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

[aceindy]

That mentally I find very hard to comprehend.

[four2six (J.)]

not sure what’s more useful, no screwdriver or a completely stripped washing machine

[armedad]

no screwdriver == safer
paying for someone to fix the washing machine < paying for someone to fix the water damage after @Arh “fixes” it and puts it back into service…

[Arh]

Its a washing machine,I’ve built far more complex machines than that before. Even built a control.system for Sellafield nuclear power station back.in the 80’s, and no one died

[petro]

@Arh

and no one died

yet

[aceindy]

@armedad Guess you are Gen Z ??

[armedad]

my wife says i’m worst than the kids. does that count?

[aceindy]

Yes it does …

[parautenbach (Pieter Rautenbach)]

Are you sure they’re not just abusing you?

BTW, I once helped a friend and his wife move. The lock and latch of the door connecting the garage and house gave some trouble. I pointed out the issue and he was like: “I’ll pay someone to fix it.” I said it with the intention that he’d say he would fix it later, but alas. So I said, give me a screwdriver and I’ll fix it. There was just something stuck and the biggest part of the job was releasing four screws.

[Stiltjack]

@Arh

Its a washing machine,I’ve built far more complex machines than that before. Even built a control.system for Sellafield nuclear power station back.in the 80’s, and no one died

Was that when Terry Pratchett was their press officer?

[Stiltjack]

As a matter of interest… What are the repetitive questions that get asked over an over again? Specifically, without digressions about semantics.

There’s the motion sensor and lights one, but the trigger/condition thing is a common misunderstanding that manifests itself in all sorts of ways. Not reading the docs, not searching properly are behaviours, and 'twas ever thus.

Anyone care to contribute to a list of actual questions?

[NathanCu (Nathan Curtis)]

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

Power <> energy. The Power Meter Integration is a thing and Reimann Sum - Left is your friend.

[tom_l]

That one I can understand. Not everyone knows the difference between energy and power, or how to convert between the two.

[Arh]

I see a lot of questions about triggers, one of the most common being setting a number state to above a certain level. The user thinks it will trigger if the number is above the set level, not when it changes from below to above, as is the case.

Also questions about raspberry pis no longer working or just crashing.

[Sir_Goodenough ((SG) WhatAreWeFixing.Today)]

@Stiltjack

How about doing a short one (tag cookbook) on searching the documentation/forum?

Tips on Searching for Answers & Duplicate Topics.

[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