Where to Post - Art or Science?

Humanoido

I'm always a little uncertain about where to post.
Of course I want to do the right thing, and not induce
wrath from those wonderful moderators.

Perhaps this is more art than science? Where can
someone find some hard rules to answer the questions below?

Let's say it's a Penguin Robot project that gives
the robot an extra function. Does it go in the Robot
Section? The Project Section? If it goes in the
Project Section, it won't show up in the Robot Section
and visa versa.

You cannot say ALL people who view the robot forum
will view the project forum. For years, I only viewed
the robot forum, based on my limited time schedules.

What if the above project uses a prop chip on the
Penguin. Does it now go in the Propeller Forum?

What if it has a Basic Stamp coprocessor add-on?
Does that qualify it for the Basic Stamp Forum?

What makes it a project? - the use of hardware
and software, or can new software only qualify as well?

What if a person spends a lot of time developing
project plans to build a Basic Stamp Space Time
Continuum Quantum Phase Generator. Will a
project of creating those plans qualify as a project?

Thanks sincerely,

humanoido

Chris Savage

Hello,

While we have tried to make the forum descriptions as clear as possible I know there are often questions about what goes where on the forums. Here’s a quick run-down…I actually hope those who have questions will read this reply.

The Propeller, BASIC Stamp, SX and Javelin forums are all for questions about their respective microcontrollers regarding programming, hardware issues, troubleshooting, connecting a peripheral, etc. The questions should directly relate to that microcontroller (or its software) and not be generic. For example…if you are having trouble getting the PING))) Sensor to work on the Propeller Chip, your post should go in the Propeller Forum. While the PING))) works with any microcontroller, the issues you may face may be code related or deal with the 5V/3.3V issue. On the other hand, if you are trying to control an SSR or similar interface question which really doesn’t relate specifically to any particular microcontroller that would go in the Sandbox. The Sandbox Forum is for all posts not specific to other forums, so in a sense, non-topic.

Stamps in class should normally relate to the Stamps In Class Curriculum that we publish and sell and questions or posts surrounding that, but we do allow questions related to school projects being posted there as well.

The Completed Projects forum…this one should be self-explanatory in the sense that the name implies anything here is completed, however I do find myself moving posts from here weekly. If the project is a work in progress or isn’t quite finished, then it is not a completed project. Projects posted here should meet the following criteria (but often do not):

The project should be complete in the sense that it is fully functional as per the description. It does not necessarily have to be mounted in an enclosure, just fully functional (this does not include future enhancements). It should have pictures and possibly videos if it is something that could better be described in this manner. You should have the schematics and code posted as well as any PCB file you have created for the project. I will soon be revising the forum guidelines to include this as required information as there are far too many projects which are not complete or do not have all the information necessary for someone else to build the project. As this is a place for project information to be shared, that information is needed. Of course, one other thing we would like to move away from is a project that is nothing more than a link to another page. The content should be posted here. The only exception would be videos.

Robotics…all posts pertaining to robotics (which are not a Completed Project) go here. Topics should be Parallax related, but could include chassis design (not necessarily Parallax related), drive motor discussion, etc. The main thing is that it be related to robotics and minimal discussion/mention of robotics by other manufacturers which we do not support.

The HYDRA Forum was recently expanded to allow any Propeller related game discussion.

Finally, Support for using this Forum. This is where questions about the forums software and usage of the forum go. This question is on topic here as it relates to use of the forums in general. I hope I was able to provide a complete answer as I am sure others could benefit from the information as well. If you have other questions about the information above please reply to this thread. Take care.

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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering

SRLM

This would make a good sticky (or at least Chris's reply).

Humanoido

Chris said...
The project should be complete in the sense that it is fully functional as per the description. It does not necessarily have to be mounted in an enclosure, just fully functional (this does not include future enhancements).

If a completed project is posted and it has a future enhancement (project add on, revision to hardware or software, improvements and suggestions, supplemental code, additional photos) where should this posting go?

humanoido

P!-Ro

What about if you know there will be major changes in the future in the programming/design but you have a working project you would like to show others?

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PG

SRLM

My impressions:

Updates to completed Projects should be posted in the same, original post as the project under a new title ("update" would be good). If it's significantly different (new hardware and software that alters main functionality) then it should be posted in a new thread with legacy link to the old version. For example, say you make an autopilot for an RC plane. You post, then realize that you want to make a rocket based pizza delivery system. So you take your old project and add to it, and now you have your rocket. It's really the old project as the seed, but the pizza delivery system is significantly different from the autopilot. Hence, a new thread.

Working projects should be posted offsite, and a link included in your sig. Once completed, post in the completed projects forum with (possibly) a link to the old website.

Again, these are just impressions...

Chris Savage

SRLM is correct…future enhancements, and what Pi Guy mentioned are along the same lines. I have gone back to projects I have posted with updates. You have two choices here and either way works. One is to edit the original message with the new data. The other is to simply reply to your own thread with the updates. I prefer this method most of the time for future upgrades or enhancements because then others can see the changes…how it started, and how it ended. In some rare cases you may want to overwrite your original message. This might be the case if the design changed because parts became obsolete or maybe you’re replacing the original code due to bugs that were removed. I hope this helps. Take care.

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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering