General Comment to Engineers of all Disiplines

I agree wholeheartedly, however, after just a few days on this site I cant help but get frustrated by the questions that could be answered just with a quick google search. It is as if they are not thinking their questions through.

Also, if you sort through the reasons why not, you may be able to better justify the reasons why for.

I agree with you. When I read a post that could be answered by doing a google search, I just delete the post without responding.

This forum is open to all comers and even allows "Guests" to post which in the 150 other odd forums I'm active on is unusual.

Some of the questions posed are, by virtue of the ignorance of the originating poster, requiring a guiding negative response. Other questions are reliant on the wealth of knowledge available on this forum site. Some of that knowledge has been acquired the hard way, with the lesson being "don't do it that way or else this will happen."

On the other hand quite a lot of "Bench Racing" goes on, with encouragement and well thought out suppositions offered as alternative actions.

Just occasionally we even have the occasional bit of good natured "Hijinks" launched onto unsuspecting "Guest" posters. All in good fun if not the best possible taste.

As with most technical forums, there are those that can help, those that need help, some that are helpless and the odd one that's beyond help.

My threepence worth..

Great question...

I would like to encourage the rules of brainstorming, in particular rule 2:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorming

I have seen a number of instances where people build on wacky ideas and come up with something really great.

Hello GUEST,

...but instead choose to tell us why something won't work.

Don't you think that's better than someone stating "it won't work", without any reasoning behind it?

A basic understanding of thermodynamics, enthalpy and entropy, will shut down the claims of proponents of over-unity and perpetual motion devices.

Posts of topics other than these are, in my opinion, met with quite open-minded attitudes.

Can you give some examples to support your statement?

Are you a regular poster here and don't want to reveal yourself, or have you never registered?

Mike

I consider that pointing out why ideas won't work is often valuable, as it prevents wasting time trying to pursue vain goals. I don't understand the OP's difficulty with this.

Very well put.

The irony of this guest post is that he/she is guilty of the very thing he/she is criticizing!

Nothing positive is said by this 'guest', it's just negative criticism. Not even an encouraging word for the people who go out of their way (for essentially no reward) to offer help to those seeking answers to what are often some mighty difficult problems.

Anyone who doesn't want to know why something won't work does not belong in this forum.

Totally AGREE WITH ARTSMITH! WE ARE TAUGHT TO SEE WHY MACHINE COMPONENTS FAIL, BEFORE WE ARE TAUGHT TO DESIGN MACHINES! (Strength of Materials, before Design of Machines!!)

The thing I notice is when someone says something will not work it is based on their opinion and not based on experience.

Most paradigm shifts were rejected as something that would not work, until a competitor proved otherwise.

I agree with the op on this subject.

Does anyone believe in brainstorming? It is a powerful tool that delivers results. It serves not to shred ideas in their infancy but to build, tweak and nurture them into a better form that will stand up to scrutiny later. It is a positive experience for most of the participants allowing each to contribute what they can. I would like to think that any of the inventors in the following link would have received encouragement for their ideas Vs being told they were impractical based on past experience. The one especially of note is William David Coolidge. You are likely using his invention right now.

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllight2.htm

Hi KDS,

Before I tell you why this won't work, I invite you to start a "Brainstorming Blog".

You could collectively pick a problem and pro-actively, and collectively strive to solve it using the rules of brainstorming.

It will be your task to properly motivate sufficient busy, independent, intelligent and creative people to spend the time necessary to (collectively and nicely) solve a problem they might not really care about.

So, maybe we're just a bunch of Prima Donnas who don't want to play nice.

Lead the way brother.

Yes I believe in Brainstorming and as an attendee and facilitator at numerous value engineering workshops, it is very difficult keeping people from prejudging ideas. Usually we required at least 100 ideas during the Creativity Phase of the Value Engineering Job Plan. Usually, the best ideas were near the end of the exercise. By requiring so many idea, it forces the group not to prejudge.

Also, we found that before brainstorming have a good joke to get everybody laughing. It short circuits the brain. Another way is ply them with alcohol.

Did the "Best Ideas" at the end of the exercise just happen to coincide with the maximum effect of the alcohol?