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12:11 AM
This is my first time participating in a beta, (Go IoT). I've asked a question and answered a question. Are there any other things I should be doing to help?
 
 
1 hour later…
1:18 AM
@SeanJ mostly voting and helping determine what type of content we want to encourage/discourage
 
user223506
and make sure you discourage the enthusiasts
 
@Nullarbor what defines an enthusiast at this point?
 
@Nullarbor you sound pretty fed up, may I ask why?
 
 
8 hours later…
9:46 AM
@Nullarbor I'm sorry it worked out like this (though I don't think there's much I can do to change your mind now). Good luck with your future work though.
 
@Nullarbor It's not like that, we can make sure that won't happen, may I know where did you feel discouraged. As the site is in beta, it's expected that too many close votes and unclear discussions happen. I suppose here at this stage one should be patient enough to understand what others might be thinking to your questions/answers.
No one intentionally tries to discourage enthusiasts.
6
 
10:30 AM
Does anyone think a canonical question about how to add Skills to an Amazon Alexa device would be useful?
Or is it easier just to leave it to Amazon to document it
 
11:01 AM
-5 20:49 removed User was removed (learn more)
 
11:11 AM
@Aurora0001 The official ones, I don't think so
Custom ones, that'd be interesting
 
12:00 PM
Or how to trick my German Echo Dot to use English skills...
 
12:15 PM
@Helmar what is that?
 
Apparently Alexa Skills are language specific
Ifttt.com for example is not available in German
And if I switch the device to English US it says it doesn't match my Amazon account
So I can't install English Skills apparently
 
12:27 PM
yeah
make that a question ;)
 
And I figured it out as well :)
 
12:51 PM
Also I've been looking at visitor stats for other recent SE sites, and we're not doing too bad
2
Esperanto SE is quite recent and only has ~150 visits/day
AI is also recent and has about ~120
Although really I think we want to be better than "not that bad", so let's keep asking and answering useful questions
2
 
1:21 PM
Yeah we should aim for a bar higher than not totally awful
2
 
 
1 hour later…
2:39 PM
It's starting to get hard to think of interesting question ideas now
 
maybe digging though this will give you some ideas? codemade.io
 
@Videonauth nice idea, thanks
I can't help but feel that asking all these theoretical questions starts to get boring and not particularly useful
 
yes in the end they wont be visited often i think, but never the less they are needed to finaly find the real scope of whats OT and what is not
 
@Videonauth my hope is some of them will make decent canonical questions so you can duplicate-vote against them
 
This only time can tell
 
 
2 hours later…
4:36 PM
It seems like one of the biggest problems of the private beta is that a lot of good, interesting questions require more expertise than any of us have
e.g. these questions
9
Q: Repurpose ADT sensors

tbm0115My wife and I just purchased a new house and the ADT Security sensors were still installed, but no keypad panel. After speaking with a Rep on pricing and logistics, we decided not to continue the service. I asked about the existing hardware and the Rep said that should we decide to continue servi...

6
Q: Hue Dimmer Switch frequently "ignored" by the light

texnicI've got multiple Hue White bulbs, multiple Dimmer switches and a second generation Hue hub. Sometimes, pressing a dimmer button doesn't result in the bulb reacting in any way. Sometimes I have to press multiple times to switch the light on or off. Sometimes I even have to use the hard switch to ...

 
@Aurora0001 you mean, we all tricked SE staff during Area51 to believe we have said expertise
2
 
A common pattern seems to be questions about specific devices and problems with them don't get answers (especially more obscure ones)
@Ghanima seems like the enthusiasts are too scared to contribute and the experts aren't here to contribute!
 
on the plus side, we have only managed to scare just one enthusiast away so far
2
 
There are a few users who know quite a lot, but they presumably don't have a deep knowledge of every IoT device
That's what I think is the biggest threat to IoT staying alive
 
but how to lure others in here (ok, there's this email-invite thing) but you'd have to know those experts first
 
4:40 PM
I could share some Amazon Echo questions on the /r/amazonecho subreddit
that looks quite active
/r/smartthings is also quite active and I could share things there
Even /r/Hue has a big subscriber base
 
I am not into reddit, so I cannot tell
 
Just looking at the amount of posts a day, it's quite active
 
but if you think this could help, sure go ahead (maybe it'll be more useful during open beta)
 
I can't really share it without it being open beta
I think sharing a link to a question would be fine, but it would look spammy to ask people to send their emails for a 'beta invite'
I wouldn't trust someone who said "just send your email to get access" :P
 
yeah, that would probably not work out well
 
4:44 PM
If people know stack exchange they may give you their email without you having to ask for it
 
@10Replies maybe, I just think it's not going to be easy to promote at this stage
yet if we don't, the site will look empty and won't have many useful answers
 
5:01 PM
Anyone got opinions whether this is on-topic?
0
Q: Will "smart" devices be required to allow import and export of data under the GDPR?

Aurora0001In May 2018, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation will come into force, and EU citizens will be given additional rights in regards to their data. As well as this, data controllers (organisations that collect data on users) will have additional obligations placed upon them. In...

It overlaps a bit with Law but I don't know whether it would still be on-topic here (since the primary focus is IoT devices)
Also, congratulations everyone for preserving the two star rule
 
5:25 PM
@Aurora0001 thx for the edit. That was an embarrassing homophone I used there
 
@Helmar easy to do - I only noticed recently that one of my posts had a word that looked like "thiiiiiis"
I think I'd pressed the key too long :P
 
900 rep :)
Decent chance to make 1k when the week starts tomorrow
Anyways got hot wine punch to drink, see ya'll
 
@Helmar enjoy
Also, don't forget to vote everyone!
Currently I have voted more than bravokeyl, Gilles, Sean and 10 Replies put together
Let's fix that!
 
5:44 PM
you shouldn't force people to vote. (notwithstanding of course: voting is good)
 
@Ghanima of course, only vote on stuff that's good
(or even just downvote on stuff that's bad)
 
Dom
Not everything deserves and upvote or down vote. There can be content in the middle.
 
@Dom that's true, but it helps the beta if we can get the votes flowing so more users start to get privileges
 
I am sure that this counter is wrong.
 
@Ghanima you can always check on your profile to see if it agrees
 
Dom
5:47 PM
But you don't want to promote questionable content just for that reason.
 
@Ghanima there will probably be slight discrepancies from stuff that's been deleted
 
Dom
The site should naturally get people get to rep thresholds, not have it forced.
If it can't then that's a bad sign for a beta.
 
@Dom on the other hand, the site can't self-moderate as well without more privileged users
Still, you're right on the point that you shouldn't upvote for the sake of it
 
@Aurora0001 I just have the feeling that I've voted more ;)
 
Dom
@Ghanima I'm not sure if delete posts show up in that.
 
5:50 PM
@Ghanima perhaps the system just things 'Heh, Ghanima's votes are always bad... just delete them!'
 
one would not hope so
 
@Ghanima they show up if you go to the 'Votes' tab of the 'Activity' section of your profile
but the main counter doesn't show it
 
I know, it's the same number
 
then you must have not voted on anything that got deleted
Mine says 119 in the votes tab and 117 publicly
 
I know, I am just thinking that I clicked most questions and voted on most stuff, maybe it's something in my head
 
5:52 PM
@Ghanima seems odd, maybe some things don't get saved then
 
@Aurora0001 no, no. I guess the system is fine, it's probably something in my head ;)
 
@Ghanima always blame the nameless, faceless system of Stack Exchange
'the system' always seems so... evil to me
 
jupp
they trick us into doing stuff for imaginary internet points
sounds pretty evil to me
 
I demand 50% of the ad revenue from questions I've answered!
(So $0.000001)
 
I really wish i could ask some meaningful questions here but I'm interested in this field (newcomer) and not have really run into things i could not solve, beside that I'm awful at questions, and probably would more accumulate negative votes instead of being helpful so i focus on answering if i can
 
6:05 PM
@Videonauth feel free to run some question ideas by us here
 
will do if i come across any
 
The questions I've asked are my first ever on Stack Exchange, so I know exactly how you feel
@Videonauth want another question about Ubuntu Core to answer?
I've got a question idea that might work
 
well if i can answer it i will answer it, im not stating that i know everything linux based :)) thats just impossible :DDD
 
Of course, but I bet you'll know
 
@Aurora0001 your demand is taken under consideration
 
6:13 PM
 
yep
 
0
Q: What's the purpose of a gadget snap in Ubuntu Core?

Aurora0001I've been looking into how to set up Ubuntu Core on a Raspberry Pi, and I've read about gadget snaps, which the documentation says is intended to define the device features: The gadget snap is responsible for defining and manipulating the system properties which are specific to one or more de...

My first slightly less theoretical question!
 
no clue myself but i know someone who might be able to answer this
 
Hello @Videonauth! :)
I can see you are being active in the chat room.
 
yeah as much as i can
 
6:20 PM
Ok
 
6:55 PM
By the way, when you visit IoT logged out you get "Warning: this site is currently in private beta for at least 15 more days." - does that mean public beta will start on the 26th (Boxing Day in the UK/possibly other places)?
If so that will be a big problem for the launch day
I hope they launch it earlier/later than that (probably January would be the best launch time now, but it's a long time for private beta)
 
7:13 PM
Thanks for the answer @Ghanima
 
I am not sure about VTC (opinion based) it
but tbh close voting a question that onself answered is bad style
 
8:16 PM
@Ghanima I think there probably is an objective answer somewhere, so it's not opinion-based (or at least no more than any Law SE question)
 
8:42 PM
Also, if anyone's interested, you don't have to go through the fuss of emailing people to let them join
Just direct them to the area 51 page (area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/94224/internet-of-things) and if you click "Visit" you can register and join the site
even if you have no Stack Exchange account at all
 
I already knew that. ;)
 
Well, I didn't :P
 
8:58 PM
Do any of you think this is off-topic? It's got a close vote so perhaps I should revise it a bit:
0
Q: What's the purpose of a gadget snap in Ubuntu Core?

Aurora0001I've been looking into how to set up Ubuntu Core on a Raspberry Pi, and I've read about gadget snaps, which the documentation says is intended to define the device features: The gadget snap is responsible for defining and manipulating the system properties which are specific to one or more de...

I can always relate it to IoT a bit more if necessary, but is it on-topic by virtue of it being about Ubuntu Core (which is an IoT OS)?
 
9:38 PM
@Aurora0001 10 questions, terrific :)
 
9:50 PM
@Aurora0001 yea, not more than any law question ;)
 
10:06 PM
We went from 1 then 2 real quick!
 
@Aurora0001 We dropped to 129 a day
Weekend really isn't helping
 
@HenryWHHackv2.0 pretty stupid move for a sockpuppet ;)
@Aurora0001 explain yourself/ves :)
and btw, here's a good one to consider on the site:
 
Well, that's gotta be one of the best sock puppet names ever :D
 
 
2 hours later…
11:45 PM
@Helmar nice answer, it's also good to know that your smart home network will survive a nuclear attack ;)
 
@Ghanima You cannot be too prepared ;)
 

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