So this is weirdā¦
Does anyone else see the edit tag on this post?
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/moved-no-longer-have-qr-code-for-plugs-where-to-find/716704
They posted it as a community guide, I move it to hardware, but I still see the edit button. I didnāt refresh browser, but went to different post and reloaded this one and can still edit itā¦
Since I popped in without editing anything it shows an edit, thatās normal, but that was after I changed the category.
Yep, edit wiki
Same here.
I guess something to keep in mind, once a wiki, always a wiki whatever topic you move it to.
Finally thought of making a contribution to the cookbook wiki
Did you add into the index?
yes i did, it is in 
Holyā¦ Justā¦ Wow. Lol
I had ignored this thread when it began, but for some reason tonight I decided to read it. All of it. Canāt decide if I regret that or not, butā¦ Lol
I agree that the documentation needs help. I donāt say that because it frustrates me (though at times, it has), but rather I say that because the frustration of others is evident in their posts and language. Most frustrating is that apparently the devs did not have the same CS professor that I did (not surprising since Iām pretty sure they are in a different country). On day 1 of CS121 she said āwhen you write your documentation, pretend you are explaining to your grandmother how to use your softwareā. Even though Iām not a full-time developer by trade, for the handful of things I have written, and for the internal technical documentation I author, that sentiment has always stuck with me.
Someone mentioned videos - I already took up that mantle. There are lots and lots of āentertainmentā YouTube channels about smart home stuff, or channels about ālook at this neat thing I made my house do, hereās a 20,000 foot view of how I did it (and then never actually showing the code or the automation or the config)ā, so I started my own channel. I have over 50 technical videos published, and I show all the code and explain everything as best as I can. If someone is looking for how to do something, give it a look. Itās clearly not ALL there, but thereās a good amount, and I add to it regularly. I do also take requests, so thereās that.
With regards to the āregularsā giving up on helping the noobs, I find the problem to be the same in nearly every case, regardless the topic.
The āold guardā gives answers. The new hotshots that think they know better and like to have the loudest voice in the room chime in, loudly, oft with inferior (or flat out incorrect) information. The old guard gets tired of trying to not only educate the new users, but also tires of having to ādefendā themselves from the never ending barrage of nonsense from the mouthy ones, so they just give up and stop participating. This is not only a great loss to whatever community it happens to, but it also ensures that future generations of participants will be much worse off than their predecessors since now they are only able to gather their information from the lesser-knowledgeable (but louder) cohort. The cycle repeats, and you end up with idiocracy being a documentary.
Overall, this has been a very interesting read. The thought that keep reverberating in my head as I read a lot of this is that there was a post some time ago around new users and struggles and barriers to larger market acceptance/penetration, and I remarked about how the documentation and support structure wasnāt what the āaverage Joeā would require, and I recall being poo-pooād, with the sentiment basically boiling down to something akin to āthis is a project by nerds, for nerdsā. I think. That was many moons (and many whiskeys) ago.
A lot of what you read here was venting. Best to get it out of our system here than when helping someoneā¦ Ideally this would be āsome place elseā.
Beyond that was the genesis of the cookbook and where that came from.
Always wanted to ask a youtuber this - what steps do you take to make it clear that a video is out of date - and to point to a replacement or alternative, up to date, howto? (It seems that some donāt, and we get people following digital bit rot and complaining that the ādocumentationā is wrong.)
Iāve taken to including the year after the video title, and if I make an updated video, I edit the description of the prior video(s) to direct users to the new one. Thereās not really a whole lot else that can be done since modification of a video isnāt possible once itās been uploaded, unfortunatelyā¦
Ive seen this - much appreciated. Wish others did as well. Yes sure most viewers donāt actually note the dateā¦ But at. Least the effort is there.
Very true. You have no idea how many comments I get about āthis video is useless. That version of home assistant is 2 years old!ā me: did you read the description? Them: ā¦
That was indeed one of the reasons to start this thread, and was about to stop, or at least lessen a bitā¦.
Just wondering if it is a good idea to write a cookbook on how to convert a blueprint into an automation 
I do that occasionally, as it easier then adept the blueprint for my own needs
You do that because you want control and can write your own. Once you advance to that point you donāt need a tutorial.
Itās hard enough for me to support newbees using code that I know. I donāt look forward to them coming back to me to fix code that they tweaked (probably with chatGPT).
Itās like adding one on how to mount an internal drive to HA. I feel like they need to know enough about the subject and have enough interest in it before I show them how to hack in the the HAOS and haxk things. So no, Iām not writing that one.
We do need to follow up on the one about importing files, though.
Yep, if a blueprint does most of what I need, you can bet your donkey Iāll be tweaking it instead of starting from scratch.
Work smarter, not harder.
I use most of my own BPās, so when they break I fix them. Got one ābrokenā now I should be working on.
Random thought #42423.
Can we have a āNecropostā award?
It behaves just like a badge, but itās attached immediately to your profile as proof you didnāt bother to search or read the pinned post. Awarded when when you reply to a post whose last reply is >1 year old.
Further suggestions:
All the above are based on actual posts Iāve come across in the past couple of days. I obviously canāt link any, but do let me know by way of like if you managed to find at least one instance of each.
This one doesnāt bother me so much if itās relevant. The ones that annoy me are the āIām having the same issue! Why isnāt this fixed yet?!ā.