Electronics projects for Solar PV

EricMears

WestonDave wrote: »

Does seem a shame that this is being blocked - my only thought is to wonder whether the mods are more nervous about people messing with electrics and causing damage or injury. I'm aware of the difference between electronics and mains electrics, but mods on a moneysaving site may not be that confident, and may be concerned that if someone uses these designs wrongly and has a problem, they might end up liable for allowing the link. Trouble is the "We don't explain" policy is pretty universal under the excuse that they don't have the resource to explain why they delete each item.

What we need is someone with a website that can act as a link base for these sorts of projects so that those of us in the know can then point people there for onward linking to other sites!

It's not quite true that our so-called 'mod' is blocking all access to Dave's website - although I agree that the recent series of post removals is just plain crazy.

All Dave actually has to do is to post a message here saying "full details on my personal website" (with or without following explanation of how to find it).

Anyone wanting to view his page simply has to click on his name in the left hand column to view a drop down menu of further actions - one of these is 'view public profile' ; another is 'view Dave Fowler's personal webpage'. Clicking on the url in either section takes you straight to Dave's own webpage - although not alas directly to the subpage of which he has tried to advise us.

Given how simple it is to find the website, no doubt our 'mod' might argue that an extra link to it is just repetition of information already available - although the merest spark of intelligence might allow him/her to realise that MSE don't make that facility at all obvious to the casual user. Perhaps these 'mods' might be better employed in creating clear help pages than in messing about with helpful contributions ?


N.B. "I'm aware of the difference between electronics and mains electrics" is perhaps a tad too reassuring. Of course most of the circuit runs at 5V and is pretty harmless but there have to be some mains voltage connections in the projct else it wouldn't be a lot of use for controlling mains electrical devices.

Yut_Man

Thanks Martyn1981 for sending a letter to the forum mods, Hopefully we will get a response so we all know what the problem is. As to the safety aspect that applies to everything in life. If they dont know what there doing then it is highly unlikely they would try something this complicated in the first place. Grabbing hold of the wrong end of a soldering iron is not a nice experience. : >.
If you was the sort of person to tinker with electronices with no regard to safety then the invertor in your loft would be to tempting to ignore. Imagine 600v DC and a curious finger.

Martyn1981

I've had a response from the Mods

"Hi Martyn

Thanks for getting in touch. For future reference our full forum rules are linked to at the top of every forum page.

In this case it appears he's posted a link to his own website, which forum users aren't permitted to do."

They don't explain why others posts are being deleted, but I think it's fair to assume, that it all revolves around promoting (sorry, appearing to promote) a key forum members site, all within the same discussion and thread.

Half my brain thinks they are being pedantic, given the full story (free advice, help, think tank etc). The other half appreciates that this is an unusual situation, to which they appear to be applying the full rules.

I'm a bit stuck here. Now that I've got an issue number, does anyone want me to go back to them, and if so, what exactly should I say? I've no problem dealing with bureaucracy, but I'm not sure if I can spot a way through for Dave, given that the Mods obviously have to avoid opening any floodgates for less 'genuine' situations.

I've got the feeling that this is a problem situation both for Dave and the Mods?

Yours sad and confused.

Mart.

EricMears

It's a ludicrous 'rule' ! They have no problem with letting people advertise that they have a personal website in their profiles but block posters from helping their readers get to the correct subpage. How would Martin Lewis like it if I announced that there was an interesting article on (say) buying foreign currency on the MSE website but told readers that they'd have to search the whole website because I wasn't allowed to give the precise link ?

Nor does that rule explain why I (and others) were not allowed to post links to Dave's site. I might easily stumble across a very interesting site that I'd like to share with other MSE viewers - but if the owner of that site happened to be registered with MSE then presumably I wouldn't be allowed to give that reference.

Martyn1981

Eric, what a mess! I'm only 'interfering' here, because this seems so unfair on Dave.

It just occurred to me, that rather than trying to think of a way around this problem, I should just put the problem to the Mods. Which I have.

I've asked them nicely to advise us on an acceptable work-around, since others (like yourself) are also having posts deleted, and even subtle references too!

Hopefully, they'll take pity on us.

Watch this space.

Mart.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi everyone

As someone rightly mentioned, the rule's there to stop companies advertising so posts are removed when they're reported to the Forum Team. Unfortunately, yes, it does sometimes mean people genuinely trying to help others can also be affected.

Dave, are you able to post your information directly in the thread rather than linking to your site?

Also please remember if something you're posting about could potentially be dangerous it could be best to err on the side of caution.

Take care

Andrea

EricMears

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Hi everyone

As someone rightly mentioned, the rule's there to stop companies advertising so posts are removed when they're reported to the Forum Team. Unfortunately, yes, it does sometimes mean people genuinely trying to help others can also be affected.

Dave, are you able to post your information directly in the thread rather than linking to your site?

Also please remember if something you're posting about could potentially be dangerous it could be best to err on the side of caution.

Take care

Andrea

Why the ? It's a ludicrous situation caused entirely by people applying a rule which was never intended to cover this sort of situation.

The 'information' consists of text - which of course he could post here but also photographs & circuit diagrams which of course he can't post here unless he's allowed to link to an external site. Without the circuit diagrams, the text would be incredibly difficult to understand (let alone write !).

Since there is no "companies advertising" or hence a need to stop that, it's just sheer bloody-mindedness to enforce this 'rule'.

Dave_Fowler

There's a whole load of new circuits, write-ups and diagrams on my website now and a few thoughts about future developments. Check my profile .

Dave F

Oscargrouch

Well done Dave, as you said if anyone wants to look; double click your name on a post>view public profile>contact info: Job done. :T I don't really understand why there is all the fuss. I certainly don't want to waste my time following 'spam' links etc by people that just want to advertise their wares! OK, in your case this is not the case; but if people were allowed to post links willy nilly then that is what would certainly be the case.

As is, your site is easily found. Very interesting, top marks to you. (not that I understand a word of it) As they say, a clever man never retires:T

EricMears

Oscargrouch wrote: »

I don't really understand why there is all the fuss. I certainly don't want to waste my time following 'spam' links etc by people that just want to advertise their wares!

As it happens, Dave's website only has a few layers of menu and they're logically named so reasonably easy to find. Even so, a direct link to the exact subpage he means would be much more convenient.

But the silly thing is that the mods are only making a fuss because Dave was straighforward enough to mention his own website in his profile.

Anyone who doesn't list their own website in their profile is perfectly free to post links to it as often as they like.