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Pinwiki - valuable pinball repair resource

Hi,

Great idea, I'm a newbie and will happily soak up info and look forward to a thread that every beginner is pointed to when they join. I was thinking about this, I'm a network techie and have been doing my job for a month shy of 10 years, some of the juniors I train ask questions that seem so obvious to me but they are truly stumped despite trying their best for hours/days, natch I help them, but it made me think that I've forgotten how daunting it can be and how clueless I was in that field when I started. This principle applies to pinball too I think. I'm still a total newbie with pinball, but to give an example from my experience, I had zero idea that you could open the coin door, reach inside to the right for a lever and then take the bar off, to then lift up the playfield table and prop it up like a car bonnet. No idea at all that even existed. I stumbled across it while watching youtube vidoes before getting my first machine.

Great idea for a thread it will help many people out, and if I can contribute as a lab test rat, please let me know as I'd love to help.

Cheers,


Johnny
 
Johnny,

I'm a 3rd line "call me when the **** hits the fan" engineer.... and spend a lot of my time training... I know EXACTLY where you are coming from :D

I can stick a Wiki and/or blogs apps on here however will only do it if there's likely to be any take up :)

I cant see an obvious reason for blogs (Shopouts are already covered in the forum), however i can see the benefits of a Wiki...

thoughts??
 
That wiki looks ace I'll deffo be reading that, tq GrizZ for the link. Guess I was just waving the flag for newbies, we need super massive neon flashing signs pointing stuff to us as we learn :) I've probably walked right past threads or info that would help, because am still a bit of a bambi :) (sorry, Day-Z terminology) hehe

Cheers,


Johnny
 
Everyone has to learn from somewhere , and why not here.
There are some very knowledgeable people on this forum as well anything you need to know about pinball you will find out from here.
As I have already said great idea.

I just wish I had all the info thats in place now when I started. Back in 96 before the internet was pretty tough going.
 
I'm still learning after 2 years in the hobby, I'm actually able to diagnose and fix things now though, (misaligned trough opto for example - causing a crazy long ball saver on rbion as it tried to kick out a phantom ball which only happened under certain circumstances) although I haven't had to do any board work as yet :eek:

Properly rewarding when you do get to the bottom of things though, as good a feeling as putting up a big score!
 
If anyone's willing to do an "open day" where they give advance warning of a maintenance day or big session of project work at their place and are willing to let people turn up and watch/ assist to learn how the pro's (or at least people who know what they're doing ;)) do it, I'd be well up for going to something like that.

Alternately how about a scheduled hour for a demo on basic maintenance or fault diagnosis on a donor machine or two at one or more of the events we have through the year. Loads of new pin owners out there who'd be up for attending I'm sure. I would :).

Rog
 
RGV said:
If anyone's willing to do an "open day" where they give advance warning of a maintenance day or big session of project work at their place and are willing to let people turn up and watch/ assist to learn how the pro's (or at least people who know what they're doing ;)) do it, I'd be well up for going to something like that.

Alternately how about a scheduled hour for a demo on basic maintenance or fault diagnosis on a donor machine or two at one or more of the events we have through the year. Loads of new pin owners out there who'd be up for attending I'm sure. I would :).

Rog
Click to expand...

I think that's a great idea Rog :-) Presuming the events aren't loss making already, it'd be a nice if they could pay someone like Andy Netherwood (who often fixes up the machines at shows) a decent amount to do something like that, assuming he was up for it - as a thanks for his many contributions to these events.
 
RGV said:
If anyone's willing to do an "open day" where they give advance warning of a maintenance day or big session of project work at their place and are willing to let people turn up and watch/ assist to learn how the pro's (or at least people who know what they're doing ;)) do it, I'd be well up for going to something like that.

Alternately how about a scheduled hour for a demo on basic maintenance or fault diagnosis on a donor machine or two at one or more of the events we have through the year. Loads of new pin owners out there who'd be up for attending I'm sure. I would :).

Rog
Click to expand...
Wow! An open day sounds like a really great idea! I'm very keen to learn how to fix up and maintain my own machines. In the meantime anyone in Surrey Near Surbiton KT5 area who does repairs and mods? Really need someone who can help me sort some issues on a JD ASAP. Thanks.


Deleted_Record
 
:thumbs:
Paul said:
Johnny,

I'm a 3rd line "call me when the **** hits the fan" engineer.... and spend a lot of my time training... I know EXACTLY where you are coming from :D

I can stick a Wiki and/or blogs apps on here however will only do it if there's likely to be any take up :)

I cant see an obvious reason for blogs (Shopouts are already covered in the forum), however i can see the benefits of a Wiki...

thoughts??
Click to expand...

@Wizcat suggested the creation of a Q&A site using Stack Exchange (the software that powers stackoverflow.com) but unfortunately the idea doesn't seem to have attracted sufficient attention in the pinball community :(

But if it's possible to bolt-on a Wiki app to pinballinfo.com then that's something that might gain more interest as it would remain part of this very popular site, turn up in the general search results (hopefully?) yet be a resource that everyone can add to. Shop logs are excellent sources of information but the diary-like format can make it difficult to find.

Thumbs up from me for the trial of wiki.pinballinfo.com :thumbs:
 
deleted.record said:
Wow! An open day sounds like a really great idea! I'm very keen to learn how to fix up and maintain my own machines. In the meantime anyone in Surrey Near Surbiton KT5 area who does repairs and mods? Really need someone who can help me sort some issues on a JD ASAP. Thanks.


Deleted_Record
Click to expand...

Any EE or ex-EE should be able to diagnose 99% of pinball problems. It's just simple mechanics controlled by 70/80s vintage electronics.

Get yourself stuck in and have a go.
 
Nedreud said:
:thumbs:

@Wizcat suggested the creation of a Q&A site using Stack Exchange (the software that powers stackoverflow.com) but unfortunately the idea doesn't seem to have attracted sufficient attention in the pinball community :(

But if it's possible to bolt-on a Wiki app to pinballinfo.com then that's something that might gain more interest as it would remain part of this very popular site, turn up in the general search results (hopefully?) yet be a resource that everyone can add to. Shop logs are excellent sources of information but the diary-like format can make it difficult to find.

Thumbs up from me for the trial of wiki.pinballinfo.com :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Yeah I pimped the suggestion around a few popular pinball forums, but didn't get a lot of feedback (either negative or positive). I still think a Q&A site would be a great asset, and isn't something that discussion forums (such as this) or wiki sites can easily cope with.
 
Nedreud said:
:thumbs:

@Wizcat suggested the creation of a Q&A site using Stack Exchange (the software that powers stackoverflow.com) but unfortunately the idea doesn't seem to have attracted sufficient attention in the pinball community :(

But if it's possible to bolt-on a Wiki app to pinballinfo.com then that's something that might gain more interest as it would remain part of this very popular site, turn up in the general search results (hopefully?) yet be a resource that everyone can add to. Shop logs are excellent sources of information but the diary-like format can make it difficult to find.

Thumbs up from me for the trial of wiki.pinballinfo.com :thumbs:
Click to expand...

"if you build it they will come" ???? :D
 
Wizcat said:
Yeah I pimped the suggestion around a few popular pinball forums, but didn't get a lot of feedback (either negative or positive). I still think a Q&A site would be a great asset, and isn't something that discussion forums (such as this) or wiki sites can easily cope with.
Click to expand...
I agree! As a regular user of stackoverflow.com I totally understand the benefit. But the sites are only as useful as the info and effort put into them. Getting the ball rolling and maintaining sufficient momentum is the hardest part. 10/10 for effort @Wizcat ;)
 
Wizcat said:
Yeah I pimped the suggestion around a few popular pinball forums, but didn't get a lot of feedback (either negative or positive). I still think a Q&A site would be a great asset, and isn't something that discussion forums (such as this) or wiki sites can easily cope with.
Click to expand...

I would actually disagree.... Most of the info found on here is Question-answer type material... i.e. a new thread "how can i clean my balls"... Thats a question... and then it has multiple answers...

Same outcome... slightly different layout...

IMO a Wiki should be almost like a definitive database of where you get the same question again and again. Eg "My machine is resetting when i push both flippers. How can i fix it??" is a classic example....
 
Paul said:
I would actually disagree.... Most of the info found on here is Question-answer type material... i.e. a new thread "how can i clean my balls"... Thats a question... and then it has multiple answers...

Same outcome... slightly different layout...

IMO a Wiki should be almost like a definitive database of where you get the same question again and again. Eg "My machine is resetting when i push both flippers. How can i fix it??" is a classic example....
Click to expand...

I'd respectfully disagree. The Q&A format allows for answers to be voted up, so the best, most comprehensive answer is clear (and incorrect answers equally clear). The Q&A format discourages discussion, which on any form can otherwise turn a thread into spam. In many respects Q&A sites are also self moderating, so the users have the ability to tag duplicate questions. Questions can be tagged, so if I consider myself an expert on Gottleib systems for example I can quickly scan for any new questions in that area. And most importantly, searching on a Q&A site is automatic.As you start typing a new question it searches for relevant existing questions. Searching is in my opinion a huge weakness of discussion forums

None of this should be taken as a criticism on your part of course Paul. As I have said before, the community you've built here is fantastic. But for the same reason you built this site as a replacement for the Yahoo groups, I think a Q&A site would be a wiser choice for questions and answers.
 
There's the problem though Paul - it relies on the questions being ask being virtually identical. As you say... "As you start typing a new question it searches for relevant existing questions" - on pinball stuff, there's only a finite list of things that can be asked specifically. The rest is a process of logical (or even non-logical!) deduction.

"Searching is in my opinion a huge weakness of discussion forums" - but also be it's biggest benefit - it allows people to search for an issue and find similar relating issues - which can well be related or give a clue. Some hobbies do need the specific Q/A approach. I would argue that this one doesn't, else all machines would be a really easy fix :)

At the end of the day, as with machines, everyone has their own view. We can't all agree else life would be very boring. However I'm more than happy to add something here along the lines of a Wiki or a Q&A forum (I can get the whole voting question/answer thingie on here if i do a little work setting it up - exactly the same as you are describing)... on the simple basis that it will benefit the users :)
 
Being able to up/down vote replies in the Technical Questions & Help forum would be a remarkably useful feature, I think. Not quite the full Stack Exchange experience but spotting what other consider to be an accurate answer would be very useful.
 
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