I flagged a few answers, and the flags were marked as helpful, but it doesn't seem that anything was done about the problem. What can I do to clean up these answers?
It's probably worth pinging @ChrisF to see if there's a reason for "helpful" but "no action taken". E.g. when I suggested a meta post be a community wiki, he flagged it as helpful but let me know that there's no reason to make meta posts a wiki since rep points don't count over there.
Licensed electricians charge what they do because we are required to have insurance, and thousands of hours of truing by law as in any other profession,training and schooling dictate the skill of the practitioner.you get what you pay for. If you think you can do it and sleep at night with your k...
It bothers me when I see answers that are too "forumy", where people just want to have their opinions heard, and don't care at all for actually helping the asker.
There's an excellent project starting up on kickstarter called the Global Village Construction Set which I read here. They are basically trying to open source hardware so that you can mix and match pieces to build construction machines. The wiki explains a lot of what they have already develope...
Looks out the window Ooh goodie, looks like I'll add a few more streets to Waze in the next few days. The curbs were already poured and now the dump trucks are lined up and grading equipment is running around. Construction sites are way to distracting for me.
@ChrisF I also flagged 3 other questions, and they were marked "helpful" but no action seemed to be taken. Is there a reason a flag would be marked helpful, but nothing further done?
@Tester101 Yes (and I can only speak for myself here) it's where I can see why the post was flagged but I don't think that it needs actioning immediately. It's something I know at the time but can't always explain afterwards. Have you got an example?
There's a fine line between just down-voting or voting to close and flagging. It's preferable to do the former - mods should be just for stuff the community can't handle itself, but with so few 10K and 3K users we have to step in more often.
The new /review page is worth a look. Here you can see the posts that the system thinks are low quality and what others are voting to close on. Weighing in on this is a good way to get rid of bad content.
@Tester101 OK - that's good to know. Will help in me deciding what to do with the flag. On other sites (Programmers and the ones I see on Stack Overflow) some people use flags instead of down-votes or close votes. That's (unfortunately) coloured by judgement.
Striping wire with pliers is a technique that takes a lot of practice, and is one of those things best left to the pros. For the average homeowner, it's going to be easier (and safer) to stick with using the proper tools. In this case, you'll want to pick yourself up some Wire Strippers. No ne...
This was a good answer - I started to write one and I couldn't get past "Do it about a few thousand times and you might get the hang of it." For a non-electrician it's practically a vanity thing, like being able to field strip a rifle Forrest Gump style.
@SteveJackson I used to strip wire with lineman's pliers all the time, then I thought "What the hell am I doing... I have friggin wire strippers!". Mostly now I use wire strippers when wiring things with screw terminal, because it's faster to strip and hook the wire with them. And I use pliers when creating junctions, because I don't have to switch tools to strip and twist the wires together.
It also depends on what you're working on. In home wiring you're mostly dealing with smaller gauge wire, so wire strippers are useful. When you move towards industry, you'll start encountering thicker wire where wire strippers are basically useless.
@Tester101 As my tools have a way of never being at hand when I need them, I've probably done more house wire stripping with a pocket knife than wire strippers. Good point about the hook though. I first used wire strippers while building circuit boards, so they don't always enter my mind outside that context.
@ChrisF care to give some moderation advice on this blog comment? This was on Greebo's post about replacement windows. "It is always a challenge to renovate Sash Windows. That is why it is a good idea to ask for expert advice. Because Sash Windows are such a classic device they are very delicate and it is easy to damage them. Often restoration is a lot cheaper than replacement so if you can afford to do this rather than replace them then this is what I would advise"
@ChrisF I was a little torn. It's sorta on-topic and potentially good advice to talk to someone before taking on the project. Their name linked to their website (since this is encouraged by WP). I'm just trying to feel it out for when we get more of the same. It seems to me that a blog post commented by someone in the business is potentially a good thing, though this one was phrased awkwardly at best.
@SteveJackson It's a fine line and one might be OK while another might not. It depends on the wording and whether they've peppered their post/comment with links or not.
Having said I wouldn't be sorry to see it deleted, I'm happy for it to stay if that's the consensus - basically I'm not going to argue one way or the other.
I think the server always puts the notice up about 15+ minutes before the meeting starts, confusing, but maybe it catches some people that would have otherwise run off
if you check the schedule, Chris has it setup right
@chris Truth. My wife asked for one last Christmas. She got one and has never learned to put it together, clean it out, or fill it with soap. It is overly complicated, but definitely not what I had in mind.
@chris my dad bought one, but he's a 3 hour drive away, I'd spend more in gas than the rental fee
by floating the roller in the paint tray, you clean your tray and roller with minimal effort, just revisit it every hour or so to pull out the roller without stirring up the paint, rinse the tray well, and fill it back up with clean water
alright, now we get to watch the paint dry until the next person volunteers to go
@chris You'll have to explain that to me. I know what a robertson is, but I'm not sophisticated enough to know the difference between green and red. Different sizes?
A screw drive is the system used to turn a screw. At a minimum, it is a feature on the screw that allows for it to be turned. Usually it also involves a mating tool, such as a screwdriver, that is used to turn it. The following heads are categorized based on commonality, with the less common drives being classified as "tamper-resistant". Most heads come in a range of sizes.
Common types
External types
All of these screw drives are characterized by a female tool and a male fastener.
A square screw drive uses square shaped fastener heads. They can be turned with a crescent-type wrench...
Got it. I've used them on decks, but it was a one size screw, one size driver sort of thing. Colors seems much smarter than #2, #1 when asking for a screwdriver.
Tough choice. I guess Tim Allen. His stuff seemed to mostly work until you pressed the more power button. I loved his dishwasher that shattered plates though - sometimes it seems like that's what it's going to take to get the crud off.
they did that in the trees at my elementary school, you really didn't notice the lights any other time of year (these were big trees, or at least they seemed big to me)
ok, the paint fumes might be getting to me, so I'll ask the peanut gallery: would a blog post on things like "framing 101" or "how to put up drywall" be useful or redundant with all the other info on the web?
I recently mounted a 10 circuit Transfer switch and attached about half of the wires to the electrical panel. After I start and plug in the generator, some of the circuits work fine (well pump, which is wired to 2x 20 amp terminals), some don't (refrigerator, wired to 15 amp terminal) and some pa...
It also would be a good idea to have a reference guide for answers. Like with the stud questions oscillatingcretin is having lately, you can answers specifics and throw a link to the blog for a "see more" kind of thing. If we have someone willing to put those kind of guides together, I think that's ok. It may not appeal to the hard-core diy.stackexchange people, but it would still get us attention from the people who are just looking at blogoverflow for interesting content.
And also looking at stats, that glass block post of greebo's is pulling alot of weight with google. So just in general, having more referenced guides will pull the blog up the search ranks.
I doubt there is real liability, it's more of a credibility issue. I find it hard to believe any judge would say: "Oh sure you got this free advice anonymously from the internet with no express contract - they're definitely liable for your damages"
This is the big problem with a DIY site - one day someone's going to post something so incredibly wrong it's going to get someone killed. Hopefully the community will jump on it as soon as they see it and recognise it's wrong - but what if they don't?
A minor example is this answer regarding asb...
Besides, it's not like most electrical work where you shut off the breaker first. You have to work in a live panel (most of the time), to hook up a transfer.
for safety sake, I frequently put a disclosure where people should seek professional help, and where they should hire a contractor, so it wouldn't hurt to have on a blog entry like that
Someone had a good comment on that meta question "and the community has no way of assessing the talents and capabilities of everyone who finds an answer" - e.g. a hammer could be very dangerous in the hands of the wrong individual.
@Tester101 I think the transfer hookup is a gut call thing on your part. I might worry sufficiently that it would keep me up at night. I believe in some countries, the culture deems any electrical work too dangerous for a civilian to handle.
I am thinking of remodeling my home. I have a bunch of 14 gauge THHN wire. A friend told me I can't use 14 gauge wire in a residential recepticle application. Has there a code change that would not allow 14 gauge wire to be used in residential recepticles.
@BMitch This is a good point. I definitely think if anyone feels comfortable writing a "dangerous" post I would be for publishing it provided we're satisified that our butts are significantly covered :)