Admin, WAKE UP

[ChrisR]

Have asked before about a FAQ section - like Electrics have would do. There must be a dozen answers recently saying "Air Lock". It's just boring.

 

[chrishutt]

I agree with ChrisR. It is tedious to have to endlessly answer the same questions, and I for one tend to either ignore those or give rather curt (not to say rude) replies like "do a search".

There's a wealth of great material already on the forum but finding it becomes increasingly difficult as the volume grows. We need to harvest the best material to put together a FAQ section.

I'm sure ChrisR would love to prepare a draft FAQ section for the forum.

 

[ollski]

Hello chris, haven't heard from you much lately. I thought you'd disappeared into the horizon with kevplumb

 

[moderator]

ChrisR and others, its midnight, admin are asleep

But you may want to see This

 

[chrishutt]

Mod, I had a look at your link "for refernce" (reference presumably) but it's not at all clear what it's meant to be for.

From the context, I guess we are invited to post standard replies here, so it becomes a kind of FAQs section. Is that right? If so, i think it might work if it will be "sticky" and so remain above all the regular threads.

However I think the thread requires something by way of explanation. Can anyone post a standard reply? What if a standard reply is considered incorrect in some way? Can an alternative version be posted? And doesn't it then get a bit unwieldy? Would this reference thread need to be sub-divided into topics? e.g. air-locks, stuck TRVs, pump problems, etc.

 

[PaulAH]

The trouble with "do a search" (chrishutt) is that some people don't know how to, and those who do are likely to face page after page of irrelevant or semi-relevant postings.

What's needed, if I may humbly suggest, is some carefully crafted off-the-shelf answers to common questions which could be called directly from a link inserted in the reply. This would be helpful rather than rude. The link might even be to another URL, eg manufacturer's website.

Baxi Bermuda could have a section of its own

 

[chrishutt]

So I'm not the only insomniac tonight!

I agree entirely PaulAH, and you sound like just the person to "craft" the answers. All we have to do is persuade Admin to accommodate it.

 

[PaulAH]

Woa, steady on Chris! Highly flattered but I'm no plumber. What's more, Oilman would turn in his tank.

There are other contributors to this forum (including yourself) who write with great clarity and have much more knowledge and experience than me.

But I may have something to offer as someone who spent 30 years as a journalist and editor, has a science degree and has done a fair amount of technical authoring (mostly in computing and electronics, though). A tendency to insomnia helps too.

If you experts would like to get a subject going and pass it on to an editing panel for checking / polishing before publication, I'd be happy to be one of those people.

 

[chrishutt]

but I'm no plumber

But that's your advantage. The rest of us are so used to all the jargon and so forth that we have forgotten how impenetrable much of it must seem to the novice.

As a journalist you must know that the best interpretation of a specialist subject, be it plumbing or palaeontology, for the benefit of a layman will be rendered by someone who straddles the divide - the journalist.

 

[PaulAH]

you must know that the best interpretation of a specialist subject, be it plumbing or palaeontology, for the benefit of a layman will be rendered by someone who straddles the divide

Chris, you're even smarter than I thought. And that was smart enough .

 

[chrishutt]

Enough of this mutual flattery. It's beginning to look a bit weird....

Been thinking about proposed FAQ answers. It's really an editing job (didn't someone posting here say they were an editor?). All the answers are already here on the forum, many times over. It's just a question of trawling through them all, filtering out the best stuff, editing it down and setting it up in an easily accessible format.

 

[PaulAH]

Just don't tell Oilman, all right?

 

[Bahco]

Paulah

Good offer from you but you must go against the grain (as a reporter) and tell the truth

 

[moderator]

I have now changed it to "most commonly asked questions"
it can be called what ever you like, what I didn't want to happen is for it to become a very long post with people asking questions because then they will always ask there and it will end up being of no use.

If you guys want to ask a question, then reply to it that will be fine.

eg.

Q) My radiator is cold at the top what do i do?

A) Bleed the radiator using the small "valve" at the top

(Forgive me if the terminology is not right, but i am not a plumber) but you get the idea

As for making it sticky, i did say in the post that I will ask admin to do that. (I can only ask, I make no promises)

I also suggest you write a title in the subject line to make it easier.

The " for reference" post in UK electrics started in a similar way but it is up to you "the regulars" to add to your version

Sorry if i was not quite clear enough, and of course if you have any other suggestions, or want to link to a specific relevant post please do.

regards

Lynda

 

[ChrisR]

someone who straddles the divide

I like to keep both feet on the ground but when you do that and sit on the fence it gives you splinters in nasty places .

A suggestion, while we're talking hypothetically; it would be nice if a selected few (moderators?) could modify prototype FAQ answers, which could then go into a sticky thread. Though there are FAQ answers on all sorts on the net, all too many would elicit a response like "Yes, but you've forgotten x y z", from those with some knowledge.