This is an archive of past discussions about Scanning tunneling microscope. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
I feel that this sentence in the introduction, "STM can be a challenging technique, as it requires extremely clean and stable surfaces, sharp tips, excellent vibration control, and sophisticated electronics," although mostly true, mistakenly gives the impression that STM is an inaccessible technology. Many very innovative hobbyists have created their own STMs, some for very cheaply. I attempted to add a clause to the end of that sentence to this effect, but Materialscientist removes it stating it violates WP:NOTHOWTO. I do not feel that adding this information (with no instructions, just the statement) violates WP:NOTHOWTO. Materialscientist, can you back this up further at all? I agree it is inappropriate to describe in wikipedia how to accomplish many tasks, but I think it is very important that wikipedia not convey that these tasks are more difficult than they are. I do not think it is wikipedia's place to discourage home science. I intended the links only as citations, so my edit would not be reverted; I realize now I did that improperly and am editing a third time with more correct citations. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.65.133.99 (talk) 13:07, 13 July 2012 (UTC)
