Talk:Wireless site survey

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Hardware and software examples

needs an hardware and software examples — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.85.82.121 (talk • contribs) 22:53, 20 April 2008

Ok, hardware and software examples have been added. There has been a recent discussion with Wtshymanski‎ who deleted the entire software section. I restored it; if somebody would like to move the entire software and hardware sections to a new article -- it's ok with me, but I think that deleting these sections altogether is not what this article needs. I'm also willing to expand the article, time permitting, if any other wireless site survey aspects should be covered. Types of visualizations? Throughput testing in active surveys? PHY rate measurements? Ideas and suggestions are welcome. WiFiEngineer (talk) 15:54, 16 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's inapprpriate to give long lists of brand names in an encyclopedia article. Wikipedia is not a directory or shopper's guide. An encyclopedia article should be a concise overview of a field, not a guide to buying software. We don't list "Quicken" etc. under Accounting (or at least I hope not). Describe the general attributes and functions of the software, especially the history and limitations - but this isn't "PC Week". Ideally an encyclopedia article gives you the background you would need to understand the typical jargon-laden, microfocussed, advertising-ridden reviews you find in the trade mags. --Wtshymanski (talk) 16:35, 16 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

First off, thanks for not waiting for my (and, possibly, other users') comments and input on this topic. Apparently, deleting the text again was very urgent and couldn't wait. Secondly, technology articles are quite different from articles on Accounting because the distance between theory and practice is much shorter in case of technology. If you browse articles in the wireless networking section, you'll see that most of them do mention and discuss specific software. See, for example, Network mapping, Wardriving, Wireless LAN security, or Voice over WLAN. It doesn't make them look like "PC Week". That said, I have no intention to start an edit war and will create a separate page with the list of site survey applications, and then will link that page under "See also" in this article. WiFiEngineer (talk) 10:23, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You're welcome. Lists are so much easier than articles. Lists of patents are my favorite Wikipedia "thing" - there's nothing like plowing through a dozen pages of 7-digit numbers to make you realize you know nothing more about a topic than when you started. Let's get right to the sale talk and skip all the theory and history, after all, an encyclopedia is just another name for the Yellow Pages. --Wtshymanski (talk) 15:20, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]