Frequently Asked Questions

What's all this about?

BDResource is a collaborative site from Building Design, which aims to help you with the practical bits of being an architect or architecture student.

So whether you are looking for feedback on a project, want to ask a professional studies or engineering question, get advice about choice of course, got an ethical dilemma or really anything architecture related this is the place for you.

What kind of questions can I ask here?

Architecture questions, of course! As long as your question is:

written clearly and simply
detailed and specific
of interest to at least one other person somewhere

... it is welcome here. No question is too trivial or too novice.

Please look around to see if your question has already been asked (and maybe even answered!) before you ask. If you end up asking a question that has been asked before, that is OK and deliberately allowed. Other users will hopefully edit in links to related or similar questions to help future visitors find their way.

It's also perfectly fine to ask and answer your own question, but make sure you phrase it in a form of a question.

What kind of questions should I not ask here?

This is a place for questions that can be answered – not a discussion forum for extended opinion or rants!

Please avoid asking questions which are so subjective or argumentative that no sensible response is possible.

Can I upload pictures?

Yes, of course – as many as you need to describe or answer the question!

When you are in the dialogue box, simply click on the add image link and enter the url of your image.

Please note: We don't the host images for you, the images will need to be on the internet somewhere else to be shown. This can simply be Flickr, Photobucket, Twitter or one of the many other free image hosting services.

Site rules

First and most importantly, be nice

Treat others with the same respect you'd want them to treat you. We're all here to learn together. Be tolerant of others who may not know everything you know. Bring your sense of humour.

Second, be honest

If you see misinformation, vote it down. Insert comments indicating what, specifically, is wrong. Even better — edit and improve the information! Provide stronger, faster, superior answers of your own!

The nitty gritty

Do I have to log in or create an account?

Not if you don't want to. You can answer and ask questions without registering, but there is some stuff you can't do without registering.

It is easy to register if you want to – all you need is an OpenID account – if you have a Google or Yahoo account you'll likely have one already – or it is the work of moments to create a new one.

What is reputation?

Reputation is completely optional. Normal use of BDResource — that is, asking and answering questions — does not require any reputation whatsoever.

But, remember, BDResource is run by you! If you want to help us run the site, you'll need reputation first. Reputation is a (very) rough measurement of how much the BDResource community trusts you. Reputation is never given, it is earned by convincing other users that you know what you're talking about.

Here's how it works: if you post a good question or helpful answer, it will be voted up by your peers: you gain 10 reputation points. If you post something that's off topic or incorrect, it will be voted down: you lose 2 reputation points. You can earn up to 200 reputation per day, but no more. (Note that votes for any posts marked "community wiki" do not generate reputation.)

Amass enough reputation points and BDResource will allow you to go beyond simply asking and answering questions:

At the high end of this reputation spectrum there is little difference between users with high reputation and moderators. That is very much intentional. We don't run BDResource - the community does.

Other people can edit my stuff?

Like Wikipedia, this site is collaboratively edited. If you are not comfortable with the idea of your questions and answers being edited by other trusted users, this may not be the site for you.

Help I still have questions!

Well, why not get started and post your question about the site and it will get answered by one of our moderators?

If you really want to contact someone privately, email Bdonline@ubm.com