Keeping hold of electronics engineers. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Faringdon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2023, 02:45:35 pm
content: Hi,Have you noticed unusual methods used to keep electronics engineers?I went to visit a friend who was working at an electronics co. We were in starbucks, and the ex personnel officer of his electronics company was also in there and we started chatting. She told us , something that she had told him, ie, that the company, had offered a particular member of staff in the company, an extra £25k per year in wages for every year that my friend, the electronics engineer , was still at the company.…Kind of, as an Electronics engineer, if you are valuable to the company, that cannot ever get you a pay rise….the company will still fear you leaving (that’s the only reason pay rises are given in the first place)…so the companys, in some cases it seems, have taken to paying others to keep an electronics engineer at a company. Have you also found this?My friend also says that….he was at a different company where the ops director was ex-Navy ,like himself, …this Ops Director told him that he had been asked , by the MD, to try and get the guy set up with a Phillipino Bride….and arrange for the guy to get screwed over and bankrupted in the process….so that he had no money or resources to use to actually ever get up and go and get a job with a different company.[The ops guy also told him that the MD had asked the ops director to go with him on the “KFC run” (every Friday they would take turns to go to KFC and bring back chicken dinner for all)……to see how he payed, and to see if he had a credit/debit card, and to report back to the MD if he did/did_not. ]At a different electronics company, my friend tells me that he had an interview set up with a different electronics company, and had arranged the afternoon off, so he could drive to the interview……but tells me, that when he went into the car park…..his rear tyre had been let down, and the valve had been glued up……luckily he says, the glue had not cured, and so he simply pumped the tyre back up.In another co, his engine oil had been drained whilst in the company car park on friday of his first week...he only (luckily) realised because he had just moved to the company, and was due to travel back to his old flat to bring his stuff up on the saturday...and checking the oil before a long journey...noticed that the oil had been drained right down. The company was in Scunthorpe, and were naffed off that he had moved to Hull instead of scunthorpe (Scunny).....they considered he might move off again if he wasnt living in Scunny.It seems that in these days, there are electronics companys who cannot get electronics engineers, since few exist any more, due to the UK’s (insert your own country) reliance on imports of electronics from overeas.Many say that reliance on China for electronics is funding a country/industrial_region that is actively supplying military hardware (drones, drone jammers etc) to Russia in Ukraine...aswell as causing a weakness in UKs (insert your country) ability to make military hardware......However, the electronics companys that do exist in UK (insert your country), actually fairly secretly rely on a “backroom” electronics importation business to survive (bring in most of the money). They cant be blamed for this…it’s the only way to stay in electronics these days...due to the "system". They also need to run a “token” electronics design and manufacturing business in order to instill in potential customers that they do know about electronics, and are worth placing orders with. It is for this “token” business, that companys seem to struggle to find electronics engineering staff for.Also, this is also part of the reason for wanting to hold on to electronics engineers in employment….https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/general-analog-electronics-companies-must-stop-killing-themselves/

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2023, 02:58:18 pm
content: Same old story. China bad, UK (insert your country) is bad for relying on China. You also have a lot of "friends". Are at least some of them real?You have a weird fixation on this. This is not healthy.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2023, 04:27:40 pm
content: Oh FFS, twice in one day with the fairytales!

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2023, 04:39:19 pm
content: No, I have not found this to be true.

author: BrokenYugo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2023, 09:36:03 pm
content: I'm fairly certain this account is a bot, troll, or escaped mental patient. And that's just from the threads I inadvertantly click on without checking the author line.Not applying the banhammer also confuses me, if nothing else all the nonsense threads must screw up the SEO and bring in more bots and BSers.

author: jonpaul
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 01:42:41 am
content: Years of FTTS (Farrington Treeze Time Sink) garbage questions and posts.Many are repeats and none ever reach a solution or resolution.what % of the power electronices posts are by FTTS?Moderators please?j

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 02:25:02 am
content: Maybe the forum rules, need to be clarified and improved.Intentional, full-time trolls (trolling), should surely be banned?

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 09:19:42 am
content: The rules are sufficiently clear.The rules are applied in simple clear cut cases. There will always be boundary gray areas.Changing the rules merely change boundaries and wouldn't solve all problemslikeTreez/Ocset/Faringdon.The moderators don't have sufficient time/energy/sanity to read every post. They rely on sufficient members pressing the "report to moderator" button. That's fine by me.The moderators have conversations and do things that are invisible to us; that's fine.Having said that, T/O/F is becoming a pain that reflects poorly on this forum. Again.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 09:54:03 am
content: Quote from: jonpaul on September 04, 2023, 01:42:41 amQuote from: tggzzz on September 04, 2023, 09:19:42 amThe mods’ take on it is “just ignore him if you don’t like him”…(That is, that’s basically what I’ve been told when I’ve tried reporting any of his posts.)

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 11:04:35 am
content: Quote from: tooki on September 04, 2023, 09:54:03 amThat is an understandableand justifiablereaction - both on the mod's part and also on your part. Hence my lamenting (elsewhere) the lack of a usenet-reader-style "ignore user and responses to user" button/filter/setting.Absent that, the best option is to click the "ignore thread" button for each of his first posts.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 11:12:16 am
content: Given that the mods have been willing to outright ban other problem users (like capernicus and whatever his newer aliases are), it is a bit baffling to me that treez has been given so much leeway. I’m just kinda surprised we haven’t reached the point of “enough is enough, already!”!!

author: aeberbach
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 11:14:58 am
content: (Tinfoil hats on) The ‘ignore user’ button would be a great idea here. There are various reactionaries, insane conspiracy theorists and others whose posts I would rather not see. But here we are, all engaging, all generating content - could this Faringdon be an eevblog employee?

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 11:43:04 am
content: Quote from: aeberbach on September 04, 2023, 11:14:58 amIgnore user works, but there isn't ignore threads from users. Maybe there is a way to restrict someone from opening threads, and he can have one, where all these "How much space between resistors" and "How to delete a track in Altium" questions can go.

author: David Aurora
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 12:04:21 pm
content: Quote from: Faringdon on September 03, 2023, 02:45:35 pmAbsolutely none of this happened. You're an absolute peanut.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 12:09:54 pm
content: Quote from: tszaboo on September 04, 2023, 11:43:04 amIgnore threads from userexists. It is usable, but irritating tohaveto use it.Itcannotaddress the problem that usenet had to solve decades ago: a reasonable and interesting thread where a "troublemaker" chimes in and creates asub-threadcontaining only irritating responses amongst the otherwise useful responses. That can't be solved in a server-side forum based system; it require the filtering to be done in the reader.Oh well. Newer is better. Isn't it?

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 12:36:18 pm
content: Quote from: Faringdon on September 03, 2023, 02:45:35 pmHave you found, by any chance, that a company paid someone else in order to make youleavethat company?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 12:38:51 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on September 04, 2023, 12:09:54 pmThe problem is that there is no function on this forum to hide threads and posts from a particular user. The ability to manually ignore a threadafteryou identify who it is from is orthogonal to that.Not to mention that the “ignore” function still shows that user’s posts, it simply hides the content of them behind a little curtain. It can still be tempting to click “show post” (or whatever it’s called). Atrue“ignore user” feature would make it appear as though that user, and the content they post, didn’t exist at all.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 12:58:44 pm
content: I'm convinced, leaving such users to freely run riot. Is significantly lowering the quality, tone and other parameters, of the forum. Dragging it down, to some extent to their level, and may put off various users, from participating or using (even read only), the forum.There is a rather important distinction, between a so called hated user, and someone who seems to be deliberately making trouble, such as outright trolling.They have already made so many different accounts on here, many already banned, I'm surprised they are not permanently banned already.Although I don't want to disagree with the moderators here. I don't seem to be able to see a single user, say, wait a minute, I like and appreciate their posts, please keep them on here.If such a user suddenly appears, I'd initially worry, it was another of their 'alias' accounts.Also, surely it is blindingly obvious, they are producing posts, which are sometimes, copy/paste's from sometrollingcheat sheet, they have created.They are not even an entertaining, especially funny or especially interesting troll.More like a permanently jammed record player, trolling out the same nonsense, all the time.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 02:01:23 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on September 04, 2023, 12:38:51 pmAgreed.Unfortunately not available on web forums

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2023, 11:01:00 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on September 04, 2023, 12:36:18 pmYeah that can happen.Oh, and a third option too: a company pays you extra to make you leave.

author: jonpaul
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 05:27:18 am
content: So for years FTTS usually repeats the same posts endlessly, poses seemingly interesting but leading questions "dont we agree that..." and his posts never reache a conclusion or solution.Endlessly Complains about UK emploueers, job situation, economic that most of us have never seen.My Diagnosis : FTTS is highly neurotic, an OCD, an "injustic collector" and derives pleasure from posting fictional questions.He needs to seek psycological and not electronic assistance.EEVblog monitors should review his 100s (thousands>) of posts under several pseudonyms and inform us how to mask FTTSJust my opinion,Jon

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 07:06:54 am
content: Quote from: Faringdon on September 03, 2023, 02:45:35 pmI feel like people......who talk like.... this.... are trying to be the......main characters......in their own made up story......

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 09:00:08 am
content: I know someone on here has pinned down T/F's real world identity, and mentioned they do actually have a job in engineering, well, maybe something like 30 jobs in the last two decades... but people do keep employing them somehow. So I'm not sure it is all made up? But it certainly isn't conducive to maintaining continuous employment, the way in which they perform their duties.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 09:05:37 am
content: Quote from: tom66 on September 05, 2023, 09:00:08 amI have come across some people who are very good at presenting themselves as experts but can't get any real engineering done. As soon as an employer realises this, such persons find themselves fired.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 09:32:13 am
content: Quote from: tom66 on September 05, 2023, 09:00:08 amI don't know his real identity, don't want to, and IIRC he himself stated such a large number of employers.When I started, it was acceptable to leave a job in <1month or >2years. Anything in between raised questions, with 6months requiring a satisfactory explanation. I appreciate jobs have changed over the decades, but that's still a useful rule of thumb.There are different "rules" for contractors, of course.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 10:21:32 am
content: Quote from: tggzzz on September 05, 2023, 09:32:13 amI don't think many companies even need full time EE's. For example the place i worked at wanted me to design a new version of their trailer controller (hydraulic and movement control, DMX, etc.) but that's the kind of thing they only need once every 5-10 years and they only need it done once.As soon as the design is tested and in production, the EE is no longer needed, assuming no problems arise.So for instances like this it makes sense to be a short time employee/contractor.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 10:48:21 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on September 05, 2023, 09:05:37 amI wish it was like that here in Finland, too. Here, firing people is difficult and risky, so they tend to be promoted (to another department in larger organizations) instead.I once made the mistake of becoming extremely surprised and saying it out loud, when in a meeting a webmaster proudly declared he had zero understanding of how server certificates work. I ended up getting about 1,000 SMS messages from him calling me names, as he also liked to take alcohol with his bipolar medication causing him to lose all inhibition. I ended up switching jobs, because even if I'd gone to the trouble of getting him convicted of harassment – and I wasn't the only one he targeted there like that –, he'd still have kept his job there. (In the same university, the administrative director was fired because of misuse of his position and uni funds; he got a chair as the professor of Art History as compensation.)Because of weird and unbelievable stuff that has happened to myself (because I have not perceived the warning signs that other people would have), I'm somewhat leaning towards taking Faringdon's tales at their face value. I do understand there is a high possibility of them telling tall tales, but for me, the fact that these threads are read and discoverable through web searches, leading others wondering about something similar to a part of what Faringdon describes, I think it is worth it for at least someone to answer to it at face value –– now that others have made it absolutely clear how unlikely/unbelievable/unreliable that post likely is.Quote from: Faringdon on September 03, 2023, 02:45:35 pmThis could happen in a dysfunctional company that relies on lying and cheating to its customers and workers to stay in business.That member of staff would be tasked to keep the engineer scared, in the belief that they may lose their job at any point, and would not find any work elsewhere, while making sufficient profit to the company that the extra £25k/year makes business sense. Even though it would make more sense to just pay the engineer that additional £25k/year, there are two reasons why the admin might not want to do that: because they despise engineers and want to keep the wage gap between themselves and the engineer, and because if they paid that to one, they'd eventually had to pay more to other engineers as well.Such companies always fail eventually. Their only hope is to get bought up by a bigger company, and get a golden handshake before the negative value of the operations is exposed. Usually, there is some kind of criminal activity afoot also, either VAT fraud, product fraud, or buying/selling products to conflict zones against the law. (For example, prohibited electronics to Russia or China; that'sverylucrative right now. It is easier to hide if you also do "legitimate" electronics business also. Thus, the presence of a real engineer in the company might be a requirement to avoid being caught in a government check that would likely expose the illegalities, putting the admin/Cxx at risk of prison sentences.)While this sounds "fantastical", exactly such a case is right now in the news here in Finland, one of the "least corrupted countries in the world".Quote from: Faringdon on September 03, 2023, 02:45:35 pmThat is purely personal, with the company stuff just a diversion in the hopes the ops director doesn't realize it is personal and does it "for the company".This kind of social games and backstabbing is common in shady businesses.Quote from: Faringdon on September 03, 2023, 02:45:35 pmThis sounds like your friend has one of those unfortunate personalities that immediately garners him enemies due to wonky first impression.I've had that happen multiple times. It's something to do with how I present myself and communicate with others, that is somehow in dissonance with expectations. However, it tends to not last, because I do love to try and help, and Ialwaysspread the glory from "wins" around; am a team player in that sense, if you will. But ever since high school, I've had quite a few people confess/apologise to me that they initially thought I was a colossal asshole, but they now actually really like working with me. I've gotten so used to it I don't even get surprised anymore.Never assume it is thecompanybehind it, when it is more likely one of the cow-orkers thinks you're an asshole and wants to anonymously hurt you.Here in Finland, it is usually done by starting odd rumours and claims behind your back, rather than messing with cars or property.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 11:24:23 am
content: F's stories might make sense if it were one or two bad experiences, I have worked for a company and left within a very short period of time because it was clear the boss had certain problems. That's just life sometimes, these things don't show up in the interviews. Later bumped into a guy who had worked with them and he told me I got away with it, they have been truly awful to some people. Obviously I will not name them as I don't want to be sued! In general I've found most employers and employees in engineering companies to be good people who just want to get the work done. They are not sabotaging cars of colleagues, who the hell does that? So I don't believe the majority of what F writes, I suspect he himself has some undisclosed issues that trigger these clashes, if they're even real.

author: Shonky
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2023, 07:58:50 am
content: Quote from: tom66 on September 05, 2023, 11:24:23 amYep. If everyone else is always the problem, maybe the problem isn't everyone else...

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2023, 08:41:28 am
content: Quote from: tom66 on September 05, 2023, 11:24:23 amYep, i also had a pretty bad experience working at one company, where the boss was passionate about what he does and his company, but he had trust issues and couldn't trust anyone to do any important work, so in the end he had so much riding on his shoulders that he was constantly too busy to pay attention to what's going on around him.In a sense he was carrying the whole company, because he didn't trust anyone to share the load and responsibility.But in the end it made it really hard to talk to him or get any decisions made, which killed productivity and as of now the company has gone under.Which is a shame, since he found a really good niche, with a very high demand, but his mismanagement caused the company to stall.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2023, 07:03:52 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on September 05, 2023, 09:32:13 amNo, I have no intention of sharing his identity, although for longer term members who remember the SMPS course, abortive SMPS UK government petition etc would be able to work it out. I didn't go out of my way to find him, it was more idle curiosity and a quick search.His linkedin profile indicates around 42 companies up to June, with durations between a 1 month and just over 2 years. He's clearly a contractor, maybe a couple of the early ones were salaried. There are some respectable names in the 20xx's, Alstom (ship drives, >2 years) and ABB (high power motor drives), Alcatel Lucent (6mo), Panasonic (11mo) Eaton (5mo). The much talked about Dyson in previous years was only a 3 month stint. More surprising, from the flurry of scary EV charger questions a year or so back was that he was doing a stint at one of the more respected names in EV chargers at the time, although it doesn't look like they let him loose on the current product line developments, likewise a well known solar power storage company (I won't name the more recent companies). Of course there is a very large smattering of LED lighting companies in there, probably some of them bottom feeders / importers.Maybe his grudge has come from the lighting importers, some of them are almost certainly small fry (I didn't look them all up) but he certainly can't claim to have never worked for respectable and professional companies, even if only on a hired hand basis. In doing so, he's either lying here or lying on his profile. Maybe he should have learned more from these opportunities.All in all, it's difficult to pin down the background for his behavior, whether it's down to some treatment by one or two companies (there are bound to be a few in a total of ~42), the way he (fails to) fit in (all the 'they're hiding stuff from me'), never being offered a salaried position or just trolling. He certainly can't claim lack of experience as an excuse for some of the totally foolish questions he asks (unless he suffers from total lack of retention or never actually got his hands dirty), or indeed his favorite troll diatribes.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2023, 07:35:20 pm
content: Quote from: Gyro on September 06, 2023, 07:03:52 pmHe really seems to be taking the Mickey, against the forum and its moderators, now.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/renewable-energy/earthed-enclosures-and-offlien-smps-pcbs/msg5047738/?topicseen#msg5047738Which seems to be identical (or remarkably similar), to previous thread 'question(s)'.He is even repeating "Would you agree?", and "Do you agree", perhaps because it has been recently highlighted as a quirk of his, in another thread?

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2023, 08:54:12 pm
content: And another one, this is way beyond a joke now!https://www.eevblog.com/forum/renewable-energy/creepage-and-clearance-in-offline-smps/

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2023, 09:09:20 pm
content: What annoys me is that if I ignore a user, I still see topics started by that user. That shouldn't happen IMHO.

author: jonpaul
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 02:52:17 am
content: MK14: taking the Mickey?A UK idiom or expression?In US EN, "slip a mickey" means adding a sleeping powder to someones drink....j

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 03:35:03 am
content: Quote from: jonpaul on September 07, 2023, 02:52:17 am≈ histoire à dormir deboutormensonge

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 06:10:19 am
content: Quote from: jonpaul on September 07, 2023, 02:52:17 amSorry, I should have been more considerate, on the internation audience here.It means (I meant), they are (I've used internet searches to help me explain it), 'mocking' us, teasing us, 'making fun, laughing at us, behind our backs'.If you attempt to follow the 'Treez' *character*, onto other platforms. In some case(s), they seem to attempt to justify and explain, what they are doing here, on EEVblog forum.(I've intentionally not linked to it here, I've lost the link, for now, anyway).They have been extremely upset and mentally hurt, over some of the comments (from a long time in the past), on EEVblog forum. Especially surrounding them being mocked on here, for not taking the necessary (or essential, as many of us see it), safety precautions, and safety design, with electronic things.Instead of (correctly), understanding that failing to make/use/design electronics in certain ways. Can literally lead to unsafe situations, and even injuries or death(s). They seem to prefer to mock us, and disregard, standard practices.In such places and in some cases. There appear to be the original, and (electrically speaking) correct, ORIGINAL (probably real), question(s) (opening posts). Which go into huge details and seem to be properly constructed, electronics forum questions.But by the time they get posted here, they have almost all the real details, removed from them. To the point of turning those original questions, into a trolling, mockery type of situation.Take a current example.I seem to have come across the real, original question. Which involves, a BLDC type motor (or similar), and its possible negative voltages, into the ADC pin of a microcontroller. Hence possible precautions, against those transient or worse, signals damaging the ADC input pin. Complete with sensible looking schematic and other perfectly reasonable looking technical details (if I remember, correctly).I.e. Here:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/opamp-inputting-to-microcontroller/msg5044837/#msg5044837Hence, he is making posts, like this very recent one:Quote from: Faringdon on September 07, 2023, 05:53:21 amWhich to me, would seem like it is obvious, they are not telling the (full) truth, and are carrying out a massive set of, what I perceive as, 'attacks against this forum'.They even (in another place on the internet), list the three forums, they are specifically targeting.Hence me saying, this is intentional trolling (or whatever it needs to be called).I don't think this forum should rely on perhaps thousands of EEVblog forum users, to have to attempt to activate the 'ignore' feature of this forum. Especially since it doesn't really work properly (as already said in this thread and other places). E.g. since their topics are still shown.There is more (or much more) to this (including they are very significantly upset with this forum and other places), story, than I'm mentioning here. But I'm not 100% sure of the details, and think it best, to not stir up too much trouble.I suppose in summary:They may have a big grudge against the EEVblog forum (and a small number of other, similar places), and perhaps its moderation team. So, they like to make (apparently to me, at least) trolling threads, which are poking fun at our preference for reasonable safety standards, and professionalism, within electronics. Which they perhaps see, as a pile of nonsense, on our part.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 07:51:34 am
content: Quote from: MK14 on September 07, 2023, 06:10:19 amWhile I understand avoiding anything that evenresembles"doxxing", I think such information could be useful in this context.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 08:23:24 am
content: Quote from: tggzzz on September 07, 2023, 07:51:34 amThere are at least three apparently good reasons, I haven't linked to recent findings.Firstly, it takes far too long, to reach a very high degree of certainty, that a differently named forum user (on any forum, on the internet), is another Treez/Flyback/Farringdon account.As an aside, they can't even spell their own user name correctly. See here:https://www.londonxlondon.com/london-area-guides/farringdon/So, I've decided, that for the future. I'd prefer to use better and more reliable methods.Secondly, that information could easily be googled, to find a whole lot of other stuff, which I'm intentionally NOT mentioning. As I'm nowhere near, 100% sure of what is really going on, and don't want to start up false stories/rumours.(But the trolling is obvious enough, to call it out, without needing robust evidence).Thirdly and MOST importantly.I DON'T know what is going on in their head, or what they are really thinking. So, I'm inherently stuck as to knowing their true motivations.So, it seems fairly obvious they are up to no good, and being disruptive (trolling) on purpose. But why and the fuller picture/story, involves too much speculation.E.g. The past poster on here, (permanently banned) ETI. It was obvious they were up to no good. But precisely why they did it, and what they were thinking, inside their head, is unknown to us (outside of speculation).

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 08:55:44 am
content: There is also a Faringdon between Swindon and Oxford. Nice little country town centre

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 09:00:05 am
content: Quote from: tggzzz on September 07, 2023, 08:55:44 amMy original source of information, was from here (the horses mouth):Quote from: Faringdon on May 28, 2022, 11:30:35 am

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 09:30:44 am
content: Quote from: MK14 on September 07, 2023, 09:00:05 amYou are ... very trusting.His latest posting isQuote from: Faringdon on September 07, 2023, 05:53:21 am

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 10:17:33 am
content: Quote from: tggzzz on September 07, 2023, 09:30:44 amYou're right. They could be supplying false information, so my source (that user) could be invalid.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 10:24:13 am
content: Quote from: MK14 on September 07, 2023, 10:17:33 am... using either pronounciation of "invalid"!

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 11:13:07 am
content: It is also quite sad.In forums like this one, others do not react toyou as a person; they only react towhat you have written.Even when there is hostility and ridicule, it is not reallypersonal, it cannot be; it can only be directed towards what has been written.Changing the details of how one communicates is not too difficult. Some traits, like me with my excess verbosity, can be difficult to get rid of, but when you understand thatyour outputhas details that rile up others, you can deal with it, and occasionally even change those details, so your output causes less discord. (Pun intended.)Becoming bitter, and trolling when others –– like myself; check our interaction history, Faringdon! –– are only trying to help you and those in the same position, is waste of energy, and more likely to drown yourself in depression and insecurity than do anything positive for anyone, even yourself.The funky thing is, you can always just change directions, change details of how you communicate, and you'll be welcomed back to interact with others.Think about that for a moment, and reflect on what that means about your (general plural you, meaning "all of us members on this forum") own interactions with others. You can always simply choose to interact in a mutually beneficial way, and do it. (Okay, sometimes we all fail, but all that is necessary is aMea culpa, sorry: I misunderstood/miscommunicatedand go on.)Even if you vehemently disagree with some others about some specific detail, it is not a big thing. It is perfectly okay to argue with them about that in one thread, and in another –– even concurrently –– have a very nice agreement on another.This is how we evolve our understanding, by finding out the reasons why we disagree through discussions, and continually evaluate those reasons comparing them to our own, and therefore also evolving our opinions as our understanding increases. Nobody is "ready", and everyone is still learning. I myself am a complete bumbler hobbyist on the electronics side, a very beginner/novice in circuit design and such, while I've got quite a lot of experience in other areas like certain facets of programming.I've even described how my own choices and refusal to give up (and even recognize the unhealthy obsessive attitude toward work I had), worked in socially unhealthy places, and didn't really learn how to correctly focus on the important parts of work, nor how to balance work and social life, and burned up –– twice, or three times, depending on how you count –– and ended up with apparently permanent neurological issues and recurrent depression I'm still trying to do something about. (Such things cannot be "fixed" with pills, but one can learn how to work around such issues, and have a fulfilling life and work, I believe.)So, if anyone is trolling here, they're like the idiot who interrupts a public lecture on an important new findings in science/technology, in order to "punish" one of the organizers they have a beef with. They're only making themselves look like a colossal assshole, and annoy everyone else there who are just trying to learn and help others.Think of the lost opportunity for learning – not for that one idiot, but for others as well, if they only had been honest and discussed whatever problems/difficulties they have. There are about 8 billion people on this planet, and it is basically statistically guaranteed that several of them have similar problems, so why notutilizethat and explore the possible solutions for those difficulties, instead of wasting time?Like I started with, it is sad, in the depressing kind of way.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 11:46:12 am
content: Quote from: tggzzz on September 07, 2023, 07:51:34 amNo. Just no. What purpose would it serve, except to satisfy some users' curiosity and voyeurism?Faringdon/Treez is for real; he has been in the industry for a couple of decades; he has indeed worked a large number of jobs (whether as an employee or a contractor). I don't see why anybody would need more context here.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 12:00:48 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on September 07, 2023, 11:13:07 amThanks, that is a very nice and insightful post!I think some people get a bigkick(psychological enjoyment), out of trolling and some other types of (bad) forum behaviour. Perhaps amplified by the relatively anonymous (impersonal) nature of the internet. This anonymity, can empower people to act and do things online, they wouldn't dare do, in real life, face to face, situations.Although, what you rightly pointed out, that from a practical (logical, Mr Spock type of) point of view, what they are doing is a silly waste of everyone's time. In practice, this psychological kick, high or brain Dopamine hit.https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/dopamineCan give some people, incentive, to keep on doing it. Maybe why the advice is to totally ignore trolls and trolling, then they don't get their buzz out of it, which hopefully results in them stopping the annoying behaviour.But in this case, they seem to just about always get responses, how ever bad, they seem to be acting. Infact, it seems to be, their bad behaviour, actually increases the number of responses and interest in their threads.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 12:01:33 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on September 07, 2023, 11:13:07 amI admire anyone who can write with such agility.Over many decades, my time averaged 1h per double-spaced legal pad which converted to 2 hours per double-spaced typewritten text. That was when I had a secretary/assistant to keyboard my scribbles. Now that I do my own keyboarding, I probably don't even meet that benchmark.

author: armandine2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2023, 10:17:36 am
content: Quote from: tggzzz on September 07, 2023, 08:55:44 amGood beer country short of fire fighters?

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2023, 10:28:22 am
content: Unfortunately that isn't the one. He just misspelled the other one. I'm sure it has pubs though.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2023, 09:07:11 pm
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on September 07, 2023, 12:01:33 pmI get frustrated with my handwriting being retardedly slow and barely legible, but I can type much faster, even though my spelling is still so poor, I often struggle to get the correct spellings using a search engine or spellchecker.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2023, 09:31:01 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on September 08, 2023, 09:07:11 pmMaybe you should have considered, training to be a Doctor then?(I'm joking).I'm worried that all these spelling checkers, all over the place and easy looking up the spelling with google and so fourth. Have been weakening peoples spelling skills.Also, I wonder how much less people read (books/magazines/stuff), these days, compared to a number of decades ago. Which also might weaken peoples abilities in some areas.Also, with common place, modern day emails, texts, printers and other modern aids. There is less and less opportunity, for people to keep their handwriting skills, in regular practice.

author: abeyer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2023, 11:33:14 pm
content: Quote from: MK14 on September 08, 2023, 09:31:01 pmQuote from: Socrates on <Error: integer underflow>Quote

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2023, 11:55:05 pm
content: Quote from: MK14 on September 08, 2023, 09:31:01 pmNaw it dont afect my spellin skills in the leest. As yoo can see when I am not usin it ther isnt a problom.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2023, 01:03:42 am
content: Quote from: abeyer on September 08, 2023, 11:33:14 pmThanks!That is a very, very good point. History repeating itself.(IIRC) When calculators were first, being introduced to schools, and were suddenly rapidly becoming cheaper and cheaper, and much more common place, and people would make jokes on the lines of, a calculator would come free inside a Kellogg's cornflake packet (which use to come with, free tiny/small toys, to persuade kids, to nag their parents to get those particular cereal packets).Because they would cause, mass loss of the populations abilities to perform mental arithmetic, WITHOUT a calculator.Also, it would stop people from practising doing standard arithmetic calculations, using pen and paper.I think (IIRC), there was a significant outcry, when cheap Biro-pens (i.e. NOT fountain pens), became very common-place. Because "handwritingisn't proper, without being done, with a quality fountain ink pen".The reality is fountain pens, can cause terrible permanent ink mess all over the place, on clothes and hands, and the ink can smudge like crazy. It also tends to leak through to the other side of the paper, and the pens can leak, badly from pockets, making an awful mess.

author: jonpaul
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2023, 06:42:36 am
content: MYSTERY SOLVED! Recall 2001?Our friend Farrington/Treeze FTTS is really an early Chat GPT bot deployed by the World Government (Illumanati, Group of Rome, Putin, Kim...fill in the blanks...) to waste valuable time of electronic experts and afficinados.Bot is configured to pose nonesense questions that seem intriguung at first but lead no where, least of all a resolution or solution to a problem."This conversation can serve no further purpose Dave"HAL9000 to astronaught David Bowman in landmark film 2001: A Space Oddssey 1968, by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C ClarkeHAVE AN ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC DAY!Jon in Paris 6

author: mendip_discovery
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2023, 07:27:40 am
content: Quote from: MK14 on September 09, 2023, 01:03:42 amMy spelling and grammar have always been rather bad. I just can't see my mistakes until a few hours later, if I do see them. I don't think computers help with the auto correction as often that has changed the word I thought I typed to a completely different one. But if it wasn't for computers I doubt I would sit there and write anything as my hand writing went from ok but slow with a pencil and fountain pen to fast and messy with a biro (part of that was becuase I needed to keep up).Every technology breakthrough supposedly meant the end of writing yet it seems to keep going.With regards to F, I partly think troll but I do know some people who find it hard to make friends in the real world and this could be his only outlet but due to a lack of ability they can't seem to string a cohesive statement together.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2023, 08:08:51 am
content: The new gold is attention and validation.People must get some on social media, clothing optional lol.I think the nutty posts are to stir the pot and make a person feel as though they have some power (controversy, pissing people off etc.) and get psychological needs met. Nothing really to do with the technical question at hand. Notice how it seems to keep repeating and repeating and changing form and frustrating myself and others.I've learned you cannot change/fix/teach people anything at all. They are as they are.As much as people try on social media, people are not malleable and doxing someone as a form of stick to whack them, I think it does nothing but wreck a person's life.Even one errant post or misunderstanding, the mob will attack- even if they are going off of a conspiracy or hearsay. A very fragile world we have now.I can't imagine losing one's job and reputation etc. all over some mean people whacking their stick via keyboard.As far as doxing, he's already given his name in files. But I have no interest in who the guy is, towards changing them.I talked tonight with a fellow EE about how hard effort, good ideas, quality of workmanship is completely unappreciated or recognized. It's the nature of this profession.Your attention and validation comes not from other people but from a scope trace lol. This is very hard on people.

author: nigelwright7557
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2023, 08:51:31 am
content: The first electronics company I worked at took me on as a test and alignment engineer.I tested equipment but found pretty quickly I could fix it as well.I was then offered a job in R&D.A year later the next years graduates arrived and I was taken off R&D and put back on to test in favour of a new starter.I was pretty pissed off.Half an hour later the boss came to see me and said the new lad couldnt cope with R&D and would I go back.I went back but wasnt happy about the way I had been treat.Another year went by and they took on a degree qualified hardware engineer and again I was shoved back on test.So I walked out.The next day the companies accountant came to see me and said they needed me back as no one else could write Z80 software. The new man was hardware only.I went back for a substantial rise in wages.I stuck it out for a year when yet again a new software engineer was taken on and replaced me.That week I was at a electronics show in London and on the way down got chatting to an electronics business owner and he offered me a job which I took.3 months after I left previous business they went bust.What goes around comes around.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2023, 09:23:15 am
content: Quote from: MK14 on September 09, 2023, 01:03:42 amI remember echoes of the Biro/fountain pen outcry.I remember the calculator outcry. I too used the analogy with writing when discussing the issue with some teachers. They didn't like itNot sure why the school taught us to use slide rules and Odhners(?)

author: abeyer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2023, 06:40:13 pm
content: Quote from: floobydust on September 09, 2023, 08:08:51 amIf Faringdon starts posting nudes, I'm out.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2023, 07:55:43 pm
content: Quote from: nigelwright7557 on September 09, 2023, 08:51:31 amMany engineering managers are not engineers so they are totally clueless about the knowledge in our heads or how complex the work is, as well as the years involved to learn the art.They think you are like a forklift driver, easily changed.As well, I have seen those with a jealous hatred of our abilities. The manager that never made it through uni or is a little on the dumb side, that wormed his way up the ladder.Giving your job to interns, newer cheaper hires- they think it will work out, you ain't special and I'm gonna prove it.Every single one of the businesses stupidly managed like this, they are a "zombie" company - not successful at finishing any projects- after years roll by. High turnover of engineering staff.Large corporations can afford the life support and are generally too dumb to realize there is a problem.Small companies run out of money.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2023, 09:02:37 pm
content: Quote from: mendip_discovery on September 09, 2023, 07:27:40 amI suppose the next phase, in its evolution (writing notes and other things). Is already beginning to be a reality. Which is that we speak, directly to the computer (think of a cross between; Alexa and ChatGPT), perhaps with AI (ChatGPT etc), writing out (fleshing out), the actual longer content.E.g. I want to write a letter of complain to xyz, make it a formal letter, and mention my computer broke, within hours of first receiving it. Demand my money back.So, as an example, I just submitted the above (E.g. ...), to ChatGPT, here is the basic letter:Quote