how do we fix this? PLEASE READ

I intended to put this thought in my first post above... this forum is a living thing that is evolving as it is growing... I think it's a good thing that it's evolving and is allowed to evolve. My first actions of most days, make a cup of coffee, turn on the computer, check my email, then check in on my forums (I visit two regularly and have membership in several others that I don't visit as often)
 
Carol,

The issue I have always heard on putting pushpins on a map, is that some of us have shops with lots of things to steal and posting a "hey thief, I am located here" flag is not some are willing to do. If you are a business then it is not a problem as you are a public entity anyway and have business insurance to protect from loss. (It is the cost of doing business.)

And option may be to have the admins know where everybody lives and generate a private map for "Admin's only access" and then draw say 50 mile circles around areas with a number of members. You could then at least send PM's to those members simply stating that there are approximately 8,15, 25 members within 50 miles of their location and then ask if they are interesting in making contact with them.

You could then setup of new forum group called "Face-to-Face" where those individuals could initially interact in a safe, public fashion. They could create an area group name "The Eastern Virginia Familywoodworking Group." Once they develop a comfort level with the other members in close proximity with them, they could then shift from a safe public format to setting up Face-to-Face meet/greets.

And since I think I remember reading something about "ADMINS not having a whole lot to do?", the mapping would be a good challenge.

If you get enough groups together, then you could have an annual Groups challenge. Eastern Virginia against Western Virginia build off. The challenge would start in January defining the wood, the quantity and the project. Each member of the group would have to contribute in someway to the project and they would have 10 months to complete it and voting would occur in December. That way it would be a group effort and wouldn't undully burden any one individual.

Ok, my brain is getting dizzy, way to much thinking....back to carving lessons.....

Rob
 
OK, time for a separate post. I'll call it Volunteer Ambassadors. You will find it on the
Members Only - Forum Directions and Business forum.
 
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WOW - what a lot of good and healthy discussion.

First off - this place is NOT broken. It is a very healthy and vibrant discussion forum. It's absolutely NOT broken.

Sooo - because it's NOT broken, to me, does NOT mean, that nothing should be done.

Ohhh on the contrary - something NEEDS to be done - that is imperative.

While there IS a strong and vibrant community here - NOW - NOW - while this place is NOT broken.

There is no need to make any sort of an about turn - of forbid that sort of thinking.

No - stay the course - but - think about the course - and enhance it - strengthen it - look forward.

The stuff I posted earlier was NOT to change this place - NO, NO - I mean to enhance it - reach out to places that this place has not yet reached out to.

YES YES - video - pictures and words are tough.

Tumbler - a fast growing online community is based on simplicity - and visually.

Check out this young lady - doing something really cool - in HER shop - GREAT stuff - a bit different than the traditional stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4v2tQ8GqP0RbmAzhp4IFkQ
What is Family doing to attract people like her - is there something that CAN be done???

My mind wanders - really it does. I think - all day I think, about this place - and by other home forum place - how can we make then better.

Ohh - I know - What can Leo do --- Well I make videos - I can advertise Family and my other home on youtube - yes - I will do that. So if you watch my videos I will not promote a couple of forums. Can you guys post on Facebook - maybe a little. I don't do Facebook.

IDEAS - How can the COC, and the history be but forth to enhance the future of this place.

WOW - I can say - this is a forum place like no other - OPEN - to talk - OPEN to new ideas - WILLING to try.

NO - this place is NOT broken.

YES - this place IS a healthy and vibrant place -- NOW - is the time to build, enhance, grow - grow slowly, NOT fast - but grow - into a newer more vibrant online community. Explore - make videos - create something new.

Buy the way - My videos on Carousel horses have captured some nice interest - wait till I get some color going there.

I know change is HARD - and unwanted. So - leave some comfy old chairs hanging around - there is NO need to toss them out. Personally I LOVE my #3 Stanley Baily hand plane - I love the history - I love the swoosh sound it makes - I love the .002 thin shavings.

I also love my CNC machine, and CAD and CAM and techie stuff. I love slouching into a worn out old overstuffed chair with the stuffing hanging out and talking about vector analysis - and acell and decell and high speed machining.

This is the stuff that makes this place GREAT !!! Willingness to go there!

Activity - participation - action - a little elbow grease - diversity - working together - excitement - fun ------> the small stuff will go away on it's own.

OK - so let's go build something - why wait till Friday?
 
Looking at the members list:

-Less than 8% of the members have made more than 10 post.

-Looking back of the past 4 years the overwhelming majority of new members have never posted even a single post.

The question is: how many members are really here, not just posting but also reading daily, weekly or even monthly?

Is there a way in the software to send out broadcasts to all members and see if you get a response?

You may find that of the 9000+ on the roster, less than 300 will actually respond and confirm they still visit FWW. I only log in when I post, but will visit from multiple computers when not logged in, which would give a false count of total visitors on the system.

This is what happened on the drum forum I helped moderator. Most of the folks had joined just so they could actually view the pictures being posted on one or two posts, then they just left. Or they would ask one question, get thier answer and then disappear.

We had always assumed the 3400 plus members we had was valid, but after sending out a message telling them we were going to purge the roster of non-active members (i.e. they had not visited in more than a year) if they did not respond, we got response from less than 10 percent. We could have purged the list but it was decided that to maintain the illusion of large numbers in order to keep an inside track to head of development at Yamaha Japan electronic drum division, we should just leave well enough alone. But since this site does not depend commercial interest, that should not be an issue.

Also, is there any mechanism for someone to actually quit the site here? Just curious.
 
Hi all

I am one of those who joined, was fairly active, and then disappeared for a while - a looooooong while. I had no idea how long I had been away.:eek:
For me, it was a matter of time and energy. There is/was so much going on in my life with work and homesteading that I stopped most all of my online social and hobby activities. Things just got too busy for me.
The thing is, I did not make a decision to stop participating - it just faded, and stopped coming up as something to do every day. And I had no idea that a year (or more) has passed since I checked in.
What brought me back was a PM from a member who asked how things were going. When I responded, I also checked the board and got that old comfortable feeling of being with the group - and posted a long overdue update.
I will not be able to be as active as before, but I will make an effort to visit from time to time.

I cannot speak to the "fix it" question - except to say that it was nice to come back and feel like the place I left for a while - and see some of the old...er:eek:...familiar crew still here.
If you want to try and re-engage with missing members, maybe a PM would bring them by for a visit?

rick
 
Hi Rick, thanks for stopping back in!

I for one think this thread has got me back in the shop...the cooler temps have helped as well, but the thread got me started. :thumb:
 
Larry, I don't think there is anything "wrong" with the forum. There are a great many ww forums and we are competing for a share of the guys out there who do both the sawdust and 'puter thing. I cut back my time here because I belong to other forums also (non-ww) and was just spending too much time at the computer. Need to spend more time in shop and other activities. Just because the number of hours I spend here has gone down doesn't mean my appreciation or intrest has gone down. I have been fortunate to meet many friends here. Some I have met in person and others I hope to meet with one day. Kudos to you and the others who work to keep it going.
 
Larry, have to be honest first and say I have not looked at the forum regularly for a long time. That is not because I am uninterested in the forum, but a factor, as others have mentioned, of timing. And I have written a reply even less. IMHO, the forum has great subject matter (pick and choose what you want just like any thing else) and it has great contributors of all sorts of interests and abilities. That is what attracted me to the forum in the first place. The regular contributors I suppose could be considered a clique, but I have never seen any hint of exclusion or elitism in anything I have read. All are willing to help and converse with any others. They are just willing or have the time to participate more. And, like others have mentioned, I have the ability to connect with people across the country, if I choose. And I think the participants are really nice people - very thoughtful, giving, genuine, and willing to work - all traits I admire and look for when I socialize with people.

I belong to a local woodworkers guild in my community made up of people very much like the forum: various skills and abilities, ages, and genders. I bring very few items to show-and-tell at our meetings as I do not have the time in the shop that others have. But I am welcomed just the same and have participated in some of the events just to promote the fun and satisfaction of woodworking. I think the forum is much like that.

I also think that the forum has much more competition from some other things than it did when first started. The explosion of You Tube and subscriptions to favorites may keep many busy just trying to keep up with all the information. Pinterest may take some participants time. We are deluged with a huge amount of information each day and forum participation may have lessened because of that.

All that said, I find the forum to be one of the best that I read. And I will continue to lurk or participate as my time allows. Keep up the good work.
 
so here is my question, what is it that you dont like about this forum as it is today or in the past and how do you think we as in the forum staff and membership can fix it? feel free to voice your real thoughts not the politically correct ones with in reason of course:).. i have been here a long time and served as moderator a couple times and know that they are fair in there thoughts, each group of staff have new ideas and they have jelled together for the good of the forum..

Okay Larry...

I don't like that there is less activity.

But I don't know how you can fix it. Like others have said, I have noticed that all three ww'ing forums that I am active on have gone down in volume.
(This one, Sawmill Creek, and Canadian Woodworking. Is anyone here active over on LumberJocks who can report on things there?)

I wrote magazine articles for almost 10 years for Canadian Home Workshop magazine. It folded last year. We all know of other ww'ing magazines that have folded also. Some of that probably due to the Internet, some of it due to the shrinking ww'ing hobby.

I think that youtube is one area that is growing... there are lots of woodworking video content these days. I subscribe to several channels. It's very different than a forum though, since you tend to miss the real community. Though in some ways you get regulars, kind of a mini community, who watch all each others videos and comment back and forth. Doesn't help here though.

Another new sort of forum is Reddit. The reddit/r/woodworking sub-reddit is one new forum that I've discovered in the past year. I have no idea if that one is growing, shrinking, or staying the same.

There's already been plenty of discussion about cliques. Sure there are cliques. It's natural. I haven't really noticed them to be exclusionary cliques though.

One area of DIY that seems to be growing is the whole "Maker" area. That started with Make magazine, and grew into a few large "Maker" faires, and there are now regional ones also. I have read about "Maker Spaces" (really, just shared workshops, or club/rental workspaces) springing up in various cities. This seems to be primarily a computer/electronics thing, but not entirely. They do seem to try to foster a DIY attitude, and as a group they try to include families and kids in what they appeal to. I see some guys in that area who do woodworking and teach/evangelize about it.
 
so it seems there is nothing wrong with this forum other than its the way of the times.

a lot of this stuff has been rehashed over and over again, there are only so many things.........

someone wants something, they look at google and it pulls up 30 videos of how to do it.

its just the way things are today, couple that with economic times are not the greatest, so people work more, people spend less on their hobbies, etc........

there are a lot of things I would add to this thread, but Im certain it would insult many here, because my views on certain subjects aren't the boards views, and Ive learned on the internet, if you cant say something nice or constructive, don't say anything.
the reverse of that, is that good critique is very valuable, but for many, its tough to handle strangers commenting anything but positive on their work. or lives, or life's situations.
I think this place works the way it is, nothing is perfect.
Its enjoyable to be a member here.

Ive made a few what I hope will be lifelong friends.

I believe there are no "cliques"

there are some of us more willing to meet total strangers who share common interests, and once you meet someone in person, especially more than once, its much easier to be more comfortable commenting in their threads, but theres no reason why anyone should feel intimidated.
that's plain ridiculous.

I would post something, but no one wants to hear all I do lately is go to doctors. I hate doctors, but Im going almost every day because Im old, fat, and although warned by everyone that my weight will catch up to me one day and repay me, I didn't listen, now its time to pay the piper.
I cant woodwork, I cant even stand up, but this is not the kind of stuff I want to read, so Im posting it as an example.
if this was all that was here, I wouldn't come back.

I will agree, the woodworking content of this place has gone way down since I joined, but that doesn't mean there is something wrong.(repeating)

I have a list of projects to last me 7 years till after Im dead, so its not a lack of work, and I think its like that for many posters here.

to everyone here, contribute, anything, talk about your tools, your projects, your failed projects, and for anyone new here, please, use the knowledge here, I can say there is no place like it.
 
I was in at the beginning. I have not been at all active on here for a few years now. I'm not sure that anything is broken but, for what little it may be worth, here are some of the reasons I have been less of a contributor.

1 - I got busy. My business keeps me working 12 hours a day most days and that makes the quality of non-work time important.

2 - Religion. It seems OK now but for a while there were too many people working at insinuating their religion in by whatever means they could and it just fagged me out. I was a Mod at the time and it just became very obvious that I had a more "fundamentalist" view of what "no religion" means than anybody else in the room. As I said at the time, if you are in a room and everybody else in it disagrees with you then you're probably in the wrong room. Once I'd got in to the habit of not coming here it is a pretty easy one to keep up.

3 - US-Centricism. I'm not an American. I don't live in America. By and large this forum reflects American views, values, habits and opinions. That is fine and most of the time it doesn't matter but it means that a very large part of the discussion doesn't apply/make much sense to me. Some bits of it actively annoy me.

4 - I don't have much to add. I try hard not to blather for the sake of it. If I have a question to ask I try and ask it clearly and succinctly. If I have an answer to offer I try to offer it as clearly as possible. If I have nothing to say I try and say it as quietly as possible. A lot of the discussions that take place are not relevant to me because of point 3 and , beyond the occasional joke predicated on differences in language I don't have much to add.

5 - Changes in working habits. Most of my work these days is centred around CNC production. Its a fascinating thing to get into but completely utterly and totally irrelevant to most of the members on this forum today. Most of my questions would be meaningless and most of my answers would be to questions that nobody else has.

6 - Clique. Cliques are inevitable. As soon as you put 3 human beings in contact with each other 2 of them will find that the are more interested in something than the other one is and you have a clique. There is nothing wrong with that! When I first came here it was in the company of about 5 or 6 other woodworkers who did this for a living like me and had skills , knowledge and experience that was useful to me and that I admired. They have almost all gone and the ones that remain are, like me, much less active. Basically this forum does not offer me the same "value" that it once did.

All that said, if I got an email tomorrow saying that the forum needed money and could I help, I would. I would precisely because I come here every now and again for a few moments and because being a contributor may be the best way to avoid this forum ever identifying me as a contributor.
 
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I have taken the time to read all the different posts to this thread and I would like to say the following:

I'm also one of those members that have reduced their Reading/posting time for very similar if not equal reasons as many others.

IMHO the foruem doesn't need fixing, what it needs is just a bit more participation to keep it lively. Short time ago I posted a question about buying a TS and I got a lot of answers, suggestions and comments despite not having posted very often and not having shown any project lately. This tells me that the forum doesn't need fixing.
However, I think that we all should be concious that posting pictures of projects going on takes a lot of time and effort, and if someone like Art take the time of posting bit by bit the construction of its canoe for the enjoyement of the rest of us, we should at least be compelled to participate with something more than saying Great job, or well done! which is the obliged mínimum.

This forum is not something that exists outside us. We are, and we make this forum and if its activity is rather iddle only all of us are to blame, if we do not make the effort of participating it will die of starvation eventually. The mods are people who have as much work and problems as the rest of us and despite that they do their duty the best they can.
Others log on dayly to keep the pace, others not, but all contribute in less or more measure to keep this alive. Relationship with others or with an institution needs to be nurtured and that requires some effort. Are we willing to make that effort? I definitely will, as I've had a lot of help here and made very good friends here that I never thought I could.

PS. Larry, the amount of answers that your post have stirred is telling me that what we need is someone rocking the boat from time to time to keep the crew awake. LOL
 
In my opinion it's just a natural ebb and flow especially for this time of year.

Speaking for myself, I just finished painting my house. My life has changed. Since mid-August we have had twin 4 year old granddaughters, a 2 year old grandson, DIL, their dog and their cat living with us. My house is full! Things have gotten busier for Sharon and I.

But it's nice to know that at SMC, someone just started a thread about how slow and quiet things had been there recently.
 
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and if someone like Art take the time of posting bit by bit the construction of its canoe for the enjoyement of the rest of us, we should at least be compelled to participate with something more than saying Great job, or well done! which is the obliged mínimum.

heres where I disagree with something.

with all due respect to tonis opinion.............I don't think anyone should feel likes its their oblilgation to read or post something in a thread that holds no or little interest for them.
I have read more than a few paragraphs in the cnc section, why, at this point in my life it holds no interest for me.
I don't read the caveman section of making products the old fashioned way, no electric tools.

IF someone doesn't post in your build thread, it shouldn't be taken as an insult, its just the way things happen sometimes.

people look at threads with pictures, especially products, but they don't post. Cant make anyone post.

we all have to remember, there are a lot of woodworking sites and 1000s of videos to watch, a lot of it rehashes the same stuff over and over and over again.

I think its all fine here, maybe slow, maybe real slow, but there is little we can do to force more people to post or participate.
 
heres where I disagree with something....I don't think anyone should feel likes its their oblilgation to read or post something in a thread that holds no or little interest for them.
I have read more than a few paragraphs in the cnc section, why, at this point in my life it holds no interest for me.
I don't read the caveman section of making products the old fashioned way, no electric tools.

IF someone doesn't post in your build thread, it shouldn't be taken as an insult, its just the way things happen sometimes.

people look at threads with pictures, especially products, but they don't post. Cant make anyone post.

we all have to remember, there are a lot of woodworking sites and 1000s of videos to watch, a lot of it rehashes the same stuff over and over and over again.

I think its all fine here, maybe slow, maybe real slow, but there is little we can do to force more people to post or participate.

I've gotta agree with Allen. His points are 'spot on.'

I only look at the cooking, carving, music and CNC forii because, as a Moderator, I need to. Once my "Mod Switch" is turned off, I'll probably no go there again. As for turning, yeah, I look at that one more to check out the finishing work than anything else.

Regarding looking at posts with pictures in them - don't we all do that?:D

The forums (Any forum, not just ours) are usually slow during the Summer, when everyone has other things to do. They usually pick up a bit during the Winter months, since those of us with heated shops are doing more woodworking, and those without heated shops are here more, wishing they could be in their shops instead...:rolleyes:
 
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