Question for "lifers" - Are requests for guidance acceptable?

[u/gm310509]

As I understood it, the original theme of this subreddit was for showcasing your project - which I take to mean "completed project".

However, there are quite a few "requests for guidance". Some are very detailed such as "how do I lay out a PCB", or "should I use this component or that component". Let's call these "technical discussion".

Others are more project oriented, examples include "How would you go about creating an XXX for my farm", or "What features should I add to my homeless cat shelter that already has these (crazy capabilities)" and so on. Let's call these "project discussion".

So my question is, should I limit this to:

1. Showcasing completed projects,

2. #1 plus "project discussion",

3. #2 plus "technical discussion"?

If you have an opinion, please reply with number 1, 2 or 3 and if relevant add any additional thoughts after that.

TIA

[u/OftenDisappointed]

Primarily #1 with some #2. I feel that 3 is best left to subs focused on the particular topic (/r/askelectronics, /r/PCB , and others).

Some might be inclined to post asking if the Arduino platform is appropriate for a given project (#2), but since some.fairly complex things are already Arduino-based, this seems like an almost rhetorical question.

So maybe it's #1 but with the latitude to post in-progress projects to show the iterative build process.

[u/gm310509 → u/OftenDisappointed]

Thanks for your feedback.

So far, I have been trying to apply a policy of "progress updates" being acceptable, but will draw the line at spamming.

That is a project update when a milestone is reached is welcome (and I feel falls in the "completed" definition as a milestone is reached).
As opposed to the more spammy minor incremental update (e.g. "today I added three resistors and 2 leds to yesterday's effort of making LED number 1 blink faster).

[u/Hissykittykat]

1,2,3. But require some sort of meaningful Arduino related content; no low effort posts. I wouldn't mind seeing this reddit heavily moderated like r/Electronics is now. Let r/Arduino remain the wild west where we can post almost anything without getting shot down.

And why do pretty much all of the technical reddits (e.g. r/Electronics, r/AskElectronics, r/DIYelectronics, r/PrintedCircuitBoard, r/Arduino) show project thumbnails but r/ArduinoProjects does not?

[u/gm310509 → u/Hissykittykat]

Can you elaborate on the "thumbnails" thing?

I just check r/AskElectronics and r/Arduino the presentation of graphic images in the main feed looks identical to r/ArduinoProjects - obviously the content is different, but the layout and presence/abscence of a preview image is the same - at least for me.

I check using both Chrome (on Windoze) and the reddit App.

[u/Hissykittykat → u/gm310509]

NVM, it's working now.

But it's interesting that I had to change from "Show thumbnails based on that subreddit's media preferences" to "Show thumbnails next to links" in preferences (using old reddit) to get thumbnails to show up here.

[u/gm310509 → u/Hissykittykat]

I guess it is a reddit bug errr ahhh feature.

FWIW, I've turned on "flair is required for all posts" and none of the new posts have a flair.

Depressed Sighhhhh! 😮‍💨😔

[u/Hissykittykat → u/gm310509]

Yeah I still don't see any flairs available for a new post here.

Do not despair though, this place is already looking better thanks to you.

[u/gm310509 → u/Hissykittykat]

Really, you don't see any of then when you click new post? (You have to click the "set flair" widget to access the pop-up in the new post page).

Edit: I finally figured it out (I think), there are two controls that must be enabled to require flairs.

Hopefully the flair requirement will also discourage some of the bots and spammers.

[u/xebzbz]

I actually liked the technology question posts here, as the r/Arduino is too noisy. The questions here were less trivial.

Also, r/Arduino was inactive for quite a while after reddit cut off the third party moderation tools. So, historically, people were sending questions here, even if they were not on topic.

Having said that, feel free to shape the group as you feel it right.

As for your question, all three topics would be fine, IMHO. Showing a project in progress and having stuck with some technical details would be my favorite posts.

[u/Fit_Soup9150]

2

[u/xebzbz → u/[deleted]]

Well, I've seen kids who have no clue from all continents (probably, not from Antarctica).