Turner's Forum Sub Categories

[John King]

I would like to see sub categories created under the Turner's Forum. Categories that come to mind are jigs & fixtures, articles & tutorials, finishing techniques, tools & techniques, gloats, etc. Sub categories would allow users of the forum to focus on topics of interest and bypass those of no interest.

What do you think? - John

PS - One of my objectives is to separate "gloats" from meaningful woodturning information. I have never read a "gloat" that expanded my knowledge of woodturning. Yes, I can bypass them and regularly do so. But I think it would be nice to have topic sub categories so users of the Turner's Forum can focus on reading information of interest to them. - J

[Ralph Lindberg]

IMO, not needed

Sorry

If you really wanted to wade through the chaff for the good stuff, I call your attention to 'The WRec" (the oldest wood working "forum" there is). Many years ago this newsgroup (rec.woodworking) was getting 200 posts on a quiet day and up to 600 on an active day, all in one place.
A bunch-o-people wanted it to split, another bunch didn't, I was one of those that didn't care.

So I ran the poll, it failed.

By the end of the poll I had changed my mind and thought it should happen. But, as a result of the weeks (and weeks) of discussion and polling, the turners (I wasn't one back then) formed what is probably the oldest Turning forum, rec.crafts.woodturning

[Lee Koepke]

I get things from the gloats ... like Donny in Chatsworth has brought loads of wood home, and I may visit him and take some of those logs off his hands so his wife doesnt get angry !!!

[Roger Chandler]

I don' think it is needed .........just my opinion..........I do not want to have to pick a subtitle to direct me to a certain type of post.......hunting and pecking for info..........I like all the headlines on the front page, and then pick the story I want to read..........

If there were subtitles, then a person would have to search through all the posts of that category anyway. Generally, I read most all of the posts anyway, just occasionally miss one. I also view most of the persons on this forum that are fairly regular posters as friends, :) and it is interesting to see what your friends are up to, especially the ones related to our common interest, which is turning wood.

[John Hart]

This has been brought up before....many years ago. And will probably be brought up again. But really, as discussions in the past have revealed, a forum is a sort of community, with many personalities. While Turning brings turners to the forum, that is simply the common thread that binds them. Turnings reflect our personalities and those "off topic" interactions are a portrait that show us how the two come together.

Sometimes we don't like what we see....sometimes we do. But all in all...it's a kind of tapestry. Separate those things, and you just have remnants of a larger story.

In my humble opinion, of course. :)

[John King]

I get things from the gloats ... like Donny in Chatsworth has brought loads of wood home, and I may visit him and take some of those logs off his hands so his wife doesnt get angry !!!

Lee - Gloats would not be eliminated under my proposal. They would be collected in a single sub category. You could read all the gloats in one place. - John

[David E Keller]

I prefer to leave things alone. Change is bad. I fear change.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I prefer to leave things alone. Change is bad. I fear change.

David.......sadly that's the only thing guaranteed in life!

The trick is to decide which ones to ignore and which ones to embrace.....:(

[John Keeton]

John, here is the practical side. For every forum, sub-forum, etc., there is an immense amount of administrative work behind the scenes. Data has to be archived, moderators must few the various threads, edits, reported posts, etc. The more complex the situation gets, the more work. Mods are not compensated, and the owners of SMC are basically providing a service for the amount of revenue generated. Of the millions (yes, millions!!!) of viewers on SMC, only a fraction contribute financially to its existence. Others contribute through their postings of useful information, all of which makes SMC what it is. But, the reality is that it takes money to run the creek. The more complexity, the more money. Pretty simple equation, actually.

Aside from the practical realities, I like the community aspect of seeing it all and getting to know folks. If one simply wants a only a research database, then the creek probably isn't going to serve that purpose very well.

[Jon McElwain]

I prefer to leave things alone. Change is bad. I fear change.

I need a "like" button for stuff like this! :D:D

[Keith Westfall]

NO! Way too awkward to search through the many threads it might create.

One other (Canadian) forum I follow has one for their shop thread - hate it.

My vote (in case nobody noticed) - No.

Keith

[Greg Just]

not necessary in my opinion

[Alan Zenreich]

Tagging could (and should) be used to help categorize threads. Using that kind of metadata to describe content could make it easier to discover relevant content.

For example, a thread might be tagged "technique" and "intermediate". Another thread might be tagged "tools", "review", "beginner" and "lathe".

So finding reviews, or beginner topics would be easier.

I don't know the implementation details for this forum's platform, but encouraging tagging and/or categorization would be worth considering.

[John King]

John, here is the practical side. For every forum, sub-forum, etc., there is an immense amount of administrative work behind the scenes. Data has to be archived, moderators must few the various threads, edits, reported posts, etc. The more complex the situation gets, the more work. Mods are not compensated, and the owners of SMC are basically providing a service for the amount of revenue generated. Of the millions (yes, millions!!!) of viewers on SMC, only a fraction contribute financially to its existence. Others contribute through their postings of useful information, all of which makes SMC what it is. But, the reality is that it takes money to run the creek. The more complexity, the more money. Pretty simple equation, actually.

Aside from the practical realities, I like the community aspect of seeing it all and getting to know folks. If one simply wants a only a research database, then the creek probably isn't going to serve that purpose very well.

John - Appreciate the insights into the practical realities of operating a forum. Thanks much for that.

I guess I may be different from the typical SMC forum browser. I read forums to learn and expand my knowledge about woodturning. I view the forums as sort of like a library. They typically contain a wealth of information from a large variety of sources. But when I go to the library I do not start by reading all the books on the first shelf inside the door. I go to the library index and search out information on the topic(s) of interest to me. I don't have to waste time reading and sorting through books in hopes of finding something meaningful to me. The library index guides me directly to information on topics of interest.

Practical realities of creating sub categories in the Turner's Forum aside, posts on this thread to date suggest I am alone on the desire for sub categories. That's okay. It was just an idea for consideration that would improve my utilization of SMC forum. Perhaps the SMC forum is not for me. I will give it some thought. But the bottom line for me is that if information meaningful to me is not readily available, I will use other more organized forums and discontinue use of the SMC forums. And that's okay too. - John

[Ryan Baker]

I vote no too. SMC already has plenty of forums. I don't want to wade through a bunch of sub-forums under the main ones. It's easy enough to scan through the threads as it is.

[Jeff Nicol]

Freedom........To choose what you like, how you look at things, what you don't like, who's opinions you respect and those that seem of no use, no matter what is posted, you as an individual must make the choice for yourself on what to look at and what to pass by. The gloats are posts of pride and happiness expressed by the thread starter, and we as like it has been said we feel like a big family so we all like to feel the joy and happiness for those who post the "Gloat". THere are also other threads that get repeated time and time again such as what lathe to buy, what finish to use, etc. But since there are so many folks on the forum things are bound to be repeated as new members, or new veiwers of the turners forum will have the same question at different times, thus repeats. Just like products are produced all the time and the questions will be asked again. So just like with anything, we all have the oportunity to decide what content is most appealing to us at the time, so lets just keep it simple the way it is.

Don't let life pass you by overthinking the small stuff,

Jeff

[Harry Robinette]

To all of the people on the Creek.
I say LET IT BE I've only been here about 6 or 7 months and fell like I fit and I enjoy what is said here.If a forum thats all broken up is what you think will work for you there is allot of them on the web just look around.This is the only forum that I could find thats like a bunch of turners setting around someones shop shotting the breeze.

[Curt Fuller]

This has been brought up before....many years ago. And will probably be brought up again. But really, as discussions in the past have revealed, a forum is a sort of community, with many personalities. While Turning brings turners to the forum, that is simply the common thread that binds them. Turnings reflect our personalities and those "off topic" interactions are a portrait that show us how the two come together.

Sometimes we don't like what we see....sometimes we do. But all in all...it's a kind of tapestry. Separate those things, and you just have remnants of a larger story.

In my humble opinion, of course. :)

John, you're such a silver tongued devil! Very well put!

[Mark Hubl]

Although I don't want to see any further categorization I understand where John is coming from. The internet's ongoing greatest challenge is how to find stuff, and find the quality that one seeks. I thinks SMC is a good repository of information and has a pretty decent search engine. But, it is a free form exchange and really not a library. As far as forum wood working sites go, it is pretty much the best I have found. Easy to navigate, good search and a good level of topic categories. With the recent changes more articles are being added and there is a better dashboard for what is going on. Alan mentioned metadata and tags, these are wonderful mechanisms that are available, but not all that use a site like this are aware of what these are or how they work. I think the moderators have done a good job with stickies to help people find things that may have a higher target value than the average thread.

Since I hang out here quite a bit, I don't usually spend a lot of time searching the different forums for info. I do searches and have been happy with the results. When I really want to learn something or do some research I will jump on one of the turners sites with uber indexes to sites more dedicated to articles, education, information, or google. I think forums are more about communication than pure education.

John, I would not just chuck the creek. It is what it is, that is not to say it can't improve. I think it improves all the time. Nor should it be the only forum to visit or the only place one finds information. I don't know where you hang out, but would be interested in the forum you have found that is more organized and easier to use, PM me. And if you want PM me and I will send you some of the links I have found that provide vast amounts of turning information. Not being confrontational, just curious.

[Tim Thiebaut]

Before finding the Creek I browsed a lot of different places/forums while trying to find a place where I could go to interact with people as I started off knowing nothing about turning, this is the only one I found where I felt that I fit. It has tons of information, friendly & helpful people, and I have found the longer I am here and get to know people via this forum the more interested I am in seeing their gloats, off topic posts, reading about grand babys being born, kids learning to turn with their fathers, grandfathers etc...etc...to me this place is so much more then "just" a place for storage of information. Compared to some places I think SMC is very well organized with the different areas for turning, flatwork etc...but I like having all of the information for turning here in one place. I hope you decide to stick around John, I think the longer you are here this place will grow on you, but I do understand if you feel this isnt the place for you. Tim

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John,

As stated by John Hart......it's the diversity of the information that makes up the whole picture........

As stated by John Keeton....further breaking the forum down would just create a larger administrative chore.

All Moderators are invited volunteers.....the owners do this with little reward other than the personal knowledge of providing a civil website for the rest of us to use and they have done so for years now.

I hope you decide the information you both find and contribute here, is worth learning to tolerate the manner in which it is provided.