A web site advocating women in trade giving questionable advice?

My apologies - it's called Task her.

Good to read from you again, even in the vexatious circumstances. Hope you are keeping well.

Now I must say I'm not sure of the significance of the trust her thing - I tried reading it as if it said 'trust him'  and advertising tradesmen instead and it just felt a little bit silly.
We are very much in a world where it would not normally matter, except for some few services that could be gender specific perhaps house care for an aged relative who does not want to be undressed by a member of the opposite sex. 

It does remind me a bit of some of the things that happened in the 1970s, when the women's rights thing was still on going in a more 'at war' kind of way , but these rightly were lampooned.

On another matter technically worrying for a UK site,  the page you link to is completely unsuited to the 230V world of loop through ceiling roses.

You'll typically see three wires: a black (hot) wire, a white (neutral) wire, and a green or bare copper (ground) wire. Ensure the new fixture's wires match these, and if not, consult the manual or a professional for guidance.

Next, connect the wires using wire nuts.

The prospective reader, either him or her would do much better on DIYnot..

I'll sit back now and see what others think.

M.

I have just tried replying twice, but failed. Why?

If you ask ChatGPT to provide 10 steps on how to change a ceiling light fixture, you'll get something remarkably similar back! 

Flicking through some of the other articles on that site there is a marked difference in the style between some of the newer and older ones. The scary dangers of letting the marketing intern loose to write blog posts on electrical DIY with the help of large language models!

Zs said:

Hello, long time no post.

Yes . . . its been wee while! Where have you been hiding?

- Ross

I did think it had a bit of an 'AI Generated' feel to it when I skim read it . . . also a rather strange fusion of UK and US terminology! 

- Ross

Chris, try again! Lovely to see you tried to respond...

A quick answer to where I have been Ross... 10 years in nuclear defence, which means working very slowly, getting not much done, and dealing with some shocking military type behaviours.  I saw the tritium light at the end of February, and now find myself in business start up, for which I think you would say I'm too old, but I don't ;) .  My knowledge has only remained standing by dint of private study and I have had my nose in books getting back up to speed.  Been through the dreaded NVQ3 and AM2E process, allegedly I am a competent person again, and hopefully next week I will complete the trio of Solar, Battery and EV charging badges.  Fortunately I kept my BS7671 going  on the QT and am, to be honest, a nerdier nerd than ever I was.  The difference is that this time it is going to be creative and I do not plan on wiring up sheds.

On the subject of that website - I made contact with them.  Their appreciative reply tells me that they are a group of three who write their own copy from 'reputable sources'. 

What worries me is that once this stuff gets out there it is fodder for AI.  You're right, It probably did come from AI in the first place but now it is there for him.  I personify, but I think he is a he, called AL, and I always thank him profusely for his help with such things as resignation letters... he sends me high fives and smiley faces.  So that's me OK when AL takes over the world?!

I saw the draft of my own rather beautiful web site today.  I was most specific that absolutely no electrical advice or opinion will feature in the words.  I am absolutely not going to feed AL.

Map,  I too was dismayed by the 'silly'.  Dismayed that my own Dad, with whom I discuss power factor correction etc. over walks in the park, was taken in by it and thought of suggesting I join, and also a little insulted by the tone.  But. Allow me a sweeping statement... Until the ladies get themselves to the calibre of the men in our industry... There are so few and I'm not sure that matters. In ten years it seems nothing has moved on.

Oh well, mine has moved on.  I think that the concerns expressed in those blogs are the concerns of the inexperienced tradeswoman, or indeed you might agree man. If you don't know what you are doing, then it is fine for you to recognise that.  My personal experience gave birth to a new word - I think the industry suffers from 'Competence-ism' not sexism. Brave enough to challenge?

Good to be back. 

Zs (ooh, haven't signed off like that for so long)

Competence is a strange thing.
I'm not sure what competence-ism would look like, as if we mean selecting someone for a given task on their ability  too do it, then unashamedly, I'm all for that.

It is very rare that as we gather to look at the smoking remains of the big experiment that anyone says, " what we really need at this point is an incompetent engineer to fix this".  They are far more likely to suggest they already have one..

For "continual professional development" as the under 40s call experience, it is important to know your limits, and to only go a little bit beyond them each time, and have a rescue plan for getting back behind that red line before anyone notices, if things start to go wrong. As you get better at it, you may become aware that you are now someone else's rescue plan.

The phone rings ' Mike have you got a mo' for an interesting problem?' For an interesting problem, always. Learning from the mistakes of others is of course much cheaper, but the positive buzz of bailing someone out is priceless.

Struggling on your own ensures you are the least competent person in the room, and at the same time the most, but it's not often helpful and a poor way to learn.

The other effect, in my case at least, is that with more experience,  while the cockups do become rarer, they also get more expensive and spectacular so the rate of breaking stuff and apologising for it never really improves.

And the male/female thing, for me at least is not that relevant, but folk slot themselves into roles and levels that they want to belong - and in my area it is fair to say that there are more females in software, and more males in things that involve big trucks, but so long as the opportunity is equal, then the fact the take up is not, is less serious I think. (*)It is as above the self confidence/ ability to do the job that should be paramount.

Is that competentism?

Mike.

* care here. It is possible to not see stuff if you are looking from within it.  I recall being very amused some years ago, when I visited an integrated factory in South Africa making armoured trucks, where everyone worked together they told me. 
Except, the design office was entirely to a man white and English speaking, the assembly floor was entirely Afrikaans, and out in the yard spray paint, tyres and greasing things that needed you to crawl under things. was entirely staffed by blacks. They had a female telephonist and a human factors lady.,, fully integrated, in their eyes only; not mine.

I cannot comment on the issues re sexism despite having three daughters but I have some comments on the advice:

No advice on turning the power off, I know many people of both sexes who would struggle with this,

No advice on testing for dead, will most people have a means of doing this safely?

As has been mentioned loop in connections not covered and switch wiring usually without correct sleeving,

Two way wiring not covered.

No mention of earth sleeving or red/brown sleeving.

I am sure there are some issues I missed.

Over the years I have been called out to fix quite a few confused DIYers who have fallen foul of switch wiring having connected all the black /blue together and all the red/brown together and when there is a yellow in the mix  - disaster. All the DIYers have been male. 

I hope the authors have good professional indemnity insurance.

maybe a single word that didn't sound appropriate? I got an email notification of a 3-letter word without context.