Missed this. Don't know if it's really anything worth adding, and I do generally agree with others, that the content here ought stay here, but a couple thoughts:
There's really two "phases" to any thread, in my mind; the initial phase, where's it's a vibrant, on-going discussion, and the "archived" phase, where the thread has gone "quiet", but remains a valuable resource to folks after the fact. For instance, David's drawer-bottom-grooving plane thread, which was both a how-to and very instructional, and developed into a five-page discussion, hasn't been posted to since March, and is now on the 20th page of the Neanderthal Haven.
Had that thread (and the associated threads) been yanked from here while we were learning, discussing and sharing, that would have been a little frustrating. Now that it's well off the front page, I'm less likely to be annoyed. Maybe being in another forum makes it easier for someone to stumble across.
But that assumes a lot of folks are reading/skimming through forums like a big table-of-contents. Are people really doing it like that? I don't, but maybe others do. I certainly browse the most recent threads, or the threads since I've been here last like that, but I don't browse very far back like that.
Once something is far enough back, it's the sort of thing I either find by searching, (i.e., I want to make a grooving plane, so I look for threads) or I don't know I want that solution, but I ask about it here, and someone says "hey - check out this old thread by Dave; it's a quick way to get what you want done a lot easier", and gives me a link.
That's actually brings up a big question - do links still function if a thread gets moved? If Dave's drawer-bottom-grooving-plane thread I linked to above gets moved, does my link above still point to the thread? What if someone mentions the thread in the outside world, on blog or something, and the thread gets moved. Does it still work? I'm assuming vBulletin just links the post number to a forum automagically, and it's fine, but I have to ask.
I also wonder about the utility of the shop-made tools forum if it takes off. Right now it's got 9 threads. (Interestingly enough, it looks like one was moved back to the Turner's Forum) If it ends up the size of the other forums over time, though, I'm not sure it has as much utility. If a thread is on the 30th page here, or the 10th page here, it still feels effectively "buried" to me, and more apt to be found via the search.
If we feel the original info may be of value to the new forum, but want the original thread in place, what's the forum ettiquitte on posting a thread with simply a link to the original? I.E., leave a plane-building thread here, and post a thread in the other forum titled "building a rabbet plane" (or whatever) that simply contains a link to the thread back here. Is that a no-no? The thread in the new forum could be locked to push all discussion to the original thread.
What about when a thread currently gets moved (like someone mis-posts something that should be in the classifieds, for instance) and the thread title stays in the original forum, with a little wrapped arrow around the thread icon: Can that stay forever, rather than the limited time it appears to remain right now? Do they move up and down as the thread has activity, or do they get pushed down by other threads in the original forum? If it's not foreseen that the shop tools forum is apt to grow large, perhaps moving the thread twice (from here to the shop tools forum, and then back) would leave that "moved" icon in the Shop Tools forum, while preserving the original thread in the Haven?
Just my thoughts, i guess, so if this is going to be the new system going forward and threads are going to be moved, of how to make the system more amenable to those that prefer the status quo.
I'll also add there had been some mention of the difficulty of finding some things, I will say that I don't use the search function here anymore - maybe it's a little better now, but it didn't always work for me. I now just go to Google and type something in like, "making a plow plane site:sawmillcreek.org" to get Google results just from here and seems to work quite well.
" Be willing to make mistakes in your basements, garages, apartments and palaces. I have made many. Your first attempts may be poor. They will not be futile. " - M.S. Bickford, Mouldings In Practice