What instructional documentation would you like to see?

#1

Inspired by some posts elsewhere in the forum that I’ll merge below.

We have help.sense.com which has a fair amount of documentation, but it’s pretty high level and not crowdsourced like this forum. There’s tons of great information floating across our Community, but it’s lacking some structure and permanence.

So, let me ask you, our awesome Community members: What sort of instructional content would you find useful? What sort of formats would you like to see it in (“catch-all” threads, Community-based Wiki pages, FAQ threads, or some other interesting idea).

#2

@samwooly1,
As kind of a junior moderator on this forum, I’m interested in how we might make the valuable information easier to find. I agree that the existing user base has the power to make life easier for new users, even if we can’t answer the deepest questions on Sense operation. What things on the forum might help you, the new user the most ?

  1. An overview of what to expect -
  • how long recognition might take
  • possible conflation and loss of recognition
  • patience is a virtue
  1. Some sense of which devices are easy to find vs. which ones are unlikely to be found
  2. How to respond when things don’t go right
  • devices that aren’t on show as on
  • devices that are on are misidentified
  • devices show with wrong power
  1. something else
What do you think this is?
#3

Related to #2 are also those devices that make it difficult/impossible for Sense to find more normal devices. Some of us have one device that masks pretty much everything else…in my case a Franklin Electric constant pressure deep well pump. Sense engineering told me that it’s “noisy” and its signature varies so much (waveform depends on water flow) that it’s not detectable with their algorithms but also makes finding other devices accurately in my home pretty much impossible.

I went thru many months of frustration till the kind folks at support hooked me up with engineering, who completely reset my expectations.

#4

Great idea @Kevin1.
Some description that Your Mileage May Vary would also be useful, along with best guesses so far as to the causes (noisy devices in the home, too many devices, improper installation, etc).

#5

@kevin1,
I should have been a little more clear. I will say
That I do sometimes have a hard time finding things
And I think it’s because tags aren’t always attached.
I’m not sure of that but think it contributes.
There is one thing called interactive beginners post or something like that, I have yet to find.
But I’m speaking also of people that have not bought a sense. How many people are upset, angry or frustrated and they get installed? Going back and reading posts, it looks like the majority. If there were a better path for those looking at sense to realize, read and ask questions beforehand it would be nice.
I got pretty upset about being what’s I felt and still feel is misled. It’s the community that has brought me around. I no longer feel the way I did with the help of everyone here.
I had originally thought non users should be able to access the full community. I do t think that way no as some posts may scare them away. But I think there needs to be something in place, like dedicated thread that explains real world experience and the patience it will require. To be able to read about the person with 10 detections a week and the one with 2 a year.
I just put up another topic in general for something I’m experiencing and do not know how to find.
If anyone can point me to the interactive thing
Beginners should do, I’d appreciate it.