uk.d-i-y wiki

[meow2222]

233 articles now, it just keeps gowing...

Contents:

additions: Insulation links Door security Roofing links When shower curtains attack Vacuum cleaners

NT

[Weatherlawyer]

I never use it but don't mind you spamming here with it. Just remind Usenet users that only Usenet is unlikely to phish/f*ck with your posts and remove them without your help.

[meow2222]

and

[Dave Plowman (News)]

may have been straight off the drum and clipped to a beam etc with hardly being bent - or flexed many times while routing through walls and under floors, etc. So common sense would apply. Although I doubt in practice it's much of an issue unless extending an existing installation where it might be thought all the cabling must be replaced?

[Huge]

Blimey, where would I be without my "offcuts" box?

And I'd like to see a cite for this; "Electricity kills and injures many people every year. A great many of these people are dead or injured because they tried installations which they did not understand."

[John Rumm]

[EricP]

It would also help if it was written with a basic use of the language.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes - it's pretty appalling. If someone hasn't the basics of English can they read and interprate regs correctly?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Best then not to try an installation but to leave it untried. It can't bite then.

Too many 'leave it to the pros' in this article. Must have been written by someone with an axe to grind.

[Stuart Noble]

and preferably by an electrician

[Peter Parry]

It seems somewhat unfair that Manuel should be singled out in law to have the electrical installation in any house he buys or sells checked each and every time.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

No. By someone who understands the regs etc. The two aren't always compatible.

[Lobster]

And doesn't the fact that it is sitting there in it's current form rather suggest that the concept of a diy Wiki, however well-intentioned, is fundamentally flawed?

It's a similar situation to the articles John Rumm cited here the other day in his thread "electrical stuff" - AFAICS having been alerted to a John's new wiki article lots of people duly suggested and discussed various changes here in the newsgroup, whereupon John went off and tweaked his article. But that's exactly what's always happened here historically when people have penned articles for the uk.d-i-y FAQ, isn't it? It's not how a wiki is meant to work. And if John hadn't specifically invited the critique, there would have been none...

David

[John Rumm]

There are flaws with the concept certainly. Although the same is true of our traditional FAQ approach.

It seems only fair to highlight there are things wrong with it, and give the author chance to give it another going over. If not we can always put it right. (or as I suggested in:

the useful stuff out of it (with the errors corrected) and merge it into existing articles that cover most of the subject already).

It is, although the wiki adds a little speed to the system in that changes can be implemented faster. Its also an opportunity to fiddle with presentation and layout of material a little more to make it more accessible without placing an unreasonable maintenance burden on Phil (the FAQ maintainer) to keep updating things.

The wiki is still early days for the group, and I expect not many people have plucked up the nerve to have a fiddle with it. It takes a little time to work out a comfortable way of working with it that is cooperative but still leaves authors enough control.

Mostly but not totally true, you will note if you look at the history, that Andy W and John S have made many improvements to it by themselves as well.

Posting here is obviously a good way of drawing attention to a new section, as one would for a new FAQ entry.

[Andrew Gabriel]

have the uk.d-i-y name in any way associated.

[meow2222]

Wiki format has real strengths and weaknesses too - the strength in this case is that anyone unhappy with it can put it right. Thats one reason I mentioned the article here, as it does have issues to fix.

I dont agree with everything in it, but I appreciate the fact that someone put a fair bit of effort into it, created an article, and that theres useful information in it too. Its the first stage of the process, then people come along and clean up any issues.

Some have had a pop here, now lets see the same people fix a mistake. One correction is all it takes, then between us it would all be done.

NT

[John Rumm]

OK, here is my stab at it:

I have not touched the main article, other than to add a warning that it is not as good as would be liked. I have ported the better ideas to the existing "Cables" article and expanded that:

have also pulled in much of the material from the Cable Sizes one in the process.

It seems I have inadvertently duplicated some information on wiring colours, but since that article is a wikipedia left perhaps that is not a bad thing.

[nightjar]

...

When I worked for an Electricity Board, we had to investigate all electrocution deaths for the Coroner. ISTR the most common cause was using mains electrical appliances on extension leads in the bathroom. We also had a small, but steady, stream of teenagers who tried to climb pylons or, in one case, the insulators in a 132kV sub-station. I only recall one death that involved anything that could remotely be described as an installation - one of our own electricians, who was found dead next to a set of traffic lights he was maintaining.

Colin Bignell

[ARWadsworth]

"nightjar .uk.com>"

Sadly people do die, the phrase "a great many" seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. Article 1 on the link is the last one I remember locally.

Adam

[Dave Fawthrop]

|!> When I worked for an Electricity Board, we had to investigate all |!> electrocution deaths for the Coroner. ISTR the most common cause was using |!> mains electrical appliances on extension leads in the bathroom. We also |!> had a small, but steady, stream of teenagers who tried to climb pylons or, |!> in one case, the insulators in a 132kV sub-station. I only recall one |!> death that involved anything that could remotely be described as an |!> installation - one of our own electricians, who was found dead next to a |!> set of traffic lights he was maintaining. |!>

|!> Colin Bignell |! |!Sadly people do die, the phrase "a great many" seems to be a bit of an |!exaggeration. Article 1 on the link is the last one I remember locally. |!

Just compare that with the about 9 people we kill per day on the roads.