paid. And he cannot expect to be helped in his native language or expect people to take classes to understand a request that is translated into ununderstandable rubbish by Google translate or brabblefish.
    And this because he has bought a $0.5 processor and is too lazy to do his homework for university. After all, this is “engineer to engineer” and not “kid to nurse” or “we do your job for you for free” forum.
    Sure, not insulting anyone is a general (rather universal) forum rule for both sides. But if someone comes here with a nickname like “BestEngineerEver” (not a reference to your forum name) and then needs help to calculate 1+1, then this is definitely a reason for a loud laugh.

    The one who seeks help, and wants it for free, has to understand that it is in his own interest to make answering his question as easy as possible. Nobody here has to answer.
    Alternatively, he can hire someone to do the job.

     Hi JMG, I share completely your point of view I completely quoted in full... How can we explain this to BLAKE it seems require give help to everyone come here?

     Again to last post I seen when we can start some lesson on series and parallel resistors'? I have some doubt Siemens is competitors brand than measurement of conductance..... can someone explain to me how to use possibly using some complex math is required by my homework??

  • IMHO, Siemens (the company) is no competitor at all, as they tend to just buy companies and then sell their products until nobody wants them anymore, then buying the next. Too bad, as Werner von Siemens, the one who founded them, was an innovative mind. However, the unit Siemens (also named after him) as the inverse resistance (conductance) is not very innovative too. Previously, it was called "Mho", showing its mathematical insignificance as independent unit.
    However, everyone who comes here should have no problems with Ohm and Siemens. If he has, it's likely not the right place for him. It's like calling the president just to ask him for the wording of a common law (skipping several levels of the legislative and informative chain).

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