I know some members here belong to other woodworking forums but I have never found the need to. Right from the start the family atmosphere and the honest caring of most members make me feel that there is no need to spend time anywhere else. I enjoy the Code of conduct here. It is refreshing to not have to deal with foul language or political issues here.
Like Glenn said it does bother me when someone takes the time to post something and no one responds. Seeing hundreds of views and only several responses to someones post is disappointing and discourages further participation.
Bob you and i are 100% on the same page with our views. Every single word of your comment i 1000% agree with as if they were my own.
Speaking for myself i cancelled my magazine subscriptions for a very simple reason. They took me down the proverbial primrose path.
I found that they were filling my head with "gotta" issues.
Gotta have this jig before you can do woodworking
Gotta have this tool before you can do x
Gotta have this gizmo or that gizmo
I found they paralized me without me knowing.
I joined here and my woodworking took an upturn like never before. I started doing what i used to do back in my youth, making things. From jigs to tools to projects. That was what i wanted to do in the first place.
I personally think the magazines have lost their way. They way too polished and like the food network with the perfect cake make you feel you should not try make something unless you can get it to look like the picture. WRONG. How wrong it is.
So to me the value of what i found here is simply priceless.
But there is a sad point to this too. Many of the guys that know way way more than me that have offered tidbits of advice, hey they dont need more than three words to set you straight at times, have left of stopped posting.
My concern is if you look at the total number of posts in the off topic section versus woodworking, its indicative of why. Look at how many tutorials and tips we have.
So if we dont make the effort to post our projects and for the lack of woodworking spend our time in off topic well we will end up in this situation.
Its time to get back to basics. Woodworking.
Oh and voting since democracy tends to imply you have a responsiblity to participate at least at election time.
Register to VOTE.