Re: [TCML] comment about new coilers

[Mddeming@xxxxxxx]

Hi Phil, All,
 
    I agree it is tedious for most people to have to  reread and repeat the 
same stuff . It takes a really dedicated educator to go  over the same material 
year after year to new classes. It's definitely not for  everyone. 
 
     I believe it was a 19th century college  administrator who observed, 
long before the invention of FAQ's, "If we could  just perfect the textbooks, 
then we could have a clerk hand out the reading  assignments and hang two-thirds 
of the faculty!" ;^)  I personally  feel that efficiency and effectiveness are 
orthogonal dimensions, and human  contact has value even on trivial 
questions. Actually taking the time to answer  someone's question says something very 
different than directing them to a text,  even if the words are exactly the 
same.
Questions requiring long, complex answers could be given a short one-on one  
explanation and then a referral to a text site.
 
Perhaps Newbie questions could be keyed with [TCML-N] so that those who  
don't want to waste their time with them could filter them out without having to  
read them.
 
 
Matt D
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 2/17/08 8:02:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
FIFTYGUY@xxxxxxx writes:
 

My biggest, if not *only* issue with new coilers  asking  questions here on 
the TCML is that they almost never check the  archives  before asking a 
question. 

Sure, a lot of  that old info has been updated,  disproved, or found 
irrelevant over  the past decade. At the same time, many of  the old posts 
are about  
*exactly* the same questions that we're still getting  here today.  

I think we are badly in need of a FAQ for our  little  list. I see a lot 
of folks pointing to Richie Burnett's excellent  site.  But maybe we could 
look 
at the "Top Ten" Tesla coil building  questions, and roll  them up into a 
simple FAQ. Maybe Richie could  mirror the FAQ on his site for  convenient 
one-stop 
shopping. Or point  them to the 4hv.org HVWiki. 

I'm sure we could get 99%  agreement on our FAQ  answers, given enough 
discussion. Then the  moderator could simply point those  people with simple 
questions to the  FAQ. *Then* if those people reply "I read  the FAQ, and I 
did some  
research, but I still don't understand", that's when the  TCML brain  trust 
really shines. :) But if the moderator would first filter these   common 
questions, it would significantly increase the signal-to-noise ratio  of  the 
TCML.

-Phil LaBudde
Center for the Advanced Study of  Ballistic  Improbabilities







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