I'm interested in building things. There are a lot of interesting things to build on this forum. Sometimes wading through a 100 and however many page thread gets tedious. This lead me to a... wouldn't it be nice if Copilot could summarize some of these really long threads to see if this is something I want to pursue? Alas I tested this and it cannot. Is there a way to do this? If not, maybe there is a path forward to build it into the platform?
On any site like this you're bound to find facts, opinions, incorrect or misleading information and queries from people new to a field. It often takes someone who knows the subject to be able to get to the facts. This is often seen when folklore, over time, makes it's way to fact as understanding grows.
Summarising won't necessarily get to what's important and may in fact enhance misinformation, not to mention losing context. The human element is appreciated at diyAudio.
Summarising won't necessarily get to what's important and may in fact enhance misinformation, not to mention losing context. The human element is appreciated at diyAudio.
There is a forum feature that can sometimes help, but it has nothing to do with AI. Thread starters can keep editing post #1 to, for example, add links to the most relevant posts. It's a very useful feature if the thread starter knows it exists (I had been on this forum for more than a decade before I heard of it), takes the time to do it and picks the right posts.
There's also the issue of AI training, there's no model with the necessary technical knowledge to accurately create a summary. This holds true for a lot of technical fields, such as woodworking, or photography. A lot of the learning is experiential and intuitive, which AI is absolutely useless at. It also cannot keep up with a growing body of work and is best from static datasets. None of which are characteristics of our hobby (or many others).
Top thread summaries are best as Marcel states, but it's not followed on many threads (and isn't really possible).
Top thread summaries are best as Marcel states, but it's not followed on many threads (and isn't really possible).
fizzylime,
I can understand your sentiment (at least somewhat, hopefully)...
One comes to the forum with the intention of building stuff, and then comes across threads that support those projects; then to his/her surprise (and sometimes dismay) sees numerous posts that are off topic, general discussions, and in some cases arguments - and the building part can be difficult to dig up.
I have experienced this quite a few times, but thankfully haven't been deterred; following the threads and discussion gave me a better understanding of the hobby and community as a whole, and that has expanded my appreciation. Spending time on the forum becomes part of the hobby/entertainment too... 🙂 Some projects keep on evolving from the time of its inception, and it is possible to find a "new and improved" version of say page 232 or 312 page thread. Alas, time is not always on our side, and neither is patience - so your point of having a summary is not a totally moot one.
The Post #1 feature that Marcel has mentioned - some project originators use that effectively. Again too much info on the first post can be overwhelming at times, vs going through the journey and learning more things from the discussion/chatter.
Another idea is to make a post asking for pointers/advice - usually forum members will point to right posts/discussion, but you can get ignored also or be told "do you own homework".
diyAudio member 6L6 has done multiple "Build Guide" thread full of step by step build pics - those can be very useful to the beginner.
Have fun participating in the forum!
I can understand your sentiment (at least somewhat, hopefully)...
One comes to the forum with the intention of building stuff, and then comes across threads that support those projects; then to his/her surprise (and sometimes dismay) sees numerous posts that are off topic, general discussions, and in some cases arguments - and the building part can be difficult to dig up.
I have experienced this quite a few times, but thankfully haven't been deterred; following the threads and discussion gave me a better understanding of the hobby and community as a whole, and that has expanded my appreciation. Spending time on the forum becomes part of the hobby/entertainment too... 🙂 Some projects keep on evolving from the time of its inception, and it is possible to find a "new and improved" version of say page 232 or 312 page thread. Alas, time is not always on our side, and neither is patience - so your point of having a summary is not a totally moot one.
The Post #1 feature that Marcel has mentioned - some project originators use that effectively. Again too much info on the first post can be overwhelming at times, vs going through the journey and learning more things from the discussion/chatter.
Another idea is to make a post asking for pointers/advice - usually forum members will point to right posts/discussion, but you can get ignored also or be told "do you own homework".
diyAudio member 6L6 has done multiple "Build Guide" thread full of step by step build pics - those can be very useful to the beginner.
Have fun participating in the forum!
It took me over a decade to become aware of its existence; in fact, I probably still wouldn't know about it if @nautibuoy hadn't pointed it out to me. Assuming that other thread starters might be as stupid as I am, maybe it would help to add a text somewhere making thread starters aware of the possibility to update the first post with links to interesting posts and/or with summaries.
I appreciate the responses guys. As pointed out, it is sometimes very hard to get useful information from AI... seems promoting is a whole art unto itself. I still think it would be useful for what promoted my post in the first place. I'm interested in maybe building an Arcwelder Beast Amp. Which maybe is a variation of another amp or family of amps? I started to try and figure it out, realized the amount of posts I'd have to wade through to figure it all out, then started researching pro audio amps that would meet my need. After reading the responses here, I have a fresh perspective and will take the advice given.
All the things I have built had this! L-Adapter, AmyAlice, ACA, etc...
I've had a similar thought. I agree that AI summaries could be inaccurate, but there are some several thousand post long threads in which the first handful of pages give almost zero indication as to what project emerges from the thread.
Rather than expecting AI to sift through and separate out good from bad information, even a high level summary like
"This thread discusses a Class A transistor amplifier project designed around a push-pull quasi-complementary output stage. The first 10 pages of posts are design discussions, the next 20 pages iterate on the schematic, and a separate thread discusses a group buy for PCBs. There are several versions of this project with different front end stages."
Something like that might help new users especially to quickly scan through threads and find ones that might be of interest to them.
Just a thought.
Rather than expecting AI to sift through and separate out good from bad information, even a high level summary like
"This thread discusses a Class A transistor amplifier project designed around a push-pull quasi-complementary output stage. The first 10 pages of posts are design discussions, the next 20 pages iterate on the schematic, and a separate thread discusses a group buy for PCBs. There are several versions of this project with different front end stages."
Something like that might help new users especially to quickly scan through threads and find ones that might be of interest to them.
Just a thought.