I sometimes provide information concerning repair of Motifs. When a Motifator member seems sufficiently competent, I might go into technical details.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to gauge the mechanical and electronic knowledge/skills of someone through a few posts. A recent experience has me questioning whether I should continue to be involved in repair efforts via Motifator forums.

I’d appreciate any thoughts on this, pro or con.

Just giving advice must surely be OK.
Especially if there has been a direct question.
As long as you don’t encourage people to be overconfident!  ;-)

5pinDIN, when you do this you are providing an extremely valuable hand-up to many who otherwise might be very hard pressed...either by way of economics or proximity...to restore their machine’s functionality.

Additionally, you have always provided a highly visible warning and/or disclaimer that a certain amount of prowess is required to attempt a self-repair, and a fair amount of risk must be assumed.

Hi 5pinDIN --

Thanks for all of your informative comments and help!

When someone asks me for repair advice, I try to judge their comfort and skill level. Shucks, I try to judge my _own_ comfort and skill level. I generally err on the side of caution and advise people to seek pro repair. You’ve been doing all of these things when advising forum members, so it’s all good.

Recently, I begged off doing a repair for a good friend simply because I didn’t want to mess up their ax (from which they derive their income). It just feels right to be cautious.

Thanks, again—pj

Everyone here knows you give sage electronic and mechanical advice 5PinDIN. 

Short of issuing people with a bureaucratic pro-forma questionnaire, if you don’t feel comfortable with it, then you shouldn’t give them any advice.

I’m with cmayhle though ...use the disclaimer and colour it red.

Have it as a signature. 

-----------------------------
I have always considered the possibility of alien life, so I looked on You Tube and it turns out it’s all true.

There’s merit to having a questionnaire.

Please check Yes, No, or Unsure for each of the following questions:
1) Do you know which end of a screwdriver is the handle?
[  ]Yes   [  ]No   [  ]Unsure
2) Do you know which end of a soldering iron is the handle?
[  ]Yes   [  ]No   [  ]Unsure
(If you have checked No or Unsure for either of the first two questions,
please ignore the rest of this form and refer the repair to a competent technician.)
3) ...

As to a standard signature/disclaimer, I’m considering…
“A man’s got to know his limitations.” - Harry Callahan
--- and/or ---
Your Mileage May Vary, especially if you’re flying around in an alien spacecraft.

;-)

Sorry, I’m a bit frustrated at the moment. Thanks to all for the replies so far.

5pinDIN - 10 November 2015 10:33 AM

A recent experience has me questioning whether I should continue to be involved in repair efforts via Motifator forums.

Continue. What else would you do with your knowledge, take it to the grave? If those before us did that we’d be lighting fires with a piece of flint.

Enter at your own risk. You’ve done the disclaimers. One problem is many don’t read and think about them. Count the posts here regarding lost data from loading libraries and firmware. Yeah dude, must be you missed that WARNING! back up your data first!  We have so many warnings today I think we’ve become benign to them. Maybe print your disclaimer on the chick hawking t-shirts above mySoftware(updates) on this page, it’s more likely to be read.

It’s not difficult to judge ones skill here, it’s nearly impossible. Mostly because people inherently misjudge their limits and abilities. In the end they discover wether or not they can do it, and either way a lesson is learned. It’s hard to learn a lesson without someone sharing knowledge. Thanks.

Gotta go, the weather dude says flood warning!

Stone

Thanks Stone. (I hope the “weather dude” was wrong, because dealing with flood damage is no fun.)

I guess there’s only so much vetting I can do, and beyond that I have to trust that the person’s abilities have been somewhat accurately represented.

OK guys, you’ve convinced me to “carry on”.

I’d say good choice when given the context of what’s been discussed. Despite an occasional failure there still exists the unknown of how many have benefitted from the information.

For a variety of reasons many can’t have their gear professionally serviced. Poverty and location come to mind. We’ve all read the stories of gear being in the shop for months. I’ll pass on that and take my chances. If I fail it’s on my head, and I’ll have learned a lesson. Win win.

Thanks for your help 5pin, we all appreciate it.

Stone

Even if you took responsibility for vetting the OP’s abilities, what about anyone later reading your usually very useful posts?

Please stop worrying and just continue Sir/Ma’m! :-)

zpink - 13 November 2015 01:41 AM

[...] Please stop worrying and just continue Sir/Ma’m! :-)

OK - and last time I checked, “Sir” would be appropriate.  ;-)

5pinDIN - 13 November 2015 09:16 AM

zpink - 13 November 2015 01:41 AM

[...] Please stop worrying and just continue Sir/Ma’m! :-)

OK - and last time I checked, “Sir” would be appropriate.  ;-)

I will remember that, but my wife would’ve given me a hard time if I had made the assumption and she had found out!  ;-)

zpink - 13 November 2015 11:31 AM

5pinDIN - 13 November 2015 09:16 AM

zpink - 13 November 2015 01:41 AM

[...] Please stop worrying and just continue Sir/Ma’m! :-)

OK - and last time I checked, “Sir” would be appropriate.  ;-)

I will remember that, but my wife would’ve given me a hard time if I had made the assumption and she had found out!  ;-)

I understand, and not assuming is reasonable.

I just didn’t want to be completely mysterious.  :-)

5pinDIN - 10 November 2015 08:54 PM

There’s merit to having a questionnaire.

Please check Yes, No, or Unsure for each of the following questions:
1) Do you know which end of a screwdriver is the handle?
[  ]Yes   [  ]No   [  ]Unsure
2) Do you know which end of a soldering iron is the handle?
[  ]Yes   [  ]No   [  ]Unsure

3) If you did not answer Yes to both questions 1 and 2, do you know which experiment would hurt more?

I’d say keep helping people. You’re good at it.

At some point, the reader must be aware of their own knowledge and limitations.  Your information can be very helpful for others looking who run across the thread in the future.  But I agree, a disclaimer is probably important.

Keep it up!