My youngest family member is 3 
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Feels like weāre getting more and more closer to that Age-Group, with humongous Buttons, Default huge āPaddings / gapsā, Filling up with 50% white-space
Well, i guess i will benefit from from this , when i reach the age of 99, needs +7 Glasses, and have beginning parkinsonās disease
To go back to the original post (sort of)ā¦
One reason why people often ask the same question is because the answers they are getting are to slightly different questions.
There was an example this morning. A newcomer to HA had two sensible queries:
- Are PIR motion sensors reliable in the kitchen, where there are multiple heat sources?
- How do I manage turning off the lights.
The answers were āYesā and āLook at this cookbook postā, but the thread quickly morphed into a discussion of hardware.
Thereās nothing wrong with this - the author of the post got the answers he wanted (not the right ones IMHO, but stillā¦) and useful information was exchanged - but it does highlight how inefficient forums are as a reference source.
Theyāre more like a sea you have to swim in for a while to get your bearings.
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We have a guide for asking questions. Perhaps we need a guide for answering questions?
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The #1 rule is donāt use AI.
#2 donāt recommend a YT video unless you have watched it yourself recently and know itās correct.
(Especially that one Chris just did calling everything in HACS Add-onsā¦)
#3 If you donāt know the answer tell the OP itās your best guess, may want more input.
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I try to make it a habit to state when something is my opinion or Iām not completely sure for the very reason that I donāt want someone to come back and say ābut Bill said itās true!!!ā
But Iād like to add a #4: When youāre wrong, change your post to include that you were wrong. For a long time, Iāve seen people say something completely wrong, get called out on it, and then be like āwhat? I never said that!!!ā. Speaking from experience, it just happened to me just the other day. lol
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Some people edit their posts to strike through the bits that are wrong - excellent idea.
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Before we beginā¦
This forum is not a soapbox
The people here donāt work for Home Assistant, thatās an open source project. We are volunteering our free time to help others. We donāt have to read your rantsā¦
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You put that in, and there a a few people I know that will rant on it just becauseā¦
Including a person I know just came back from a month or so ban for being an ass.
People that will do that if they read that will take it on as a challenge.
If someone starts ranting on you, get a MOD and back awayā¦
And donāt be shy to flag something thatās a dup FR, a pointless rant, anything against COC. I was busy all day until about 3pm and have flagged 2 things since then.
They donāt always agree, but they listen and if they think something should be done, they do it.
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100% correctā¦ although some of those rant threads are pretty funnyā¦ especially when the OP gets answers they donāt like and keep fighting back until they get an answer they like.
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You saw that one yesterday, too?
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Oh I didā¦ I refused to chime in on it, but I was sitting here laughing like ādudeā¦ take the hint already!ā lol
Which one, which one?
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/can-a-nested-automation-trace-the-original-trigger-event/707653
He was trying to manually trigger automations that had dummy triggers because scripts were too hard or unstable or something, so he wrote multiple of these automatons because a single automation was unwieldy. And it took multiple NOās for it to finally register.
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And the attention of not one, but two modsā¦ lol
Getting back to possible guidelines for answering questionsā¦
If Iām going to answer or get involved, I try to stick to facts, options, and questions.
I try to avoid stating: āyou should doā¦ā and instead say: āWhat has worked for meā¦ā or āI have found that x,y,zā¦ā or āI would tryā¦ā
I am also ok stepping back if someone else wants to jump in or the OP isnāt getting it (I can be more of a problem then helpful 
)
And Iām ok pushing back on, or flagging, misinformation, rants, or worthless opinions but this can be tricky.
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How to help us help them - or How to give a good answer
Before we beginā¦
This forum is not a soapbox
You donāt work for Home Assistant, thatās an open source project. You are volunteering your free time to help others. You donāt have to respond to their rantsā¦
Moved this post to Community guides, since this thread seems to have gone off on a tangent.
Still a wiki - keep on adding to it! 
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I must admit, sometimes I rag on the ranters when Iām in the moodā¦ kinda for sport. I donāt get offended by them and I have no illusions that I will convince them of anythingā¦ bad me. no scooby snacks.
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Was being edited, wanted to add this
Donāt be afraid to back off, go silent & get a MOD involved
If you are offended, or the COC or other policy is violated, click the flag button. Thatās what itās for.
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