"Get an electrician in"

[Spoon]

There seems to be more posts coming up there people are asking for advice and rather than us helping them they just get the usual "get an electrician in" reply.
Yes, before the idiotic replies of "so we should give everyone advice on how to....." No of course, not everyone comes across as being competent enough to do what is required but we should at least try and assess if they are.
What's the point in the forum if we are not helping people.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

The number of negative posts is bugging me.
If people don’t want to give advice, then don’t.
They should move onto something else, not waste people’s time flapping their gums about how they’re not going to give any advice.

 

[Andy78]

For me it's too vague an area to dispense advice at arm's length to the general public.
For me to sleep at night I'd have to stick to the industry standard advice. AVIs, safe isolation procedure, compliance with regs, cable calculations, testing and certification, calibrated test equipment, etc.
The simple truth is that this is beyond the means and competence of someone who is not already practising in our industry.

If we are offering advice that disregards or lessens the safety aspects inherent in the above methods and regulations then we are surely doing the asking party and the industry at whole a disservice.

In moral terms and terms of liability I try to refrain from dispensing advice to those I know not of on a public forum.

I honestly think that "Get an electrician in" is the best advice in the majority of cases.

The point of the forum is whatever people get from it. I have never seen the point of the DIY section for the above mentioned reasons. The forum is marketed as DIY friendly because it makes sense to the owners to increase traffic to increase any advertising revenue.
The forum is named Electricians forums though, not electrical DIY forums. Plenty of places on the net that embrace DIYers and dish out advice of widely varying quality.

 

[Pete999]

There seems to be more posts coming up there people are asking for advice and rather than us helping them they just get the usual "get an electrician in" reply.
Yes, before the idiotic replies of "so we should give everyone advice on how to....." No of course, not everyone comes across as being competent enough to do what is required but we should at least try and assess if they are.
What's the point in the forum if we are not helping people.

Trouble is when trying to help people who are very much out of their comfort zones when attempting electrical work, most of the time, the safest option is "to get an electrician in" I agree it can sometimes be blunt and to the point.
How many times have people tried to help, and get frustrated when the OP gets all uptight, throws a wobbly and continues to insist they will do it themselves? or "their Sparky will do it later" when in reality their Sparky is the very person asking for help.
The main reason I tend not to offer how to advice, apart from being a Forum rule not to offer step by step instructions, is perhaps a selfish one, I would feel devistated if, after telling Mr Non Electrician, how to do something, only to hear later that a death, injury or fire has occurred, sometimes Spoon, getting a sparky in is the best advice. I can understant folk looking after their Pennies, but to what cost?

 

[Spoon]

There is a forum rule that "step by step" advice should not be given and I totally agree with that.
Yes we also have muppets that post questions then don't get back to us with the questions we ask, or the ones that don't like our replies and this is frustrating. I don't think that the few muppets mentioned above should spoil it for the rest of the people who need our help.
I agree as well that sometimes "get an electrician in" is the best advice but it's getting like a blanket reply for most people that are requiring help.

 

[Pete999]

There is a forum rule that "step by step" advice should not be given and I totally agree with that.
Yes we also have muppets that post questions then don't get back to us with the questions we ask, or the ones that don't like our replies and this is frustrating. I don't think that the few muppets mentioned above should spoil it for the rest of the people who need our help.
I agree as well that sometimes "get an electrician in" is the best advice but it's getting like a blanket reply for most people that are requiring help.

A lot of times,, if yes you are right, but there are times when help can be given, if both you and I had the time and inclination to look, I think we would be surprised how many people, the Forum has managed to help DIYer with their problems.

 

[Marvo]

Just posting 'get an electrician' will never increase the liklihood of the guy actually doing it, he's always going to be suspicious you're being elitist or profit motivated and trying to generate work and likely to get snippy because they think you're high-horsed and off hand.

Sometimes there's a damn good reason he should get an electrician, in this case tell him by all means but state the specific reasons why as well, that way he's far more likely to take the advice seriously.

Yes, you're always going to get the guy pretending he's not going to do it himself or asking for step by step tutorials but rather just ignore these threads and report them. Any step by step guide threads or threads that sound like they're likely to do something dangerous will be closed. With the rest you've just got to decide for yourself if you think they're capable of doing it in a safe manner.

 

[Andy78]

There is a forum rule that "step by step" advice should not be given and I totally agree with that.
Yes we also have muppets that post questions then don't get back to us with the questions we ask, or the ones that don't like our replies and this is frustrating. I don't think that the few muppets mentioned above should spoil it for the rest of the people who need our help.
I agree as well that sometimes "get an electrician in" is the best advice but it's getting like a blanket reply for most people that are requiring help.

You're right, it does end up a blanket reply. Personally I find myself assessing a request for help against my own rules, mentioned above, and find myself unable to give any other legitimate advice mostly.

 

[Squid]

We need to point people in the right direction, if they have a clue then a little hand holding is fine if they are out of their depth then its "get and electrician in"

 

[Midwest]

The issue for me about giving advice on a forum, is you have no idea of the skills level, knowledge and just plain common sense some of these people asking questions have or have not.

If they are not given a step by step guide, then you are not giving them sufficient advice to do something correctly & safely. Think how much information you would have to tell some clueless person on how to wire up a plug top.

Some forum members get a bit irate with trainees or apprentices, who are supposed to have some electrical knowledge, but seem happy to give advice to DIY'ers.

Simple accessory replacement, or luminaries perhaps. Not plug tops though

 

[Spoon]

The issue for me about giving advice on a forum, is you have no idea of the skills level, knowledge and just plain common sense some of these people asking questions have or have not.

It's sometimes hard to judge someone's skill level, especially for the person who has posted for the first time. That's why I like to ask them questions first and see their reply. I have 'brain fart' moment where I post/ask something silly and most of the time people on here come back with a nice reply, but I've been on here for a bit.

 

[Midwest]

It's sometimes hard to judge someone's skill level, especially for the person who has posted for the first time. That's why I like to ask them questions first and see their reply. I have 'brain fart' moment where I post/ask something silly and most of the time people on here come back with a nice reply, but I've been on here for a bit.

I trust you implicitly Spoon, apart from your taste in music.

 

[Squid]

I trust you implicitly Spoon, apart from your taste in music.

At least he's not from Lancashire.........

 

[Octopus]

I don't think this is black and white....

Just yesterday, there was a thread about an issue by a "first year apprentice".

TBH I don't think he knew one end of a screwdriver from another, and judging by some of the responses, very few of then actually understood what he was going on about, and therefore done if the suggestions were the blind leading the blind....

Then there are the claimed sparks who won't answer the very basic of questions, or claim to have left their tester at home .....

 

[Spoon]

I don't think this is black and white....

It definitely it's mate but it just makes for forum depressing when people straight away use the quote. It's like "Here we go again...."