Surfing Other Forums--Proper Etiquette

[Dr. Zack Jennings]

I am guilty, I admit it, of surfing the other Woodworking Forums. I never enjoy it and I never inhale. I've even seen other members from this forum sneakin' over to Ellis Island and the Oak Factory Forum [ edited comment] but I ain't no snitch. You know who you are.

• I consider my home to be right here in Beautiful Downtown Sawmill Creek. I may post a reply elswhere if I think I have sometin' useful to add but I ain't gonna buy a hat and I ain't gonna start a new thread.
• I start new threads here. I feel like any dumb question I need answered can be hashed out here. I'm trustin' you guys.
• Linking to Other Forums . Is it proper Etiquette to read an interesting thread elsewhere, and start a thread here with a link over to there???
• More than anything else, I enjoy completed projects. For me, they are like the centerfold of the magazine. Is it proper to send Creekers over to another forum to see somthin' neat so long as they promise to come back here before Dinner?
• Are We all One Big Family of Woodworkers? Or...should We stay here, wear our Hats and let them other boys (and girls) alone?

My opinion is that We should alert our members of anything interesting out there... anywhere on the World Wide Web: Where to get tools, Where to get deals, interesting WW Sites and interesting things that happen on other WW Forums.

<center>What's Your Opinion?

[ Comments Removed Here]
Editorial note: added March 9th, 2003
Aaron has addressed this issue well and, I think, put it to rest.
<center>Please Scroll Down to his post</center>



<center>This thread has been edited, sanatized & homogenized to remove any comments that may offend our esteemed and knowledgable colleages on the Oak Factory Forum </center>

[Dave Sweeney]

I can't imagine anyone voting anything but "Yes". Sharing information and tricks is what ALL the forums are about aren't they?

[Randy Gleckler]

Anything that helps me become better is always good.... I'll always come back here because of the people... but more information is ALWAYS good.

[Von Bickley]

Dr. Zack,
I feel like we are one big wood working family and we should share information with each other, regardless of where that information is. I would also like to see more people starting new threads concerning wood working and their shops.
I also lurk at the other wood working sites, but I always start at SMC and return to SMC.
Lets all work together to make SMC the best wood working site.

[Phil Phelps]

I never looked anywhere else when I was on the Pond. Since then, I've looked at plenty. Ellis is a class act. Great guy. The Oak is different. But, I really like this place. And, Zack, so far the rules we play by are just fine. Self governing has worked with the ones here so far. And, the chat rooms a hoot. Ken Salisbury has been influental in that part of this forum as well as helpful hints and instructions. I like the people here. Feels good.

[Dave Hammelef]

The name of the game is sharing knowledge. I look at lots of other forums, post at them and here and crosslink when appropriate.

[Keith Outten]

Believe me I understand that we all all interested in sharing information but...is it really proper etiquette to use the resources of one forum to promote another?

I doubt that other Admins would allow any posts that would in any way promote SawMill Creek and this wouldn't bother me at all since they pay the bills for their site. Since most of the Woodworking forums are considered commercial web sites this crosses the line as they are collecting money in some fashion.

There is definitely competition between all of the Woodworking forums on the Internet, I doubt that any Administrator would deny this,in comparison you can understand why a Ford dealer wouldn't allow you to put posters for Chevy in his window.

I don't think that anyone would expect people to use just one forum, certainly people visit as many sites as they can to gather as much information as they can about a subject they enjoy. Just for the record I don't mind people mentioning Wood Central or The Oaks or any other board in our fourms here but I would prefer never to see any negative comments about any other forum and lets not link to any forum from SawMill Creek. I wish all of the other woodworking forums well and hope they are successful in their endeavors. Our staff will continue to build, improve and add features to SawMill Creek for our members to enjoy when they are here/home

[Richard Brown]

I have often wondered what is right and what is wrong with saying something about another Web Site. When I found the pond I was scanning the different wood sites. One the ocassion that I found the Pond another person was looking for someone and another person told him to look for him on the Badger Pond that he doesn't come over there anymore. The person then went to look for the Pond and couldn't find it so he came back and asked how to get there and the person told him to look up WWfourm. I then thought that I would look there too and never returned to that other fourm. I can see where that if this happens very often a site would loose people to the other fourm and and due to the drop in hit whould loose advertising revenue. I guess this is why I have been more Lurker and not saying too much as I travel around to many sites. I still like the original site that I was looking at when they made many changes and caused a lot of confusion.

[Keith Outten]

Dick,

One of the things that makes SawMill Creek different from other forums is that we don't have any advertisers. Our site doesn't collect any money at all so we don't have to worry about how many hits we receive. We do watch our site statistics closely to see how we are doing and what areas of our site people enjoy the most, these are the areas we will concentrate on improving.

We are constantly bombarded with advertising in our daily lives, there has to be one place where we can escape commercial blasts and simply enjoy ourselves. We have a sponsor that embraces this philosophy, enjoy!

"We're Running On Friendship"

[Ken Salisbury]

Amen to both of Keith's posts. If anyone is interested in what is going on in the other forums they should visit there, comment there and then leave there ---- That's what I do.
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"I don't want anyone tracking any mud on my living room carpet"

[robertfsmith]

Obviously this was intended to me,seeing as how my post was deleted. So...

I work at a sawmill 45-60hrs a week, my wife works, I sell a few blocks of wood here and there on ebay; I have enough income to pay my bills. I did not set up my website as a new career. I visisted Bp and woodcentral everyday for the last 2 years. When Wayne announced the closing of the pond I felt like I lost an arm, so I immediatly began to build a new place for everyone to hang out at. A place to share advice and friendship. I do not try to sell anything to anyone. I put banners up so that if someone needs something They can access it and help displace to cost of the website. Keith you know how much it costs, the bulletin board alone is 160. I spent this money for a place gather with fellow woodworker, not planning on making any money, except maybe enough to help with the cost. Yes, I will have some things for sale on my website, but I'm not asking anyone to buy, it will be there for them to find and decide if they want it or not. If I wanted to make a living with a website I would have started a porn site.

I always thought that woodworking forums were for people to gather and share information, or show off their creations. I guess I was wrong. I guess woodworking forums are like tribes, you can only belong and visit just one.

I visit woodcentral as well as here and my own, and there are things of interest on each one, so why can't people be allowed to visit each one.

I thought my contests would be fun for everyone. They could show off and put their projects up for a friendly competion with other woodworkers. I guess a contest would only put money in my pocket huh? I don't think so.

Anyway, am I allowed to stay here and enjoy what others have to say or show, even though I visit Woodcentral and host my wn board?? Please!

I didn't mean to offend anyone with the announcement of a contest on my board, I just wanted to let everyone have a chance at participating.

Thanks, for listening to my rant,
Rob

[Dr. Zack Jennings]

Let Me See if I Can Dig This Hole a Little Deeper. Before this is over, you may wish to send me over to another forum and lock me out.

I was racing a Hot Air Balloon, with a commercial sponsor, in Plano Texas in 1990. The TV Station wanted to interview me, in the balloon, but they did not want to show the balloon. Some policy against giving away advertising. Don't you think their coverage of the Balloon event might have been more interesting to their viewers w/o these restrictions?

I posted a note recently about Shop Dogs with a link to another forum where the thread started. It has generated over 40 reponses on this forum and the view count is headed towards 1000. The members here liked the thread. Is that a bad thing?

NASCAR TV Coverage adopted a policy decades ago about not only showing every sponsor of every car but they call this one the Texaco Ford, you get the picture. Kind of hard to cover a car race and not show the cars. Has this policy hurt the sport? I have a friend that owns the #22 Caterpillar Dodge. When he goes looking for a sponsor, associate sponsor, more money.... He goes armed with statistics on how many times the sponsor gets mentioned on TV, How many TV Sets are on, and how many butts are in the stands.

If someone completes a particularly nice workbench project over at the Sludge Creek forum, Would it Hurt This Forum to have someone here, post a thread and say go look at this thing and, when you get back, show us your's?

Some one visiting here might think, if I stay here at Sawmill Creek these boys will tell me if anything interesting is going on somewhere else. I don't think that allowing links to other forums is going to decrease the Butt Count in the Stands over here at the Sawmill 500. Is the Ford/Chevy analogy a good one? Your not really recomending the other forum or any of their sponsors.... You're pointing out the Guy's Workbench, a fellow woodworker finished something.

I think a good policy would be to drop in at the Sludge Creek Forum and leave a reply, "I just dropped in from Sawmill Creek and I like your bench."

[Dave Avery]

I agree with ya Zack, but I also respect Keith's right to request that we not link to other WW BB's. While I didn't always like Wayne's methods, I always defended hisr right to run the site the way he wanted. Dave.

[Keith Outten]

Robert and Zack

Robert, as you are running a woodworkers forum you should understand our position. I applaud your efforts to make a place for all of us who were members of Badger Pond, this is exactly what we have tried to do and we have listened to their comments and suggestions. Probably 90% of the members here don't want to see advertisements or commercial material.

I have opened the door for comments concerning how our members would prefer us to handle certain areas, this was done to solicit constructive feedback in an effort to be as flexible as possible. We are still dicussing the rules and none have been cast in stone yet.

I answered Zacks post and I believe that my comments were clear in what I considered appropriate for SawMill Creek. I also stated that I don't expect anyone to make SawMill Creek their exclusive home, those that do feel at home here are certainly welcome and I will say in all sincerity that I appreciate their kindness and their loyalty.

I believe that we have created a fourm that is as open to sharing information as possible, in keeping with all of the promises I have made to maintain as close to the rules at Badger Pond as I could.
I will stand by my promise to the members of Badger Pond.

I have read the majority of posts here since Febuary 11th it seems to me that 99% of our members are very happy, so am I, enough said.

[PeterTorresani]

I don't know how proper it is to repond to an "enough said " remark, but no one has ever accused me of being proper.

I think the fact that you don't have a problem with people mentionig other sites or referring people to other sites shows that you are not being over-restrictive. Not that I needed another example of this fact. When a site of this nature has only two non-negotiable rules, you know that things are pretty open.

Thanks again for being so receptive to everybodies ideas while putting this site together.