Some nOObs are only 9 years old and come here asking about Ohm's Law.

 

I think there should be a new term established for people who have no motivation to learn things for themselves and want everything spoon fed to them. That way in dialogue we can differentiate between them and the traditional noob, who is just someone who knows very little. I believe this thread was generated out of frustration with the former; Am I correct? I don't have a problem with the latter; Everyone is a noob at some point. I am a noob in several areas.

 

There actually is: A noob is someone who has spent some time over a topic but is unable for some reason to get to terms with it.
Someone who is very new and inexperienced on a topic is called a newb (from newbie) and isn't something to be ashamed of.

However, our case seems to need a third category of users. A noob is frustrating and may be unaware of his ignorance but he doesn't expect to be treated differently from the others. In our case the inquirer demands an exception to be done for him and be treated differently.

I wouldn't want to call these people beggars. People who beg usually don't have any other option left. Spoiled Brat (or an abbreviation of it) would be a more appropriate term IMO.

My 2c.

 

That's over my head. I demand a better explanation from a more qualified individual. maybe a pictographical representation of these complex ideas.

kidding

all joking aside, is this difference between noob & newb commonly accepted? A convention, if you will? Have I somehow kept myself in the dark about it? I've never heard that.

 

While not being too fond with computer off/online games (I don't play 25 hours per day, just a few, ahem...) I have met this separation of the two almost everywhere in the internet.

After some research I found this very, VERY explanatory article:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Noob&defid=2568674
Read mainly definitions 1 and 7.

 

Informative and amusing site, Georacer.
a bit crass and rude, but informative.

Part of the problem here is old farts like me that can just about make the leap from "newbie" to "newb" but kind of lose out trying to discern "n00b" or "nOOb".

I often see AG trying to cope with people that keep repeating the same question by giving excruciatingly detailed explanations of all possible interpretations of their question while I'm sitting there wondering if the OP knows Ohm's Law. (Bad AG! You'll give yourself ulcers if you keep that up.) It's like using Champagne to flush the ditch to the outhouse.

The ones that make my head explode are those that feel entitled to have their projects designed and built for them without any sign that they even know what they are asking for. "I just started to learn about electronics. Can you show me how to make a GPS unit out of a PIC?" "Will you do my senior year project and put the circuit board in this kind of file when you send it?"

I find it easy to ignore the ones that seem to have been filtered through several bad language translators or those that come out like, "I have a new boat battery; How many pancakes does it take to shingle a dog house?"

I don't even mind 9 year olds asking about Ohm's Law. That's about the level they should be at. I am astounded at the EE students that can't find a bad fuse after they measured how much current a battery can supply, but at least they're trying.

The ones that blow my fuse are the ones that seem to think they can Google their way through college, and they think this site is a special subdivision of Google.

 

It is not the students who don't know anything. It is the teachers who do not teach anything who bug me.

 

It is not the students who don't know anything. It is the teachers who do not teach anything who bug me.

I agree; two years ago, I felt like I was the person teaching the class the teacher was so ignorant of the material.
(Note: I was just a student in that class; not an Assistant.)

But, I had an Electrical Engineering Tech. (EET) Senior in College; who asked how to measure current. For a few months after that, I was thinking maybe I was at the wrong school. I see no way a person can make it though 3 years and not learn how to measure current.

Any one else an Teaching Assistant?

Half the class every year can not figure out how to hook-up an potentiometer as a variable resistor. They always decide to put the third wire some where else in the circuit.

Tim S.

 

One student could not get a voltage out of a 7400 chip. I told him to check the voltage at the top of the chip. He touched the tip of the scope probe on the top of the DIP package!

The student did as instructed. If you wanted them to test the +V pin, you should have stated so. They took your advice literally. Did you tell them how stupid you thought they were too?

There are good teachers and bad teachers everywhere. I especially enjoyed it when the wife enrolled in a class about statistics using excel. The teacher stated they wouldn't be using excel because he didn't know how to use it. That class was dropped the next day after she talked to the interim department head who hired that teacher. The department head "assured" her that excel would be used.

The communication errors here must be amazing. If we are having troubles going from their language to ours, imagine the reverse path. It reminds me of the time a sailor wanted to impress his GF's family. Being an American in Greece, he wanted to say something in their language. Unfortunately the GF's brother didn't quite under stand what the sailor meant by "cream in his coffee" when the brother assisted the sailor in the translation. The GF's (and future wife) father was quite mad after the sailor proudly spoke some Greek to him.

 

I assisted for one class. That's how long it took me to figure out those kids were in trade school because they thought it was easier than "real" school. All but one went back to sleep while I drew a thermostat on the blackboard. A real "pearls before swine" experience.

Those kids didn't even look up "school" on a computer. At least the ones that come here have done that much work and thought of a question to ask.

edit, this is why I tend to blame the poster, not the teacher, personal experience.

 

I'm not one to blame either if I know there are translations involved. Even us Yanks and the Brits are seperated by a common language.

 

But, I had an Electrical Engineering Tech. (EET) Senior in College; who asked how to measure current. For a few months after that, I was thinking maybe I was at the wrong school. I see no way a person can make it though 3 years and not learn how to measure current.

At least they asked, rather than just blowing up the meter! When I went to school, the "don't put the ammeter across the battery" issue was got out of the way some time in my early teens. It seems reasonable that the basics should be sorted out as early as possible, otherwise it is hard to see how any more difficult topics can make sense.

I don't really know how much prior knowledge it is reasonable to expect when students start to take electronics as a specialist subject. There must however be a level of common sense and awareness of dangers below which it would not be safe to let anyone do practical work. I wonder if the schools are wise to let some of the students described take such courses - are they in fact obliged to do so?

I find it strange though that anyone would actually want to stick a pair of pliers into the mains. Was the the youngster concerned mentally subnormal, or suffering from some sort of emotional/behavioural difficulty? Maybe he actually want to get a shock, burn himself, or perhaps harm his eyesight or hearing?

Perhaps it is different with only 110V, but I know what happens if you short out the sort of 230V socket we use here: the resulting loud BANG is quite unpleasant and would certainly alert the teacher and everybody else to what had been done. Perhaps in the end that may have taught him more of a lesson than the teacher could, short of corporal punishment. .

 

I believe zero ohms across 230V gives the same effect as zero ohms across 120V.
I have heard of auto mechanics dropping a wrench (spanner for you) across 12V and getting similar results.

 

True. I damaged a 120V line while tucking wires into a breaker box (in a garage) and it was so loud that the guy behind me had to catch me before I bounced off the car.

 

At least they asked, rather than just blowing up the meter!

Then, you should be very satisfied because he asked two more people the same question. Turned out he did not know the meaning of the word "series" as in you have to have the meter in series in the circuit.

Note: There may have been a language issue.

Edit: I was a Junior (3rd year) Student at the time; while he was a Senior in his final Semester.

Tim S.

 

I have heard of auto mechanics dropping a wrench (spanner for you) across 12V and getting similar results.

I blew a nice hole through my pocket knife with the 12V battery. it was load.