This turning forum is mostly dead

[Arlin Eastman]

and I am thinking if it does not pick up it might get gone.

What do you think?  I might be talking to myself tho. 

[ajkoontz]

I made a comment in Handtools (Spokeshave ? from last week) about this forum being a ghost of it's former self, and then all of a sudden a dozen or so replies and the OP even got a free spokeshave to try out. So it's not completely gone, but traffic is certainly down. I'm not a turner so I never come down here but it's nice to have as a resource for if/when I ever get into turning. I also like checking out what other people make.

[grwold]

I plan to try my hand at a bowl, shortly. Have only done a couple small, easy, spindle-style projects so far, to get a feel for turning. It'll be nice to have this resource, if it's still here in a couple of weeks.

[AHill]

It's not just the Turning forum. It's all of them. As of the time i'm posting this, there are only 2 or 3 of the Forums that have more than 20 people viewing. Compare that to Sawmill Creek, where there are 57 viewing on their Turning Forum, 114 viewers in the Neanderthal (Hand Tools) Forum, and over 900 in General Woodworking. WoodNet is dying a slow death. They've kind of done it to themselves. Lack of policing members who had nothing better to do than criticize world class woodworkers, a change in software several years ago that had a lot of bugs, and just woodworking as a hobby in general decline. i am seriously considering leaving WN. I don't learn a lot here anymore.

[Arlin Eastman]

It's not just the Turning forum.  It's all of them.  As of the time i'm posting this, there are only 2 or 3 of the Forums that have more than 20 people viewing.  Compare that to Sawmill Creek, where there are 57 viewing on their Turning Forum, 114 viewers in the Neanderthal (Hand Tools) Forum, and over 900 in General Woodworking.  WoodNet is dying a slow death.  They've kind of done it to themselves.  Lack of policing members who had nothing better to do than criticize world class woodworkers, a change in software several years ago that had a lot of bugs, and just woodworking as a hobby in general decline.  i am seriously considering leaving WN.  I don't learn a lot here anymore.

Allan

Just like the old days people still learn from those who know how.  Which I learned a great deal from you and many others that have left.  So if you stop who will be left to learn by?  

[AHill]

Allan

Just like the old days people still learn from those who know how.  Which I learned a great deal from you and many others that have left.  So if you stop who will be left to learn by?  

Arlin,

WoodNet isn't the only woodworking forum that's out there, so there's still places to learn.  Lumberjocks and Sawmill Creek are two of the larger forums that have a lot more activity than WN and actually (more recently) have more experts posting to learn from compared to WN.

[fredhargis]

Alan hit it, Woodsmith is letting the forum die a slow painful death. I'm sure the costs of running this (and fixing it) are the reasons and that may be hard to swallow for a for-profit company, yet LJ for whatever reason is gaining members at an incredible pace. The part that Woodsmith has missed, I think, is that there may be people subscribing to the magazine hoping to help support the forum....I'm one of them. But that may be coming to an end, given the state of things around here.

[taxman]

Hi Arlin,

Just piping up here to let you know I am on WN every day.

Sometimes looking for interesting tools for sale. Sometimes checking out posts.

Responding when I can add something.

I suspect there are many of us lurking in the shadows that benefit from the forums.

Hope both WN & the Turning Forum last long enough to find their audience.

[SceneryMaker]

I'm spending most of my time rescuing old houses that have suffered decades of "deferred maintenance" so I haven't been turning recently. I've got nothing to show.

But you're right. This place seems to be dying.

[FrankAtl]

I think the ones of us who are left are letting the forum down, at least I know I am. I have a few turnings that I should post but haven't so I need to do better. I've been in the middle of remodeling my shop and haven't been doing a lot of woodworking so hopefully I'll finish that soon.

Maybe we should all try a little harder.