Oh god I miss him so much but he has not been online for more than half a year oh please tell me he is okay, where is Olin? Who will tell me???
Where is the glorious bearded microcontroller man?
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14\$\begingroup\$ I'd assume that he didn't feel that the time and energy he spent here was worthwhile. \$\endgroup\$– Harry SvenssonJun 5, 2019 at 12:58
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5\$\begingroup\$ Maybe he's giving us commoners a chance to earn some reputation points so that the ratio between his points and ours becomes smaller. \$\endgroup\$– BimpelrekkieJun 5, 2019 at 13:19
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5\$\begingroup\$ I hope he is getting paid for his advice a lot more than here. Even my 2 cents worth is more than we get paid here. \$\endgroup\$– Tony Stewart EE75Jun 5, 2019 at 13:21
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2\$\begingroup\$ @RussellMcMahon If you do know him, perhaps you have an insight why he left? \$\endgroup\$– Willy WonkaJun 5, 2019 at 13:26
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31\$\begingroup\$ You created a profile just to ask this question? Can't say I miss him too much. He was great at what he did, had some fantastic knowledge, but most of the time I found his attitude and behaviour towards some less knowledgeable people just rude. \$\endgroup\$– MCGJun 5, 2019 at 13:34
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11\$\begingroup\$ @Bimpelrekkie: Olin earns more points on his old answers than most users earn by posting new answers. He's number 22 for this quarter, despite not posting anything in several months. \$\endgroup\$– JREJun 5, 2019 at 15:52
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4\$\begingroup\$ @JRE Olin is like an endgame boss. You just can't beat him. He's simply too good. \$\endgroup\$– Harry SvenssonJun 5, 2019 at 15:55
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3\$\begingroup\$ Although I didn't always agree with him regarding what he could sometimes write on meta (and I expressed it a few times), I respected him a lot and miss his knowledgeable answers too. \$\endgroup\$– dimJun 5, 2019 at 20:17
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2\$\begingroup\$ Is it too early to assume some high voltage/high power accident? \$\endgroup\$– winnyJun 10, 2019 at 12:34
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2\$\begingroup\$ He's probably just benchmarking some PIC firmware execution speed. Give it a few more months. (hides) \$\endgroup\$– LundinJun 11, 2019 at 8:19
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15\$\begingroup\$ @MCG Olin's attitude against lazy and overly entitled consumers was right. Some of these lazy consumers were well... sensitive. Being sensitive and overly entitled is a vice, not a virtue. Even when people like that are a majority. \$\endgroup\$– Nick AlexeevJun 11, 2019 at 16:53
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5\$\begingroup\$ @NickAlexeev entitled? don't mix naivety with entitlement. Most people don't know how much knowledge goes into something as "simple" as doped silicon. \$\endgroup\$– tuskiomiJun 11, 2019 at 18:47
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1\$\begingroup\$ @tuskiomi I agree with you that being naive [or ignorant of some technical fact] is a different thing than entitlement. Olin knows the difference. \$\endgroup\$– Nick AlexeevJun 11, 2019 at 19:41
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25\$\begingroup\$ @NickAlexeev towards lazy and overly entitled people, yes. But not everyone he was rude too were lazy and entitled. He was rude to a lot of people, and his attitude was very much 'I am better than you, and if you disagree, you are an idiot'. As I said, his knowledge was great and that will be missed, he contributed some brilliant answers. But as for Olin himself? I won't be missing him in the slightest. \$\endgroup\$– MCGJun 12, 2019 at 7:49
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3\$\begingroup\$ There's a basic problem with the SE model, which is that Gresham's law can set in if you get a group of enthusiastic users who are, shall we say, less than "experts". I used to hang out on another SE site where at two least professionals who I know personally both left, simply because there wasn't enough "red meat" to keep them interested. I left myself when I got a tirade of abuse from another user who among other things accused me of being a troll simply because I posted lots of answers but never asked any questions! Life's too short to waste time mixing with that sort of garbage. \$\endgroup\$– alephzeroJun 13, 2019 at 12:51
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3 Answers
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He's fine. I spoke with him a few weeks ago, and he's busy with a bunch of other things.
He's been thinking about dropping by EE.SE, but he's well aware that he doesn't see eye-to-eye with the majority of active users (and management) about how bad questions should be handled, and it frustrates him. We'll just have to wait and see what he decides.
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11\$\begingroup\$ Sometimes the "Read Instructions before Posting" would be very apt advice... \$\endgroup\$ Jun 5, 2019 at 14:32
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15\$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the update Dave. I’ve met Olin a few times in the real world and he’s a good guy as well as being very competent. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 5, 2019 at 22:21
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\$\begingroup\$ Happy to hear that he's fine! I hope he'll come back and keep on contributing to this site. Although I sometimes didn't agree with his "gruff approach" to reprimand people, I always considered his judgement fair and to the point. If he decides to leave definitely, he'll be missed. Anyway, whatever he chooses, I wish him all the best! Thanks, Olin, for all the gems! \$\endgroup\$ Jun 6, 2019 at 16:05
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1\$\begingroup\$ I'm glad he's just busy, I was unable to reach him by private email and was concerned. I'll add my request to pass on best wishes. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 7, 2019 at 10:43
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16\$\begingroup\$ Honestly Olin said what a lot of us are thinking when it comes to newbies not reading the rules. I'm sure a lot of think to ourselves, "How hard is it to read the rules? It's literally less than a page long!" Perhaps he didn't like the management because there's really no way to remind 100 people a day (exaggerating of course) to read the rules without pulling out your hair. I don't think Stackexchange has a way to implement a, "You can only ask questions once you've read the rules of the website." feature, which quite honestly, would be really nice to have. [feature-request] on main SE Meta. \$\endgroup\$– user103380Jun 9, 2019 at 4:42
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1\$\begingroup\$ Somewhat related. The new "Ask a question wizard" has been rolled out live on Stack Overflow, with that site as guinea pig. I'm not sure if there's yet any evidence of it improving the quality of questions, but at least it's something. If it is a good thing, then other SE sites have to be on their toes to get the same feature implemented too, since it will have to be adapted to each specific site. \$\endgroup\$– LundinJun 11, 2019 at 8:12
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\$\begingroup\$ @Lundin that's actually pretty good. Are there plans to make it the default low rep/new users see? Can we have that on here, too? \$\endgroup\$ Jun 11, 2019 at 15:52
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\$\begingroup\$ @MarcusMüller Yeah it is currently something that every new/low rep user gets, if I understood it correctly. But it has been adapted to SO posting rules specifically for now and they are still tuning it in. \$\endgroup\$– LundinJun 12, 2019 at 6:23
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1\$\begingroup\$ I, too, add my sentiments that Olin is missed. I appreciate his no-bullshit attitude and precision. As a newbie myself once, he answered my questions in a direct manner that is greatly appreciated (perhaps more in hindsight than at the time). \$\endgroup\$– JYeltonJun 12, 2019 at 22:00
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7\$\begingroup\$ I also had the surprising pleasure of meeting him in person back in 2014 at the Microchip MASTERs conference, and his gripes and frustrations are much less intense in person vs. in "written" form - the medium seems to amplify his messages and makes them seem a little harsher than his intent (just my opinion). \$\endgroup\$ Jun 13, 2019 at 21:53
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Thanks for all the interest. I got fed up with this place in late 2018 and haven't been back since (until just now to update my profile and write this).
Stack Exchange got ever more PC and favored quantity over quality. It seems (I have no special insight) their logic was that clicks generate revenue, so more clicks are better. That means you never want to turn anyone away regardless of quality or noise level.
What they forgot was that this quantity was here because of the quality. The masses come here to get answers to questions. The real long term value of a site is therefore the ability to provide those answers. If you keep treating those that provide this value, for free no less, poorly, they are going to leave. When good answers are no longer to be had, the masses will stop coming with their questions.
Anyway, I'm now over at the brand new (June 2020) electrical engineering site:
Codidact Electrical Engineering
The Codidact effort grew out of SE's mistreatment of Monica Cellio, a moderator on other sites. Monica is there and active, and the effort has meanwhile taken on a life of its own.
I and several of the top contributors here helped to get the new EE site on Codidact going. The site was just created, so there is no body of existing questions, and obviously the traffic volume is starting from 0. But, hey, that's a feature! Your question won't get buried under a pile of others before any of the experts have a change to see it.
If you have a EE question, try it out. If you like teaching EE and answering questions, come join us, and maybe mention it in your profile here. We're not going to forget you're the real value of the site that brings in those asking questions. We also don't have to make a buck and provide ROI for investors, so we can be patient while starting from 0.
I look forward to seeing some old friends and new faces over on Codidact!
answered Jun 12, 2020 at 17:22
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\$\begingroup\$ Glad to hear from you! I'll check it out. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 15, 2020 at 12:31
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\$\begingroup\$ Dang sneaky release! I've been active on Codidact forums since the start but it seemed to me that the project went dormant due to Covid-19. I guess I shouldn't be looking elsewhere... Discord? Is this the QPixel beta thing or the real deal? \$\endgroup\$– LundinJun 16, 2020 at 14:38
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\$\begingroup\$ Thanks Olin for the update. I agree that the question quality on SE has dropped significantly and that there are some serious problems with regard to the issue you highlight. \$\endgroup\$– JYeltonJun 25, 2020 at 15:44
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I've seen Olin's profile suspended for quite a bit of time a few months ago. I too expected him to return back once the suspension is over, and it will indeed be sad if that doesn't happen.
Seeing how clever guys move from Math.SE and Physics.SE to Mathoverflow and Physicsoverflow sometimes makes me think that we need a new site like that for EE. Maybe we can lure Olin there.
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14\$\begingroup\$ I read the super old meta post about someone complaining their flags were declined, mostly about Olin. This "Be Nice" policy should have its limits, otherwise some kind of paradise state is enforced. And therefore no wonder he left. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 6, 2019 at 11:35
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6\$\begingroup\$ But aren't those alternative sites about being less strict - allowing even more low-quality questions, allowing straight homework dumps and blatant work orders, and allowing discussion-type/subjective questions (e.g. "Is the CEO of Microchip going to resign next month?", "What is your favourite resistor?", and "What are some hidden features of KiCad?")? I think Olin would want to move in the opposite direction, insisting on a minimum of quality and demonstrated effort. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 7, 2019 at 9:13
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2\$\begingroup\$ @PeterMortensen Can you show me an example of a homework question on Mathoverflow? Or any noob question for that matter? \$\endgroup\$ Jun 7, 2019 at 11:42
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14\$\begingroup\$ One of the problems is that at some point there is enough accumulated mass of answers regarding power supplies, 555s and LED drivers that new ones are either duplicates or very low quality. The textbook is written and we're just doing the odd revision. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 7, 2019 at 18:04
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5\$\begingroup\$ @Atizs The "Be Nice" policy doesn't forbid downvoting and closing down bad questions, so it doesn't enforce a paradise state. What it does is enforcing the aut bene aut nihil behavior, but I feel that's intentional. In the end, having questions downvoted and closed with no comments also gets the message across, plus it's much easier to moderate. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 8, 2019 at 5:34
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1\$\begingroup\$ @SpehroPefhany I mostly agree, but the current searchability of those answers is not particularly good, especially from newbies. The problem is the title alone could be too general to describe the content, and tags are not that useful in the end, especially since they are limited in number (just 5 per post max) and their usage is not enforced strictly and their usage varied with time. ... \$\endgroup\$ Jun 8, 2019 at 12:51
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4\$\begingroup\$ @SpehroPefhany ... Probably there's a fundamental problem in how all this Q&A stuff is organized. Years ago the problem was to have good answers posted, now that we have a good corpus of information, the real issue is easy, spot-on retrieval. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 8, 2019 at 12:52
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\$\begingroup\$ OK, I was reading MathOverflow as an alternative site. That is not the case. It is part of the Stack Exchange family (though perhaps with a special status, being imported from the Stack Exchange 1.0 days). Could you shortly outline the general idea for such a site in your answer? Beginner-level questions are not allowed, but open-ended ones are (e.g. "What are some hidden features of KiCad?")? And conceptual designs, schematics, and PCB designs can be submitted for review? \$\endgroup\$ Jun 9, 2019 at 10:45
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1\$\begingroup\$ @PeterMortensen AFAIK MathOverflow has more or less the same policy regarding open-ended / opinion-based question as Math.SE, plus it requires a certain level of proficiency in math which automatically excludes e.g. homework-like questions. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 9, 2019 at 20:23
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1\$\begingroup\$ Similar thing with intelligent guys redirecting their attention from StackOverflow to SoftwareEngineering.SE [formerly known as Programmers.SE]. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 11, 2019 at 16:58
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\$\begingroup\$ @Dmitry Grigorev. MathOverflow does not requires only a certain level of proficiency in math, it is a truly, very high level, professional mathematician site. I know that because being myself a mathematician, I have hardly dared to ask few questions there. \$\endgroup\$– MikeTeXJul 13, 2020 at 15:12