It's no skin off my nose if they don't notify. ... As for giving advice to people who aren't going to notify, their non-notification is never a factor. What concerns me is whether they can do the job properly, ...
Thanks for clarifying. As should be apparent, that is essentially my position as well - the 'properly' word perhaps being the area for debate.
... and as I'm sure you must have noticed by now, I do not believe that DIYers should work to lower standards than professional electricians. ... I do not believe that people should take it on themselves to design and install circuits unless they actually know how to do every aspect of it properly. ... I do not believe that they should take it on themselves to do work which requires testing unless they are able to test it. ... And so on.
This is where the practical/pragmatic issues arise. As we know, there are plenty of members of this forum (and probably a high proportion of electricians in general) who believe (for reasons that are difficult to argue with) that virtually
any work on an electrical installation, from replacing a damaged switch or socket upwards, requires testing which will be beyond the capabilities of the vast majority (I'm tempted to say 'almost all') of non-electricians, both in terms of equipment and knowledge. If you agree with that view, then, coupled with what you say above, you're effectively expressing a belief that almost no electrical work should be undertaken by non-electricians. You, I and a handful of others would probably not be disbarred from doing work by your belief, but I'm sure you will agree that we are in an extremely small minority.
The is also a more general problem with "
I do not believe that people should take it on themselves to design and install circuits unless they actually know how to do every aspect of it properly" - since you appear to be effectively saying that anyone who needs to ask any questions (here or elsewhere) should not be doing whatever they propose. Do you not entertain the possibility that they may discover how to do it properly as a result of answers to questions which they ask here (or anywhere else)? - not everyone is omniscient, never needing to ask questions!
And this is an area where we differ. If people are not competent then I am utterly convinced that they should not be encouraged to do anything other than get an electrician, and that anybody who tries to remotely help them continue their ignorant bumblings does not truly have their best interests at heart and is dangerously irresponsible.
Yes, we've previously established that this is a point on which we differ. Your position is, of course, the one which would always be appropriate in an ideal world. However, our world is far from ideal, and one often has to think in terms of compromise, pragmatism and 'leasts of evils'. Once one gets to the point of being convinced that, despite all one's encouragement, they are
not going to 'get an electrician' and
are going to tackle the work in question (with or without assistance/advice), then I think the nature of the relative risk assessment has to change.
In other words, whilst I agree totally that "
people are not competent then I am utterly convinced that they should not be encouraged to do anything other than get an electrician..", I think that when it becomes clear that they are going to proceed with the work without any 'encouragement' (indeed, despite a lot of discouragement), then it can be argued that anything that anyone can do to reduce the risk in what they're going to do is probably in their interests.
Kind Regards, John