Why we ask to keep topic and replies as simple as possible

On my platform I want to try to keep things as simple as possible to ensure that beginners would not be overwhelmed with ‘difficult terminology’ and due to that for example ‘give up on the hobby right at the start’.

Therefor I would for example like to request to use VCC and GND as ‘common names’ on the forums (to avoid confusion for beginners with Vdd, Vee and Vss) Of course you can explain or / them, but I would prefer to keep it at one type/term for the beginners.

And comments like “Yeah duh, you can’t reach that reading because your AVR ADC is only 10 bit!“, is NOT considered as helpful in our forums. Instead then reply with “Well the AVR (which is the Atmega328 you’re using) it’s ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) it’s resolution is only 10-bits, which means that you can only get analogRead values between 0-1024.”, or consider not replying at all if you don’t want to do that. Because my goal with this forum and platform is that everyone will be able to advance to ‘higher levels’ in their hobby, but that does mean that they often will need some more patience and explanation get there.

Same goes for things like saying “Yeah you need a decoupling capacitor on Vcc!“. Please try to be a bit more explanatory instead, something like: “Well you would need a 100nF (ceramic) capacitor from Vcc to ground, which will act as a decoupling capacitor to ensure stability of your microcontroller.”. Such replies are much much more helpful than just the basic ‘one-line-reply’.

Obviously when the topic has been going on for a while, or when the topic started does show a ‘higher level’ of knowledge, you can keep it a bit more minimal obviously. But try to adapt to each other and (initially) assume that the topic started doesn’t know the details (yet) unless it’s clear he/she does know those details.

At the same time I would also like to request you to keep topics posted by you easy to understand for every skill level. Try not to use over complicated terminology. And if you do need to, then for example (if possible) try to link to wiki articles or explain briefly what that topic means.

NO, don’t worry, I’m not asking to keep things stupid simple, and to make every post ‘5th grader level’, and it’s not a problem either if you from time to time want to discuss more advanced topics with others about high-speed signals and compare oscilloscope measurements or whatever with the other users. However, please do keep in mind that there are other forums for the high level/skill topics, and that you are then most likely asking it to the wrong group of users here 😉

My goal with this forum/platform (like mentioned before) is to share my projects, and help others to explore the wonderful topics my platform has to offer. At the same time I want to make sure that the projects are interesting and fun form beginners to advanced users (and everyone in between). Yes that does mean that there are some ‘sacrifices’ which have to be made (for example advanced users having to deal with my extremely heavily commented source codes😂), but that does ensure that every one can enjoy the projects.

So please just try to keep things in understandable language, or elaborate (a bit) on topics/terminology when talking about them. But don’t worry either to discuss some more advanced topics from time to time either (with other more advanced users), just make sure that this won’t be the norm.

Thanks😊