As regular contributors, are we a form of let me google that for you?

[ericmark]

I did try it and DIYnot did not come up. But we see questions which seem to be just using us to search for people. The number of times I cut and pasted and added installation manual after the device being talked about to get the answers asked for.

OK, sometimes it is about knowing what to ask, working out the phrase to enter into the search engine. Thanks to @RF Lighting we do have a Wiki on replacing thermostats, and one diagram

but I have lost count how many times I have hunted the internet to find the numbering on a thermostat so I can say connect the wire which now goes to 3 to L and the wire that now goes to 4 to N, and the wire which now goes to 1 to 3 and a link from L to 1.

And they have the cover from the existing thermostat with a diagram printed on it, and how many times do we ask what boiler do you have. Or what Plan is your system following.

I must admit I was surprised to see so little on Wiki, "How to replace a room stat" does not talk about the TRV, and my home has 14 TRV's one in every room, and only 3 wall thermostats. I looked on Plumbing page, Room thermostats, Timers, Programmers, and Programmable Room Thermostats, all under Heating controls, but nothing about hubs, or TRV's.

So again when writing this, looked at RCD's, got "This page doesn't seem to exist." and "Looks like there’s a problem with this site" with all of the links, so is it our fault for not updating Wiki? Or is it simply looking in the wrong place, the "How to" seemed to work a bit better with the RCD question, seems we have type 1, 2, 3, and 4, and I thought it was AC, A, F, and C. Seems I have been wrong all these years!

Is it our fault that these pages have not been proof read? If so what can we do about it?

 

[JohnW2]

I did try it and DIYnot did not come up.

If you do a Google search for "DIY electrical questions", DIYnot comes up as about the 20th hit, fairly near the top of the second page.

 

[ericmark]

If you do a Google search for "DIY electrical questions", DIYnot comes up as about the 20th hit, fairly near the top of the second page.

First page with me, but not Wiki or How to ... I went to the electrical forum directly.

 

[mattylad]

OH we absolutely are.
It's the way people are, I am on several Facebook 3D printing groups and when Bambu Labs has a sale or at Xmas etc. There are always hundreds of new users come on asking the same old questions with the same issues that could have been prevented/resolved had they read the wiki or did the free online training that is available.

The same applies here especially if they are a lurker, ask those that might know before asking a computer.

 

[mattylad]

If so what can we do about it?

Go through the wiki, copy the URL into a notepad doc along with an explanation of what's wrong.
Write some new material for the missing parts, proofread that.

Then contact DIYNot and see about getting editing privilege's, then make some changes either yourself or get someone else to help.
Or give them the list and see if they have time to change it.

 

[opps]

I have never heard of "let my Google that for you". They seem to be rather coy about about their privacy policy.

 

[opps]

If you do a Google search for "DIY electrical questions", DIYnot comes up as about the 20th hit, fairly near the top of the second page.

This site is 3rd (ignoring sponsored and videos) when I just searched, but I will not see the same results as you.

 

[ericmark]

I tried to write an instruction set, to better the one done by @RF Lighting and failed. I just end up waffling on and on, I have to accept I am not good at keeping to the point.

I look at my own central heating, and far from perfect. But near enough. There is one report on Aqara Radiator Thermostat W600 a good start, need really to compare the electronic TRV heads, I have 4 makes, and the Aqara phone screenshots seem to mirror my Kasa TRV head. But on its own, it is little more than an advert. And following link at £50 a bit expensive, but uses a zigbee hub, I already have two, the Wiser also uses zigbee, but does not use same hub as other zigbee stuff.

 

[JohnW2]

This site is 3rd (ignoring sponsored and videos) when I just searched, but I will not see the same results as you.

Why the big differences between what different people are seeing. Does Google 'customise' the hits for different people?

 

[opps]

Why the big differences between what different people are seeing. Does Google 'customise' the hits for different people?

Pretty much, yes.

It "thinks" it will show you what you "want" to see. You can use Google on different browsers and get different responses (assuming that you are not logged into your google account).

In my search response, it gave me what it thought I wanted to see. My search and your's could be completely different, and we both used the same search terms.

The internet is smoke and mirrors... plus monetisation.