Is there a place on the electronics.stackexchange to ask the opinion of the community?
It strikes me that the electronics.stackexchange is an invaluable resource, I don't know many other places where you can talk to a large number of electronic engineers from a wide mix of fields and disciplines.
Is meta that place? - Or is it simply against the rules to tout opinions?
I think it would be a shame to miss out on a golden opportunity to gain insight into the world of electronic engineering, I've personally wanted to ask people for tips and opinions on many questions, it would be good to know if there is a place to do this on the electronics.stackexchange.
Thx.
EDIT:
Example questions, that may produce a lot of opinionated answers-
- What soldering iron equipment would you recommend, any particular brand or manufacturer?
- Are there any electronics companies that have really good customer service?
- What PCB manufacturers produce good quality boards?
- I want to make an electronic dice - what chip would you use for this application?
Questions like this may be dismissed for being too vague or broad and not having one particular answer, but by asking questions like this you can allow people to consider a broader range of factors when considering a response. Just because the question seems broad, this does not mean that the answer cannot be specific, there may only be a few key answers or a single consensus, which could be based on verifiable facts, opinions are one thing, but backing them up is quite another.
To a greater or lesser extent many answers will contain opinion, just spend 5 minutes reading some of the comments and answers on the electronics.exchange, much of it is observation and hearsay (from today's newest questions)- " I imagine they are quite rare and expensive" "some packages the middle pin is omitted, I haven't seen it that often" "I can't imagine a good reason for all the analog" - These are legitimate answers that can be useful, without having to see an industry report on the number of TO220 packages available on the market that have a missing pin.
After all- when was the last time you saw an answer with a reference for every last assertion?