Why are people asking the same questions over and over again? (Or the Regulars' Chatroom) 🤷

[Stiltjack]

@NathanCu

How to configure a power metering properly for the energy dashboard.

Done:

Basic energy monitoring

Based on a post by @tom_l Energy and power are not the same thing Energy, measured in kiloWatt-hours (kWh), is a measure of what it takes to do something (like cook a microwave meal). Power, measured in Watts (W), is the speed at which energy is being transferred. A 900W microwave cooks faster than a 700W one, even though the job may be the same. Power readings (in W) from your smart plugs need to be converted into energy readings (in kWh) before they can appear in the energy dashboard. Th…

[francisp (Francis)]

Why do I get ’ This entity (‘xxx’) does not have a unique ID, therefore its settings cannot be managed from the UI. See the documentation for more detail.’ is often asked too. And the message literally links to the faq.

[Sir_Goodenough ((SG) WhatAreWeFixing.Today)]

That FAQ covers everything, not much more we can do with that one.

[Sir_Goodenough ((SG) WhatAreWeFixing.Today)]

@Arh

I see a lot of questions about triggers,

And people trying to put templates in triggers, not knowing what trigger_variables are, not knowing variables don’t exist until after the trigger, only trigger_variables do.
Trying to set the trigger very specific with templates only to find out they cant and never think of triggering more general and focusing the trigger in the condition statements (in conditions and in the action section)
Lots of opportunity there.
I’ll have to think this thru.
Any more to add to this? number change not level, and that stuff?
Maybe remember you need a trigger to shut it off because if it’s on at the end of the time period, it won’t shut itself off. (I know some of these are covered in motion lights, but we could cover it in a post about triggering as well.)

[Stiltjack]

Keep it simple. This is a cookbook, not a comprehensive how-to guide covering every nuance.

Might be best to split it into several short posts, starting with the “Why hasn’t my trigger fired?” one mentioned by @Arh

[Stiltjack]

@francisp

This entity (‘xxx’) does not have a unique ID, therefore its settings cannot be managed from the UI.

Done.

About "This entity does not have a unique ID, therefore its settings cannot be managed from the UI"

[image] You may get this message when you try to change the name or icon of an entity. If the entity comes from a template, you can give it a unique ID yourself: - sensor: - name: "Sunrise" unique_id: b77b9e57-c64f-4b59-9465-8a19ed886fec state: "{{ as_timestamp(states.sun.sun.attributes.next_rising) | timestamp_custom ('%H:%M') }}" If it comes from an integration created using yaml, you may be able to give it a unique ID. This works with generic thermostats, for example: …

[nickrout]

Don’t forget "thanks I already read the docs you pointed before I posted but didn’t understand how to do step 5”

Well wth didn’t you say so?

[boheme61]

@nickrout

repetitive posts would be locked and then deleted

Should not only include repetitive post, but also outdated/old/not working solutions/topics
I don’t know if there is i.e a yearly “cleanup” in a forum like this, i know i sometimes go through i.e closet , cleaning out underwear, socks, t-shirt, which i for various reasons always make an effort to avoid using anyway ( at a time it become ridicules to move the pieces around, trowing them in the back, and next time, line them up again )

I don’t want to “burden” The Moderators , but you have the power ( i assume ) , and for sure, noone would be “missing” an old/outdated info topic. ( Noone will “blame” You if you delete Topics you find old/outdated/bullock etc, maybe quarantine, for awhile(so OP has time to react, if he/she feels “offended” )
And anyways, as it been looking lately there comes more and more and more, from people who don’t read the HA-docs, nor for the custom-components they are “testing”, and find it much easier to just open a new topic, whenever / whatever pops in in their mind, and most of the time they get answers, which are “upto-date”

PS: i don’t say you should “search and find” but when you “stumble over”, maybe even adding a “flag” to the Forum, so users can Flag a Topic, as dead/outdated (And, Not included in search )

Hmmmm, wait, the last sentence “might” put you on overtime, these days

[nickrout]

The other option instead of locking and deleting is to merge them into the original post.

[Sir_Goodenough ((SG) WhatAreWeFixing.Today)]

I went thru the blueprint exchange a month or so ago (all the way to day 1) and moved everything that wasn’t a blueprint. I don’t have remove rights, but stuff that was clearly garbage went to uncategorized. Things that looked valid went to the folder they should have been in at the start. I continue this quest as new Blueprint Exchange and Configuration-Blueprints stuff comes, plus a few others.

[boheme61]

I get such “impulse” aswell, from time to time, but it can easily pile up to a days work , just with my own stuff !

[Sir_Goodenough ((SG) WhatAreWeFixing.Today)]

I guess what I’m saying is I’m a regular, not a Mod. Regulars could move things if they chose to to uncatagorized where the search doesn’t look for them…

Just know that sometimes when stuff is moved the OP takes offense, that is if they notice it…
They don’t usually notice when they ask about an automation and it gets put into the blueprint exchange (then suddenly moves to configuration…), but if it’s current (correct or incorrect in your eyes) and gets moved to purgatory, that might not go well, so careful there. Feature Request or Configuration question has bit me once or twice with people.

When I sorted older than like 18 months and had no response to a question that they would have moved on from by now anyway went away. If there was a convo and a response, it went to where it fit. I personally didn’t judge if the answer was correct as I don’t know all the answers. I was doing an easy sort… Is this a blueprint, yes and it stays, no and it moves.

[Arh]

I am not sure we need to clean up old entries on the forum. May be after a set time we should have a warning that the solution may now be out of date and link to the docs page. this would (probably) be easier to implement.

[aceindy]

Maybe an idea to have an archive folder (and maybe Regulars should be allowed to move) ?

@Sir_Goodenough

Regulars could move things if they chose to

I used to be able to move things/change headers when I was made regular, but that right has been revoked again?
Or is it just me?

[nickrout]

I have the ability to change subject lines (usually used to correct spelling mistakes) and the sub-forum and the tags. I was quite surprised when that appeared.

[aceindy]

@nickrout Already solved the mystery (thanks @tom_l)

[PeteRage]

@aceindy

I used to be able to move things/change headers when I was made regular, but that right has been revoked again?
Or is it just me?

Same thing happened to me.

[francisp (Francis)]

You can lose the label ‘regular’ again.

[petro]

You qualify for trust level 3, you’ll be promoted soon. You can lose Regular if you don’t meet the requirements. They are much easier to get now. Before there was a ridiculous requirement of 20k posts read in 100 days and only 1 person was able to keep it consistently… which was @francisp. We lowered the requirements, and now there’s about ~50 people who have it.

[petro]

Yes, you need to read more posts.

FYI posts read in 100 days is what we lowered. It used to be 20000.

@francisp still the only person keeping up with the 20000 / 100 days