To avoid triggering unnecessary arguments in the AEC Advisory, the actual Moderators' Comment for a particular advice request is shown only to the author. It is not shown to the rest of the members of the AEC Advisory space.

The moderators will make a comment to the original author's request and that should be considered as the answer for the advice request. Usually, the moderators will wait for 30 days after they place it. If in that period, there has been any changes in the discussion; the moderators may revise their comments.

Such a revision may happen later too; but the first month is the usual "watch" period -- there is a possibility that the reply selected as the answer by the moderators (on the basis of which the Moderators' comment was made) may change during that period. It is after this period that the actual panelist whose reply was used would be determined (for the purpose of paying out the money collected for the advice request)

However; as stated earlier, everyone is free to debate healthily on any of the advice request. There is no time limit to such debates. Just make sure that you follow the guidelines. The reason is that many questions in the AEC industry (such as those pertaining to designing) can have many nuances, and it would benefit the original poster to get all those nuances.

When you post an advice-request at the AEC Advisory, you will get an email informing you of the charges that we levy for it to be seen in the space (else it is kept in the moderation queue or deleted). This is to encourage members to provide high quality replies to your request. The said email will contain a special link which will allow you to give us permission to deduct the said charges from the credits in your account.

We will refund the money for those advice requests that never got any reply (especially if you had set a last date... If you had not set a last date, then the moderators will wait for some days and may set a last date for that request).

In the extremely rare case where it was proven that the answer provided was verifiably wrong within 30 days of the Moderators' comments appearing for that question, then the money charged for the question would be refunded.

Other refunds are not usually possible, as the panelists have taken time and effort to reply to the advice request. Also the moderators' take effort to craft the comments too.

NOTE: If you posted an advice request, for which some credits were deducted from your account; and if you deleted your post -- the money so collected cannot be refunded as our system will leave no trace for us to check. Please note this point carefully. We also cannot refund any amount AFTER the payout was disbursed to the panelist/s whose answers were selected.

Usually the refunds (whenever applicable) will be made as credits added back to your account. In such a case the entire charges would get refunded there. But if you made a request to be paid in actual money then all refunds will only be done after deducting any applicable payment gateway charges. We will only refund money (whenever applicable) using UPI only -- in short, monetary refunds can only be given to Indians. Others can refund as credits back into their respective accounts.

If you believe, that you need a refund; please send a direct message to one of the moderators mentioning the web address of the advice request you had made.

NOTE: Any FREE credits given to any member are non-refundable. Neither are they convertible to actual money for the member to withdraw.

1. At least 30 days has passed after the first "accepted" answers were used by the moderators. In these 30 days, there could be chance that the accepted answer/s may change.

2. The amount credited to the said panelists is more that Rs 1000/- (Indian Rupees)

Usually, only one panelists reply would be marked as the accepted answer. But in some cases, there can be more than one; and then the payout would then get distributed equally to all the selected panelists. Note that the payout would be the amount after we deduct a small percentage that we retain for the upkeep of this community (See our Guidelines)

Important Note:
Each member here has a "credits" field mentioned in their respective profile. (It will be visible only to the member, and not others) That credits field are for payments that were made by the member to increase his/her credit points.

We deduct the requisite charges from those credits whenever the member places an advice request. Please note that the amount payable to the said panelist/s would NOT include the free credits that we give to each member.

The money paid to panelist is usually given as credits to that panelist's account. However, the panelist can request us to pay for a particular selected answer via regular money. The payment will only be made via UPI transfer (i.e. only for Indians). Hence, the panelist must make sure that the UPI ID given in their profile is valid.

NOTE: Everyone can also make a payment through our payment gateway to add credits to anyone else's account too.

• Points to considered for a disabled child.
  I am considering designing my house. We are a family of three. I, my husband and one child who is disabled (paralyzed below the waist) who is 12 years old. What kind of precautions should I take so that my child grows up well in my house?

• Points to be considered for office health.
  Work on my office interior is going on. This is the second time Last time when we did the interior, many of my employees were falling ill. Some experts said that there is something wrong with the interior design, and hence we are remaking it. Please let me know what points should be considered. I am including the plans of the design.

• Please critically comment on the circulation in this design.

  We have been commissioned to design an office for a builder. The requirements were quite intricate. We believe we have solved all the requirements. However, we want to specifically know about the way people circulate inside this office design. I am attaching the required plans as images, and a PDF file containing our thoughts and motivations.

In short, the advice has to be quite focused, detailed and easy to understand. It can be about parts of an architecture/landscape/town-plan/neighborhood design but not the entire design itself. We are NOT providing a full-fledged consultancy here. We are here only to scientifically provide advice on various anxieties and problems that people may have when dealing with specific parts of the AEC industry.

We will not accept advice request on legal or monetary matters. For example; if some architect had charged some x fees, and the client was not paying the said amount, we have no way to solve such a request. We are not legal or financial consultants. We also cannot pass an opinion such as "What should be fees charged by an architect for my farm-house?" or "How much time should an architect spend to come with a design?" etc.

We can accept an advice request for comparing between two alternative designs for the same project -- provided there are specifically detailed questions on what comparisons you need.

We accept no liability
When an advice request is placed, you would absolve us of any legal encumbrances that you may get involved in later on for the said request and/or its replies. The replies would be given as a "best-effort" basis. We are simply not liable for any consequence due to the use of the moderators' comments and/or the replies made.

Do NOT use copyrighted material
Architecture designs are always copyrighted to the original architect who made the design. Do NOT send any copyrighted material, as all the posts and replies would be seen by all our members in this community. If you believe you have some important trade-secrets, do NOT send them or discuss about them here. We want this community to be a mature, pleasant place for everyone to share knowledge.

IMPORTANT: We will NOT be entertaining requests arising from an academic course; such as "Help me with the thesis" etc. We have a separate space on how to be a continuous learner in the AEC industry. Students should refer to the discussions there and pick up tips on thesis, how to proceed on design and so on.

The Advice Request Form
To request and advice, click on the "Advice Request" button in that space, which will lead you to a form. Once an advice request is placed using that form, it will be sent to a moderation sub-system. The moderators will place the contents to a special private board, where all those who are panelists can read the request for advice. The panelists cannot respond to it there, but they can assess the amount that the original author should pay for receiving some replies (replies are also called "answers" here)

Charges
The charges to be paid for us to work on an advice request would be determined cooperatively by the moderators. In all cases, we will send the person who placed the advice request an automated email. There would be a link in that email, which when clicked will give us permission to deduct the requested charges from the accumulated credits in that person's account. Or it will tell you what you should do next, in case the moderators have not yet attended to that particular advice request.

In some cases if the advice request was too large or too vague or unacceptable for other reasons; then clicking that special link in the email you got, will reveal the reasons why we rejected it. Nobody will come to see such deleted advice requests.

Making payments
Anyone can make a payment in order to add any number of credits to any account here. It is easy to add credits to any account. Just go to an account page, and the link describing how to make a payment will be seen at the top.... and since you are reading this; you can even click that link here.

After the requisite credits are consumed...
Once the question was paid for, the advice request will be seen inside the AEC Advisory space and everyone participating in the AEC Advisory space would be able to see it and can respond. Though you can edit your original request, we strongly recommend you to reply to the request when asked for additional request; instead of editing the original request. Editing the original request will again lead to moderation and possibly, even additional charges.

Everyone who are members of this advisory space are eligible to reply The moderators may make a non-panelist who had replied with a good answer, to a panelist if the reply was really good.

The original advice request its details and all its answers will be available for everyone to read. The charges that were levied for that advice will also be visible to everyone.

There are five main moderators at Architects' Pulse. These moderators will discuss among themselves to decide which of the reply (or replies) given by various panelists has to be selected. The moderators will then place a special moderators comment on the original question, where the selected answer will be mentioned, along with extra information.

The author of the advice request is also free to mark any of the replies as the "best reply" -- that may sometimes help the moderators draft the final, selected advice.

Panelist payments
A panelist whose answer was selected will be credited the charges collected for the question, after deducting a small amount (See our Guidelines) for the upkeep of this community. Usually only one panelist would be selected but in some rare cases; the moderators may select more panelists who had answered -- in which case, the amount paid for that advice request will be shared equally between them. However, the panelist/s whose answer was selected would not get the money immediately. See the next point here.

Waiting period
As replies provided for some of these questions may be subjective, a "rethink" period of 30 days is implemented after the moderators first place their comments. During that period other panelists (whose answers were not selected by the moderators) can contest their claim by privately sending a DM (Direct Message) to the moderators. Please do not argue in public as that is bad etiquette.

If the moderators get convinced, the accepted answer may be shifted to another one (and the reason for the shift would be also explained in the moderators' comments to the original author, and the moderators will also message the former panelist/s whose reply or replies were considered acceptable)

Refunds
Usually, we do NOT refund any charges made for an advice request. However, there are some exceptions. We have answered this question in detail in a separate question in this FAQ.

End notes
The moderators' comments given to the original author's advice request can be seen only by the original author (and of course the moderators). Nobody else, including panelists, will read the actual moderators' comments. The panelists can get to know the selected answer/s through a separate system.