Reality-Based Engineering: Not Company Policy

[Triple Zero]

ahh...
Yatto.  that's who i was thinking of.  it's like Yatto.  except we are currently enduring it. 

Trip. so the postcounts next to everybody are not accurate?  why did they change from the '-42 Scovilles' etc.?

Because Faust upgraded the forum to SMF 2.x which replaced the whole codebase.

I haven't gotten around to putting all the mods back in. As a quick fix I hacked up the postcount display function a bit so it's not accurate. Very much extreme hacker points if you figure out how it's hacked up.

When I do put it in, I will add "Scoville" to the list of random units though, thanks for the suggestion

[Elder Iptuous]

gotcha.
what does SMF2.0 have that prompted the switch?  is it a security thing, or maintenance ease, or something else?

[Triple Zero]

Not sure actually. I was having an extremely busy week when the switch happened and it kind of took me by surprise as well. Faust should answer that.

There are a few things SMF2 is better in that I've noticed, but I don't think they prompted the switch. The one thing that comes to mind right now is that the HTML templates it outputs are prettier HTML-wise, which makes it easier for me to add modifications to it. Not that I have, yet, but that's mainly to do with my netbook starting to really fall apart (editing code on a remote machine is not fun if you need to hold the network cable *just like that* to keep your connection) and right now I have a new laptop, but I don't have the right coding tools in place yet (mostly due to being on Win7 now and not having decided what the best ones will be).

[minuspace]

Back to topic:

ahh...


... so the postcounts next to everybody are not accurate?  why did they change from the '-42 Scovilles' etc.?

I think what we are all really concerned about is units of measurement.

Roger:  when you were asked to falsify the values, did that include units of measurement?

[El Sjaako]

Okay, so we put in two flow meters on a couple of process loops.  The flow meters indicated that the flow in the pipes weren't what we thought they were, and definitely aren't right.  We checked the meters and then physically verified the flow further down the process.  The meters are accurate, and the flow isn't what it is supposed to be.

Mike the Engineer's response:  Adjust the gain on the meters until they say what we expected to see.



Here's the funny:  Most engineers are like this.  Including the ones who keep the power on and the sewers working.

Just wanted to add that this happens a lot. My father sells flowmeters. When a customer is complaining that the flow is not as expected, it's usually easier to "fix" the number on the screen than to convince the customer they calculated the flow wrong, o that the other (more expensive system) is wong or shows something different. The art is in explaining why you can adjust the scaling.

It's not actually policy to do this of course. And surprisingly my father claims it's never actually gone wrong.

[President Television]

Okay, so we put in two flow meters on a couple of process loops.  The flow meters indicated that the flow in the pipes weren't what we thought they were, and definitely aren't right.  We checked the meters and then physically verified the flow further down the process.  The meters are accurate, and the flow isn't what it is supposed to be.

Mike the Engineer's response:  Adjust the gain on the meters until they say what we expected to see.



Here's the funny:  Most engineers are like this.  Including the ones who keep the power on and the sewers working.

Just wanted to add that this happens a lot. My father sells flowmeters. When a customer is complaining that the flow is not as expected, it's usually easier to "fix" the number on the screen than to convince the customer they calculated the flow wrong, o that the other (more expensive system) is wong or shows something different. The art is in explaining why you can adjust the scaling.

It's not actually policy to do this of course. And surprisingly my father claims it's never actually gone wrong.

Obviously the WAAAGH! is behind this.

[Don Coyote]

Okay, so we put in two flow meters on a couple of process loops.  The flow meters indicated that the flow in the pipes weren't what we thought they were, and definitely aren't right.  We checked the meters and then physically verified the flow further down the process.  The meters are accurate, and the flow isn't what it is supposed to be.

Mike the Engineer's response:  Adjust the gain on the meters until they say what we expected to see.



Here's the funny:  Most engineers are like this.  Including the ones who keep the power on and the sewers working.

Just wanted to add that this happens a lot. My father sells flowmeters. When a customer is complaining that the flow is not as expected, it's usually easier to "fix" the number on the screen than to convince the customer they calculated the flow wrong, o that the other (more expensive system) is wong or shows something different. The art is in explaining why you can adjust the scaling.

It's not actually policy to do this of course. And surprisingly my father claims it's never actually gone wrong.

Obviously the WAAAGH! is behind this.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Okay, so we put in two flow meters on a couple of process loops.  The flow meters indicated that the flow in the pipes weren't what we thought they were, and definitely aren't right.  We checked the meters and then physically verified the flow further down the process.  The meters are accurate, and the flow isn't what it is supposed to be.

Mike the Engineer's response:  Adjust the gain on the meters until they say what we expected to see.



Here's the funny:  Most engineers are like this.  Including the ones who keep the power on and the sewers working.

Just wanted to add that this happens a lot. My father sells flowmeters. When a customer is complaining that the flow is not as expected, it's usually easier to "fix" the number on the screen than to convince the customer they calculated the flow wrong, o that the other (more expensive system) is wong or shows something different. The art is in explaining why you can adjust the scaling.

It's not actually policy to do this of course. And surprisingly my father claims it's never actually gone wrong.

Our flow is insanely simple to calculate.  Not so simple to verify.  So when the flow meter tells us it's not where it's supposed to be, we take the time & verify it.  The flow is what it is, it's VERY different than the calculation.  This isn't a case of being off by a gallon a minute, here...It's more like an error of 25 gallons per minute, or 50% of the calculated flow.

So, obviously, something is very wrong.  Changing the flow meter's display won't change that.

[Luna]

Your only recourse may be a public flogging.

[El Sjaako]

Our flow is insanely simple to calculate.  Not so simple to verify.  So when the flow meter tells us it's not where it's supposed to be, we take the time & verify it.  The flow is what it is, it's VERY different than the calculation.  This isn't a case of being off by a gallon a minute, here...It's more like an error of 25 gallons per minute, or 50% of the calculated flow.

So, obviously, something is very wrong.  Changing the flow meter's display won't change that.

I agree that it's a really stupid approach, I was horrified when I found out how often he does it.

[minuspace]

Okay, so we put in two flow meters on a couple of process loops.  The flow meters indicated that the flow in the pipes weren't what we thought they were, and definitely aren't right.  We checked the meters and then physically verified the flow further down the process.  The meters are accurate, and the flow isn't what it is supposed to be.

Mike the Engineer's response:  Adjust the gain on the meters until they say what we expected to see.



Here's the funny:  Most engineers are like this.  Including the ones who keep the power on and the sewers working.

Just wanted to add that this happens a lot. My father sells flowmeters. When a customer is complaining that the flow is not as expected, it's usually easier to "fix" the number on the screen than to convince the customer they calculated the flow wrong, o that the other (more expensive system) is wong or shows something different. The art is in explaining why you can adjust the scaling.

It's not actually policy to do this of course. And surprisingly my father claims it's never actually gone wrong.

Our flow is insanely simple to calculate.  Not so simple to verify.  So when the flow meter tells us it's not where it's supposed to be, we take the time & verify it.  The flow is what it is, it's VERY different than the calculation.  This isn't a case of being off by a gallon a minute, here...It's more like an error of 25 gallons per minute, or 50% of the calculated flow.

So, obviously, something is very wrong.  Changing the flow meter's display won't change that.

The lax use of standards has entropically become no standards, it's too late? 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Okay, so we put in two flow meters on a couple of process loops.  The flow meters indicated that the flow in the pipes weren't what we thought they were, and definitely aren't right.  We checked the meters and then physically verified the flow further down the process.  The meters are accurate, and the flow isn't what it is supposed to be.

Mike the Engineer's response:  Adjust the gain on the meters until they say what we expected to see.



Here's the funny:  Most engineers are like this.  Including the ones who keep the power on and the sewers working.

Just wanted to add that this happens a lot. My father sells flowmeters. When a customer is complaining that the flow is not as expected, it's usually easier to "fix" the number on the screen than to convince the customer they calculated the flow wrong, o that the other (more expensive system) is wong or shows something different. The art is in explaining why you can adjust the scaling.

It's not actually policy to do this of course. And surprisingly my father claims it's never actually gone wrong.

Our flow is insanely simple to calculate.  Not so simple to verify.  So when the flow meter tells us it's not where it's supposed to be, we take the time & verify it.  The flow is what it is, it's VERY different than the calculation.  This isn't a case of being off by a gallon a minute, here...It's more like an error of 25 gallons per minute, or 50% of the calculated flow.

So, obviously, something is very wrong.  Changing the flow meter's display won't change that.

The lax use of standards has entropically become no standards, it's too late? 

NIGEL!  TRANSLATION, PLEASE!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

NIGEL!  TRANSLATION, PLEASE!

The relaxed half-nations interpretation of my personal lubricant use form lax standards of entropic decay which describes my personal relationship with watermelons and pomegranate salad, and there is nothing that anyone can do about it at this point  regardless of how many emu farmers picket the capital, eh?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

NIGEL!  TRANSLATION, PLEASE!

The relaxed half-nations interpretation of my personal lubricant use form lax standards of entropic decay which describes my personal relationship with watermelons and pomegranate salad, and there is nothing that anyone can do about it at this point  regardless of how many emu farmers picket the capital, eh?

[Luna]

NIGEL!  TRANSLATION, PLEASE!

The relaxed half-nations interpretation of my personal lubricant use form lax standards of entropic decay which describes my personal relationship with watermelons and pomegranate salad, and there is nothing that anyone can do about it at this point  regardless of how many emu farmers picket the capital, eh?

Nigel owes me another keyboard.