Suggestion- a new forum section needed for noobs?

Hi guys,
I'm very new to all this, and I'd like to make a suggestion. I'm finding really difficult to understand most of the language on this forum. It would be nice if there was a section for stupid people (like myself) to ask stupid questions, and then get answers in really simple language with any technical jargon explained. Maybe any technical terms could be automatically linked to a glossary? I have the same problem with the Cycle Analyst. I love my new ebike and the Cycle Analyst is great, but it wasn't really designed for the average person. The manual is written for people with at least an A Level in electronics. Its taken me a couple of months so far to work out how to use it, and there's still a lot I don't understand at this stage. I'm learning more and more all the time and I'm slowly getting there, but yeah, very slowly. It would be a lot easier if there was a section here for noobs. Anyway, thats my feedback.

I doubt you'll get much traction with that, because many of us believe it's better to have to go hunting to figure things out. While it takes longer, you'll be introduced to lots of other things in the process, so the loosely linked distribution of info throughout the forum forces you to learn much more. The best hint I can offer is to use Google to search ES. I simply put Endless-sphere in front of any ebike related search to get more directly to what I want. There's also an ES wiki, a technical reference area, and often useful sticky threads in each section.

Go to the wiki, where there's lots of info for noobs.

No such thing as a stupid question. It's good to have nooBs here with those in the know as questions most often get answered correctly by those who understand the inner werqings or have done it before. It is easy to be miss led by those who understand less but really want to help when you are new.

No need at this time. There is so much traffic here your bound to get a response. If you post it around 7-8am Arizona time, your bound to get an easy to understand response too :wink: . Though I can empathize about the enormous wealth of information that can blow over your head. Stick to it and eventually some of it will ring a bell. Those are priceless (literally, no tuition involved).

Something else to consider is that if you only have one bike you're working on, simply making a build thread for it and posting all of your thoughts and questions about that project in the one thread will help people help you, because there is context, and they may have a better suggestion, rather than just giving you the "simple answer" to a specific question.


If you like, I can put your existing bike-specific questions into one thread for your build, or you cna make a new thread and post new questions there.


Regarding technical terms and such, there is the Technical Reference area, the stickies in various subforums, and the wiki (linked in my sig) that help with that sort of thing. Any that you don't see explained you can always ask about in your build thread, so that people will know the context of the term in question and be able to provide you an answer that fits best.

Then if you liike you can pass that info on by adding it to the relevant existing thread or ES wiki article.

Though some of the info may apply to outdated battery types, Battery University and other sites are a great place to start.

Learn what an amp is, an amp hour is, a watt hour is, etc.

But I agree, it's hard to grock our chatter sometimes, lots of abbreviations used. Harder to understand than military talk. The wiki does have a lot of that explained, but I still find it easier for me to answer specific questions from noobs, vs trying to write a good wiki entry.

When I joined ES, I knew virtually nothing. I read for three solid months trying to learn before I started to write answers rather than questions. The battery stuff especially, so complicated and confusing. I don't even try to understand how controllers and bms's work. Hard enough to just learn what wire hooks to what coming out of the mystery box.

The CA3 is and will always be way above my level of understanding.

I slept through most of the Electronics classes (which turns out was a bad idea), so a lot of this stuff was greek to me as well. Stick with it and over time it will all start to come together, at least that's my personal goal.

I make a habit of clicking the "Electric Bicycles" breadcrumb at the top left of the page, then browsing all the new posts for the day. Over time, stuff starts to make sense as you see the progression of the discussions.

For instance, I didn't know there was a wiki but I do now!

I look at this place like a “collective mind” and as we all know the mind doesn’t always do or behave as we may wish or expect.

The main thing is to get into the game. Whether it’s “wrong” or not isn’t really that big of deal. There’s gonna be plenty “wrong” with even the most well planned and thought out contraptions.

Thing is, getting rolling is the MAJOR step which can help turn all the wrong into opportunity to grow and improve with each challenge along the way.

That said, OP presents a valid point. Without classroom Electronics technology (Ohm’s Law) and rework technician background I’d be way more lost than ever stumbling into this madhouse, lol…

True to form AW's suggestion of build thread would be a great place to refine more details and garner specific information from across the “mind-field” of knowledge around here.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement guys Its really encouraging to know that some of you were at my level of competence once upon a time. I'll keep at it.

My take on this.

I still consider myself to be a noobie even after lurking here for a couple of years, reading for hundreds of hours and a few thousand miles on my ebike. Outside of this forum I may be considered an expert but when I get here I realize that my knowledge pales in comparison to the decades of school and experience that many have (that’s why I tend to shy away from giving technical advice even though I am dying to say stuff).

We (at times I am really feel uncomfortable using the term “we” – “I’m not worthy”) tend to speak several different languages. We speak English, Geek, Electrical Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Physicist, eBike, Pedal bike and a smattering of internet Social Media just to mention a few. We end up with an interesting mash-up hybrid language that can be very daunting. Add to that the intimidation factor and how many threads tend to devolve in to discussions between senior members that don’t really address the original question and it can make the learning curve very steep. And yes; there are stupid questions. Just ask about putting a wind generator on an ebike and see if it is considered a stupid question.

As a “Collective Mind” (excuse the plagiarism) we have no obligation other than ourselves. I get the impression that some (or many) here feel the need to be evangelical about the virtues of LEVs. If we are just a collective mind then we just carry-on as usual. If we are to be an evangelical force, then there are some questions we should ask.

Is this a proper forum for being evangelical? Is this just a cesspool of collective knowledge (if this true, no need to read further)?

If there is a need for some evangelism then encouraging noobs is a positive. I realize this is not the place for a definitive tutorial on ebikeing. It is a group sourced knowledgebase. But a little bit of focused effort would make it significantly easier for the ones who are just starting their education to participate.

What I would propose is a Noob section that might be a little less focused then what some envisioned.

It could start with a sticky that has:
A warm greeting
A comment about the starting knowledge level of others and encouragement for the road ahead
A list of links to essential concepts (Wikipedia, threads etc.)
A list of essential internal links (acronyms, how to post picture, how to fill out the profile, realistic expectations etc.)

I know that most of these exist but having them in one spot would make it much easier to find.

The Noob section should be a “No Sarcasm Zone” with no sarcastic or hostile replys.
Only Noobs can start a Topic in the Noob section. If you have more than x number of posts, then you get thrown out in to the GenPop with the rest of the inmates.
I know that there are many here that do an excellent job dealing with Noobie questions with kindness and patients but there are many that have a difficult time with those who are “not-smart”.

While I wouldn’t assume that this would educate anybody new, it might take the sting out of just getting started and figuring out how to ask the right questions.

I realize that the Mods here are overworked and underappreciated and while life is making it difficult to devote a lot to this, I would not mind helping where I can.

I know that I probably overthought this (as usual) and just killed this thread like has happened so many times before but…

Some thoughts:

The ES Wiki was supposed to become something of a repository of knowledge, and articles have been written (or started, at least) as guides to help understand things and do things. (I know it's not normally what a wiki is used for, but we're not normal anyway ).

If those that have time and knowledge (hard to have both simultaneously, it seems) write up or continue/complete articles on teh wiki about various things, it would help tremendously.

In many cases, in-depth knowledge isnt' required; just enough to know how to find and recognize the rest of it in threads already existing.

And of course, lots of "free time" to find that info and integrate it together in an easy-to-understand way.



A new section setup the way you describe is probably possible, and it should even be technically possible directly in PHPBB to create a "noob" group (like there are already Moderator and Guru and Admin groups) that has special permissions to create topics in such a Noob forum, while no other group does (but all groups have permissions to post in it).

Presumably those in the noob group would also be disallowed from creating a thread in any other forum except the Noob section? That should also be technically possible.

However, I'm not sure that you could use a simple number of posts to determine if they actually are a noob or not. There are probably members that have been here for years that still qualify for that status while there's others that are way past the level of many of us already experienced members when they first joined, in at least some areas.

It might have to be a status "earned" by demonstrated level of knowledge or understanding--but then who judges the test?