What has happened at Popular Woodworking magazine?

[Jeff Heath]

Was "Knots" 20 years ago already? I know way more than a decade, and that the last few years were dominated by a few posters, along with the horrid new forum software.

I know I was very active around that time. I honestly don't remember exactly when they switched to their "Beta" format, which was expressive language for "take a hike", because they made it impossible to participate. Intentional sabotage, is what I always thought of it. I know it was after 2005, because that was the year of Montanafest, which was a big gathering of forum members from "Knots" and "Woodcentral." So maybe about 12 years ago it met it's demise. I, too, remember the last few years being dominated by the same extremely long winded poster or 2, and that sent me away for good, along with 95% of the participants.

I look at my join date for this forum, 2007, as an indicator of the timeframe when Knots crashed, and I was looking for some place else to read.

[Jerry Olexa]

it's happening everywhere. Newspapers, catalogs magazines and probably other things are all going digital. While I like youtube videos I just don't lear from or enjoy digital magazines.

I currently only have subscriptions to Woodworker's Journal (expires 6/19) and Woodsmith (expires sometime in 2020). Not sure if I'll renew, though I am thinking about the 2for1 offer on Woodcraft magazine. Need to look at one first to decide if it is worth it.

Chris explains his exodus here - https://www.popularwoodworking.com/w...rogress-again/

Thanks for the blog post link by Chris......

[Jerry Olexa]

I also notice, as several of you mentioned, the lack of "newness" in ALL woodworking mags....I usually feel after opening a new issue at my home "Yes, I've done that". That is my response to too many (most)of the articles inside....There's very little "newness" in the approaches used or the methods...Maybe I'm being condescending....10 years ago, I subscribed to virtually all woodworking mags...That disappointment I mentioned before has led me to now only 2 subscriptions (PW being one, and now in question)...Maybe I'm being too critical or expect too much but I am disappointed by the current offerings.

[Chris Parks]

Before the internet was magazines which I devoured, just about every single one on the hobbies I was interested in and before the magazines there was nothing except word of mouth, peer teaching in trades and self learning. After the magazines we have the internet....then what?

PS: We are in the middle of a new phenomin in a way, we have the time and money to pursue woodworking as a hobby or pleasant pursuit, before the second world war it was done on a necessity basis or to earn a dollar.

[Derek Cohen]

We read magazines for many reasons. Some want to be educated, and then become frustrated when the old articles are re-hashed. Some like to be stimulated, and seek ideas. Woodwork and FWW are welcomed for the Readers section. Woodwork was particularly great on featuring the work of artists and designers. I really liked that. Some like to be entertained - they've probably left for YouTube. And some want plans to follow, and prefer Wood, et al.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Peter Oster]

I think the new boys at PW are trying to get their feet on the ground after being thrown into the pile. Some of the old stalwarts like David Theil are still in the background. They seem to be doing an easy, intermediate, advanced article for each issue. Huey, Lang and Bender had made their living at woodworking so they seemed to have more credibility than the new kids.
If you read some of the publishing news you'll see where most owners a trying to push print out and go all on-line. PW has stopped cutting DVDs and sells their videos as streaming only. (not sure if you can download them). Woodcraft Magazine is backed by the mail order and stores.
Woodworkers Journal is backed by Rockler. Their last couple of issues are as good or better than PW. They also do surveys and just added scroll sawing after one. They seem to be listening to their customers.

[kreig mcbride]

One of the biggest difficulties for me was when F&W brought in security officers and forcefully removed two of the main authors to Popular Woodworking. Fired and removed without notice and forceably removed from the building. After that incident I avoid spending my monies with F&W.

Also, personally I am super tired of cabinet making which seems to be a mainstream in most magazines. Of course we all have our own interests, I enjoy the more creative aspects of wood working.

One more rant; I am also super tired of the constant barrage of renewal notices. I recently subscribed to a magazine and I receive renewal notices about once a week, really!! Also on these renewal notices, no-where does it show your subscription end date. So I then ignore this constant notification stuff and find my subscriptions run out and then never renew. Even now after two years of cancelling 2 magazines I still receive notifications for renewals. Why not put all the energy into making a better magazine?

[Jerry Olexa]

[QUOTE=[B]kreig mcbride;2897931]One of the biggest difficulties for me was when F&W brought in security officers and forcefully removed two of the main authors to Popular Woodworking. Fired and removed without notice and forceably removed from the building. After that incident I avoid spending my monies with F&W.)
[/B]
Kreig, did that removal include Glenn Huey and others? Curious...Not handled well. I agree with your thoughts...Thank you.

[Derek Cohen]

I know I was very active around that time. I honestly don't remember exactly when they switched to their "Beta" format, which was expressive language for "take a hike", because they made it impossible to participate. Intentional sabotage, is what I always thought of it. I know it was after 2005, because that was the year of Montanafest, which was a big gathering of forum members from "Knots" and "Woodcentral." So maybe about 12 years ago it met it's demise. I, too, remember the last few years being dominated by the same extremely long winded poster or 2, and that sent me away for good, along with 95% of the participants.

I look at my join date for this forum, 2007, as an indicator of the timeframe when Knots crashed, and I was looking for some place else to read.

Yes, about 12 years ago. I was a moderator on Knots. Not that that meant much. I never censored anyone. I do recall some humdinger "debates" with Larry Williams. There was a lot of energy there for a while ... then the forum operating system changed, and it became difficult to post pictures. This was FWW's way of winding down the forum, and we drifted away. Knots is still there, and some still post. All the old threads are still available for perusing, if you have a mind to do so. I miss Philip Marcou (my review of his first smoother led to a gunfight), Mike Wenzloff, Malcolm MacPherson, Metod ... Jeff, you were there .. Lataxe! Gad, he had a tongue and a turn of phrase! Aaaahhhh, those were the days.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[steven c newman]

A lot of the old Knots crowd went to a place called The Burl......including me. Someone named Mel seemed to behind the "downturn"....

[Tony Zaffuto]

A lot of the old Knots crowd went to a place called The Burl......including me. Someone named Mel seemed to behind the "downturn"....

That was the name I was trying to remember. Mel could talk and talk and talk. What I remember was he took a very analytical approach to woodworking, reflected by his pre-retirement employment as a NASA engineer. It has been at least a decade since I visited was the Knots forum devolved into, but I seem to remember Mel turning his woodworking hobby-time towards carving, specifically the "Lancelot" thing that attaches to a 4-1/2 angle grinder.

The Knots forum, as Derek mentioned, had many talented posters.

[Jeff Heath]

Yes, about 12 years ago. I was a moderator on Knots. Not that that meant much. I never censored anyone. I do recall some humdinger "debates" with Larry Williams. There was a lot of energy there for a while ... then the forum operating system changed, and it became difficult to post pictures. This was FWW's way of winding down the forum, and we drifted away. Knots is still there, and some still post. All the old threads are still available for perusing, if you have a mind to do so. I miss Philip Marcou (my review of his first smoother led to a gunfight), Mike Wenzloff, Malcolm MacPherson, Metod ... Jeff, you were there .. Lataxe! Gad, he had a tongue and a turn of phrase! Aaaahhhh, those were the days.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Ah, yes, Lataxe! Quite the wordsmith. And "Mel", always stirring up the hornets nest. Moderators? There were moderators at The Knots? ha ha ha Everyday, it seemed, was a gun fight at the OK Coral. Fun though, and passionate. I met a lot of great people there, and still stay in touch with many. Mookaroid (Marcou) and I still banter across the big ponds from time to time, and I've become good friends with a couple other guys. I drove out to Idaho last year to see a couple of guys from "Montanafest".

Yes, Larry Williams was a barn burner. You knew how to press his buttons, too, as I remember.

There will never be another Knots. That was a perfect storm of passionate woodworkers. A lot of great advice was dispensed, from a large bunch of talented craftsmen, in between all the "gunfights", as you called it. I seem to recall one of the most passionate gunfighters of them all was the lead guy from FWW. That was right at the same time that Mike Wenzloff just started making saws for sale, and got caught completely off guard with the 3 billion people that wanted one.

[Jason Martin Winnipeg]

There is only so much you can write about on any subject, I notice one of the more prominent YouTubers must be starting to run into content problems as well lately.

Who is that? Maybe I'm missing out on a good backlog of videos.

[lowell holmes]

IMO, both magazines are pitiful compared to old issues. I will not subscribe to that quality. I wanted to use another word, but the administrators would have deleted it.

[mike v flaim]

A lot of the old Knots crowd went to a place called The Burl......including me. Someone named Mel seemed to behind the "downturn"....

The Burl still exists but it's all but dead. I was the one that created it and Mel told everyone to come visit. The Burl used the same format as Knots as it was owned by Delphi Forums, but even Delphi changed their software and the forum no longer looks like the old Knots. The Burl never got off the ground. It was Fine Homebuilding's forum that took off under the Delphi website with over 100k posts. You can still find it with a simple Google search.