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View Full Version : Which neanderthal forum is the most popular?



Matt Woodworth
08-24-2003, 7:47 PM
It used to be badger pond. Where is everybody now? I'd like read posts and see what people are doing but this forum only gets a few posts per day. Clearly there are knowledgeable and helpful people here but there are only a few posts per day.

Where is all the neanderthal traffic?

Tom Scott
08-24-2003, 8:44 PM
You will probably recognize a lot of the same names over at Wood Central. Go to "Message Boards" and then check out the "Hand Tool Forum".

Tom

Tom Scott
08-24-2003, 8:52 PM
...Roger Nixon's Traditional Tools site is a good one as well.

Tom

Doug Evans
08-24-2003, 10:15 PM
There is no clear cut answer, either.

I would tend to agree that Wood Central took a fair bit of the Badger Pond Mainstream. At the same time though, go down the page on this site and look at the number of 400 and up hits. Granted, they occur over a longer time.

This site also has the best photographic capabilities. Large Clear jpegs go up right from the browser.

The summer has been funny... there have been weeks where WC is dead and this site (or Rogers) is booming.

Another decent site is Canadian Woodworking - but it is a general WW pop site.

I find Sawmill and Traditional to be less caustic. I feel comfortable saying what I think on these sites more than others. The audience knows from whence it comes and they bing you back in line without a lot of fuss. Free speech reigns without a lot of intervention.

My $.02

Doug

Marc Hills
08-25-2003, 10:20 AM
Hi Matt:

That is a really good question. I’m a world class lurker and like you I enjoy reading posts and learning through osmosis. My experience has been that Woodcentral’s Handtools forum definitely gets the most volume in this post-Pond era, and the quality of discourse is right up there too.

Sawmill Creek is lower in volume but the quality of discussion has been consistently high. Dave Anderson has been very patient with me and my beginner questions.

On par with Sawmill Creek in quality in my estimation is Traditional Tools. Roger Nixon has attracted a group of very friendly, knowledgeable folks who give very good, and lucidly written advice. Lately it seems like the volume there has been picking up too, perhaps at Sawmill Creek’s expense. I hope these two sites can coexist without cannibalizing traffic from each other.

Four other sites I have bookmarked and visit fairly regularly are:

Knots: the Fine Woodworking Forum. I’ve found some good information there especially on the subjects of vises and workbenches.

The Spalted Board. A general woodworking forum with a healthy neander population.

Oldtool.org. The message archive lists current and older posts. This one definitely shades more toward the collecting side of hand tools.

Woodnet. After the wild and wooly world of woodworking.rec, this site seems to get the most volume. So by default there are some worthwhile hand tool discussions here. The thing about Woodnet is it has a tendency to get, in Doug’s words, caustic. Tons of experience, but man, people really forget their manners there and can get vicious on that forum.

Not that it had a wit to do with traditional woodworking, but the Sawstop thread last week got really, really ugly. Sometimes active moderation can be a good thing.