I find I just skip past them like the first two results that are ads on google. I know they have good info but they are usually 100 pages long and the first few pages are outdated and the people who posted to them probably don't go to the board anymore. So there is no point is asking specific questions.
I think this is true of all forums...
The problem I see with the Stickies is that people have conversations in them and if the info posts are the signal then the rest is the noise. It's allowed to carry on conversations in those threads so I'm not saying that people were wrong to do it. I'm saying only that it make it a more difficult task to find something and ultimately defeats the purpose of having them. They become just like most other threads but with an exhalted position.
It's a bit like finding a datasheet PDF on your computer or just searching for it again on the Internet. If you've named them properly and put them in one place you might read the PDF otherwise you'll just search for it again.
The "NEWBIES PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING" post Dave made is what a sticky thread should be like.
So to answer the question. No, I don't read the stickies.
If there was a single change I would make to a sticky thread it would be to absolutely ban quoting other posts. But that alone wouldn't be enough.
This can be mitigated if moderators choose to offer the OP an option to lock the thread so they can open/close at their discretion if further content or edits needs adding.
I only know of one occasion of this happening where a thread I opened which could be seen as controversial (Moderation Reports/ Supporters Lounge) and Dave placed a lock symbol in the OP so presumably I'm the only member outside the moderators that can see it.
The sticky's are a quick and easy way to access/find info.
Take the Multimeter spreadsheet or the oscilloscope training class ones for example.
"Stickies" just take up space on my browser window.
About 90% of questions can be answered by a quick Google search. As for the remaining 10%, none of those users will try to use the stickies. There is no index, and the search engine for EEVBlog is worthless. It is far more productive to: 1) Search google; or 2) Waste a lot of well-meaning "helper's" time posting your ambiguous, poorly thought out, or vague question here.
Stickies are worthless.
John
Stickies are worthless.
I will say they
tend to be compromised in value. The SNR mentioned above being the main reason.
One exception (and there are others) is the Electronics Youtubers thread. Here, one member is making an ongoing effort to keep the key information in one post, updating it as contributions are offered.
It's efforts of this sort that make those stickies very valuable, indeed.
I've read most of them and the stickies here are way higher in quality than the typical stuff on other electronics boards.
Generally, "stickies" are often the questions that get asked over and over by newcomers to a board and the mods compile the info so they don't have to keep typing the same things again and again. So its almost as much for the mods as it is for the newbies, so they can point people to them rather than typing it- if they had to, it would be a cause of burn out.
Mods on blogs and forums everywhere are the unsung heroes of the Internet, and were it not for them and the huge amount of time and free efforts people put in to passing on information, the Internet would become just another means of separating people from money very quickly.
They are the face we see of the Internet and its a good one.
Yes, I most certainly did, thank you for pointing that out. Will fix it. Fixed.