running amok....

EETech Adam

Joined Jun 2, 2015
171
I am happy to talk about these issues so I'll start with a direct quote from my PM with Tracecom.

Hi Tracecom,

I saw your post and wanted to reach out. Those articles were written by our team of writers. Would you be so kind as to specify which article was not able to be replicated?

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Best,
Adam

I should have specified that it was the EETech team. This is a team that is ever growing and evolving. We have writers from all over the world including the United States. We would love to have input from with members whether it's editing of just plain old thumbs up.

I welcome the discussion about improving our content since it is constantly a work in progress.

What sort of topics do you think fit best on AAC?
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
I have a couple of questions.

Have you been reading the comments on what people found so far?

Why don't the articles have any information from the authors? Name, email or user name here in the forums?

Some have indicated there might be plagiarism with respect to a couple of the articles. Any comments?

What are the submission standards for articles?
 

EETech Adam

Joined Jun 2, 2015
171
Why don't the articles have any information from the authors? Name, email or user name here in the forums?
Right now we are creating content based on a list of topics. Writers from all over are contributing every we and each day we are working on growing/improving that network. I am not sure if any writers are forum members to be honest. They are all EE's whom we have hired as contributors and we are for now publishing them as ghost writers. Based on the feedback I think this will change.

Some have indicated there might be plagiarism with respect to a couple of the articles. Any comments?
We run a plagiarism check with every article and we have never had any come back as red flagged. While we are hardly the first people in the world to talk about some subjects, we do however make sure that our articles are not plagiarized. If we are sharing the same content, we make sure to provide a source at the very least.

What are the submission standards for articles?
I am glad you asked. I have been working with several members today on creating a process that includes the AAC community for creating all content. We have one now internally but I think we can increase the efficacy with people contributing such as yourself.

I appreciate your questions and I look forward to implementing your feedback very soon!
 

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
Adam, I'd like to ask how will those articles co-exist with the e-book.

Some of the articles are Arduino projects and can be considered standalone, but others require prior electronics knowledge and a heavy mathematical background. Having those articles standalone, like newspaper columns renders them useless, in my humble opinion.

Only within the context of a series of educational articles, ranging from math and electronics preliminaries up to state-space system time evolution (and even non-linear control perhaps) would such content be useful.

However, what I describe is a full set of chapters in a textbook. AAC already has such a textbook which has proven very successful. Why don't you consider enriching the e-book instead of re-inventing the wheel, and in small, disparate pieces in that?
 

OBW0549

Joined Mar 2, 2015
3,566
I have been working with several members today on creating a process that includes the AAC community for creating all content. We have one now internally but I think we can increase the efficacy with people contributing such as yourself.
And you can increase the efficacy even more by involving ALL of the AAC community, not just a few selected members.

Here's an approach to consider: under Forums, create a new forum titled "Projects/Articles Pre-Publication Review" or something similar, and make that forum visible ONLY to AAC members (i.e., visitors and the general public cannot see it). Likewise, when a draft of a new article is submitted by one of your stable of contributors, make it visible ONLY to AAC members until it can be reviewed, proofread and edited. Then, in the Review forum, create a new thread dedicated to reviewing that article, wherein the AAC community can critique the article and correct its shortcomings. Collectively, the AAC community can provide the services of basic proofreading, copy editing, and technical editing that were sorely missing from the projects and articles you've published so far. The suggestions and corrections from the article review thread can then be incorporated into the article, either by the original author or by the EETech staff, and then-- and ONLY then-- the article should be made visible to the public.

If you cannot afford to hire competent, knowledgable editorial staff-- at a minimum, a good Copy Editor and at least one Technical Editor, I think the process outlined above is your best bet for getting quality material.

Frankly, you've got to do something and do it fast, because what you've got on the main AAC page right now is just poorly written, ill-conceived, amateurish garbage that will drive viewers away, not draw them in.
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
Right now we are creating content based on a list of topics. Writers from all over are contributing every we and each day we are working on growing/improving that network. I am not sure if any writers are forum members to be honest. They are all EE's whom we have hired as contributors and we are for now publishing them as ghost writers. Based on the feedback I think this will change.
I hope your accountant has recommended to you, as a business owner, to review the IRS publications related to business. Since you have “contracted labor” I’ll remind you that if you pay any one more than $600 annually for articles, you will need to file by Jan 31st, a 1099-MISC reporting the sum they received. You might also check with the Revenue or Taxation department in the state where the business is located.
Good luck in this endeavor.

We run a plagiarism check with every article and we have never had any come back as red flagged. While we are hardly the first people in the world to talk about some subjects, we do however make sure that our articles are not plagiarized. If we are sharing the same content, we make sure to provide a source at the very least.
That’s good to know. I realize there are only so many ways to describe something in electronics, but writing styles give people away pretty quickly. I’ve seen it a lot of places where someone “attempts” to have two anonymous accounts. This is not prevalent here at AAC, but it is on boards where opinions are the main content.

Did you know that AAC was the only place on a google search of +”RS” +”resistor select” ? Sometimes the ol’ BS detector gets a workout, something that happens more frequently elsewhere, but AAC is not immune as there is no BS vaccine.

I am glad you asked. I have been working with several members today on creating a process that includes the AAC community for creating all content. We have one now internally but I think we can increase the efficacy with people contributing such as yourself.
Hopefully you can get the horse back in front of the cart. I may have missed the announcement that you wanted content, but, I’m sure someone would have brought up submission standards if there were an request for content.
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
OBW0549 stated:
Frankly, you've got to do something and do it fast, because what you've got on the main AAC page right now is just poorly written, ill-conceived, amateurish garbage that will drive viewers away, not draw them in.
I agree.
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
Bill M ...
We have a core of eBook writers around here too. If you ask for submissions you might be surprised.
Very true Bill.

The more one thinks about it, through associative learning, one realizes that the Internet is a delivery system and the websites are nothing more than modern day magazines. Content submission criteria has been around along time. Those with weak standards get the content and audience they deserve.

Has anyone seen the "announcement" that AAC needed articles.
 

DerStrom8

Joined Feb 20, 2011
2,390
I have already expressed my strong distaste for the new hompage (the content, the layout, the color scheme, etc). AAC was doing very well until all this garbage was plastered all over the "welcome" page. I can tell you one thing, if I was looking to join and I came across that, I'd think "Oh look--another amateur website written by a twelve-year-old" and would move on to a different site (No offense to any twelve-year-olds out there). AAC had some very thorough, well-written ebooks that I think should be the focus, not these miserable excuses for articles that are there now. I don't like how corporate AAC has become. You're driving people away, and making it more miserable for the people who want to stay. PLEASE give us the old homepage back!
 

EETech Adam

Joined Jun 2, 2015
171
AAC was doing very well until all this garbage was plastered all over the "welcome" page.
We understand that taste and preferences will differ among users. We left the original forum design available for just that. Despite some negative feedback, we have had a lot of positive feedback regarding the design from EE's around the nation. In fact registrations have more than doubled since we launched.

DerStrom8, we are working right now on a process to have more involvement from the members of AAC regarding new content. We may not make everyone happy but we will are already moving in the right direction.

Jrap and I really do appreciate your patience. Let us continue to work on these issues.
 
We understand that taste and preferences will differ among users. We left the original forum design available for just that. Despite some negative feedback, we have had a lot of positive feedback regarding the design from EE's around the nation. In fact registrations have more than doubled since we launched.

DerStrom8, we are working right now on a process to have more involvement from the members of AAC regarding new content. We may not make everyone happy but we will are already moving in the right direction.

Jrap and I really do appreciate your patience. Let us continue to work on these issues.
With all due respect I doubt anyone here is interested in or impressed by all the alleged wonderfully effusive invisible feedback! Jeeez!!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
I have already expressed my strong distaste for the new hompage (the content, the layout, the color scheme, etc). AAC was doing very well until all this garbage was plastered all over the "welcome" page. I can tell you one thing, if I was looking to join and I came across that, I'd think "Oh look--another amateur website written by a twelve-year-old" and would move on to a different site (No offense to any twelve-year-olds out there). AAC had some very thorough, well-written ebooks that I think should be the focus, not these miserable excuses for articles that are there now. I don't like how corporate AAC has become. You're driving people away, and making it more miserable for the people who want to stay. PLEASE give us the old homepage back!
+∞
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
Despite some negative feedback, we have had a lot of positive feedback regarding the design from EE's around the nation. In fact registrations have more than doubled since we launched.
I'll assume you mean short term improvements. Have you compared it to last year's growth rate for the same period? AAC runs in cycles ...

For the month of June in 2014 there was 2022 new members registered here at the forums.
 

OBW0549

Joined Mar 2, 2015
3,566
I can tell you one thing, if I was looking to join and I came across that, I'd think "Oh look--another amateur website written by a twelve-year-old" and would move on to a different site (No offense to any twelve-year-olds out there).
This, times a thousand.

"Oh look--another amateur website written by a twelve-year-old", indeed. That would be EXACTLY my reaction if I were new here, checking AAC out for the first time. One look at those "projects" and "technical articles," and I wouldn't even bother checking out the forums.

The issue here is not one of "taste" or "preference", or of orange v. blue; the big issue is the extremely poor quality of the new material you all have put up on AAC's home page. You need to correct that, PRONTO.
 
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