I've created some new forum categories, we're not a UK-only forum anymore

[Dan]

As you're already aware, we're not hosted on a .uk domain name anymore. We are now ElectriciansForums.net (that's .net). I've created some forum categories to match where we are getting traffic from:-

• American Electrical Forum
• Canadian Electrical Forum
• Australian Electrical Forum

When we were hosted on a .co.uk, we wouldn't have shown up in Google.com much if at all. So only people searching from within the UK would have got the chance to visit our awesome electrical forum.

Now we're on a .net, we're showing up in all Google results globally, so we will be having a lot of visitors, and eventually members, from outside the UK.

We aren't a UK electrical forum anymore. Please don't put off members from other countries. They are more than welcome to register, post a thread, and wait for another person from the same country to find it and respond to it.

You don't need to reply to it telling them we are a UK forum. It comes across as very unwelcoming and isn't what we're about.

Eventually there will be categories for the countries we get most of our traffic from, and the members wont mix too much in the general forums.

Until then, there will be some threads posted by members who aren't in the country you are in. So just don't reply if you can't help them.

This is a nice chance for those who wish to gain a bit of knowledge of how other countries work, and open your eyes a bit perhaps.

The UK is a tiny island and whilst those who live in it want to cut it off the earth and let it float on its own somewhere, at the moment we're part of the world.

So please please don't put off other members just because they're not from the same country as you. It's fairly obvious when they're posting which country they reside. So just stay away from threads where your advice is limited - just like any other thread you'd stay away from when it includes information you know nothing about.

I hope you all understand that.

Be welcoming to everybody.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

This is quite a challenging concept. My expectation is, as you have hinted at yourself, that it will probably have to work as separate forums for different countries with minimal common ground between them. Although electrons are the same everywhere, there are so many differences in detail of how they are put to work under different national standards that it can be treacherous giving advice to someone overseas.

Some questions are impossible to answer or even understand without local knowledge, which makes them fairly foolproof. Legitimate requests from the US, for example, sometimes read to a British electrician like: 'Can I zarquon the glopper so that the roogalator flunks the zunk?' In which case there won't be much transatlantic advice given, correct or incorrect.

More insidious are the ones that make sense but the right answer depends on the locale. Ask the average British spark; 'Is the black wire neutral in old wiring?' and the instinctive response will be 'Yes'. That would be correct in the UK and Australia but incorrect in the US and Canada, where it is live (or rather, hot). Of course on an internet forum, we can't hear the accent of the speaker, so it becomes vitally important to note the location in which the advice is to be used before answering anything at all, even the simplest question.

That is where I think people will trip up. A simple question with an 'obvious' answer, that turns out to be misleading or wrong in the OP's locale.

 

[Dan]

Once we have content from each country, I can only show threads for the country you're registered as from.

Then have some mixed forums. As people will want to share knowledge and find differences.

You leave that bit to me. That's why I'm here.
For the time being we have flags showing next to avatars. Are you seeing them?

Perhaps I need to check usergroups.
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@Lucien Nunes can you see the country flags by usernames? And in forum categories etc?

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And in the what's new page.

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Should be fairly obvious where a member is from and where they are requiring advice for.

 

[Carl S]

Walking blindfolded in to a mine field springs to mind.

BS7671 is advisory. NFPA-NEC is statute.

In the UK we don’t have AHJ inspectors, mores the pity, LBC is a very poor comparison.

Be careful about advice on American installations.

 

[Dan]

Again, British won't be providing the advice for the Americans.

Flags are everywhere. Can people not see them? Have I set them up wrong? Lol

 

[Baddegg]

Never met a yank that didn’t already know everything about everything anyways.........Only joking chaps

 

[Dan]

Country Flags: Thought I'd done this thread but maybe not.

Okay, so we have some country flags knocking around. Depending on the screen size of your device, will depend on where they show and how often etc. Really small screens will see them less. iPads and Laptops and Notebooks will see them in all places I've set them to. On your mobile, if you turn...

www.electriciansforums.net

Country Flags Thread - also touches on Thread Prefixes for when you're on holiday or somebody doesn't wish to show their tags publicly.

 

[Toneyz]

Country Flags: Thought I'd done this thread but maybe not.

Okay, so we have some country flags knocking around. Depending on the screen size of your device, will depend on where they show and how often etc. Really small screens will see them less. iPads and Laptops and Notebooks will see them in all places I've set them to. On your mobile, if you turn...

www.electriciansforums.net

Country Flags Thread - also touches on Thread Prefixes for when you're on holiday or somebody doesn't wish to show their tags publicly.

Does that mean that when Tel's on holiday and posts from his villa in Spain it shows up a Spanish flag? We will all know when we can go round and nick his wheels.

 

[Dan]

Does that mean that when Tel's on holiday and posts from his villa in Spain it shows up a Spanish flag? We will all know when we can go round and nick his wheels.

Yes matey.

Hence the ability to turn off flags here: https://www.electriciansforums.net/account/privacy

We risked some trouble between UK flags and Republic of Ireland flags for people who live near the border too. So those can turn their flag off also.

People who know how, can also your a VPN to show a UK flag when they are on holiday. Which is what I will do, so that I can keep the tag active and not turn it off.

 

[Dan]

You can't say we're mixing up content and it gets confusing really. Not with flags and prefixes and generally the members saying in their profile where they are from etc.

Look at this.