Thread: Blog discussion

The 'signal to noise ratio' is a bit ordinary at this stage.

This post is partly directed to Sturdee in answer to his previous posts but also applies at all contributing members.

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Whether you can see it or not, the blogs are ideally suited to people like you (Sturdee), people who actually have something positive and wonderful to share the woodworking community.

The threads and posts you have on your cyclone, etc are terrific, but as pointed out by Skew above. It 's like looking for a needle in a hay stack especially for someone new . With so many threads and posts to wade through, it makes it almost impossible for a new person to find all the info they are looking for without a heap of work.

On the other hand putting it into a blog would turn it into an invaluable resource that would be easy to find and have all the info needed in the one place.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying use the blog instead of the open forums. Far from it. I'm saying use the open forums as you have always done. But if something is good and could become an important resource like the cyclone, take all the good stuff and put it in a closed blog for everyone to see.

To put it another way.
Finding something specific in the forums is like:

Wandering around the search engines, aimlessly following hundreds of links, that take you in all sorts of weird and wonderful directions all over the place, but never quite give you what you really want, because there is always someone throwing up a problem or sidetracking the issue, so you have to go off and search again, wading through hundreds or even thousands of links to finally get what you want, almost.

Finding that same something in a blog is like:

Having a clear concise article with all the facts and relevant information, sitting in a leather bound illustrated book, for you to read and enjoy at your leisure and in the privacy of your own room.

There is definitely a place for both forums and blogs. If used correctly, they should coexist perfectly together and fully compliment each other. When combined with the wikipedia we will have up and running in the next day or so they should in time make this one of the truly great woodworking resources on the internet.

Like everything new we've done in the past 8 years, there's always some for it and some against it. No matter what your opinion you should at least give it a fair go before putting it down, so how about we all give it a few months to see what happens.Who knows it could be the biggest flop of all time and then think of the fun you can have saying "I told ya so".

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Oh yeah...... While I think of it.

I'd like to put an end, here and now, to a rumor or innuendo I believe has been floated elsewhere.

I have absolutely no intention of selling these forums or any part of them, either now, in the near or distant future.

No amount of money could ever pay for what we have here, nor could it pay for the time and energy expended by myself and over 8 years of sleepless night and lost days, the thousands of hours spent by the dedicated admin team and the expertise and knowledge of Steven.

I along with countless others consider these forums and the members as family and as long as my bum points to the ground I will never sell my family. I will trash these forums completely before anyone else ever gets their hands on them and , will I'm sure help me, ably assisted by the other members of the administration team.

However if someone has a cool $25,000,000 they want to invest I could be persuaded, bit of hush money to and the rest of the crew. Yep. I'm dead easy to contact. Just click on the contact us links st the bottom of any page.
Really..... All you have to do is click on contact us. Come on I'm waiting.

Cheers - Neil

Firstly thanks Neil for your kind words about me.

You raised a number of points worth pursuing but I still feel that adequate searching would be better than creating the whole blogg system.

True a search on jigs will return a large number of threads but if the search results are displayed as posts rather than the default of threads they are more helpful in selecting which link to use.

A simpler way to search for an individual's posts is to go to their user profile and click on the threads started. In my case that would give 84 threads and all my jigs etc are in separate threads and listed in the title. Not very difficult IMO but not a well known feature.

So maybe a better search engine is needed (BTW I would still like to see in new posts and todays post the forum on the LHS next to the title thread) and a detailed instruction on how to search.

Also a clearer explanation about Best of the Best and how that works would be helpful and maybe new registrations should be directed to such information before allowing them loose on the board.

Questions about bloggs.

My main objection to them is the difficulty in searching for previous information. Most bloggs I've seen archieve previous ramblings and musings by month and don't allow adequate searching. So unless you read them all the time past information can't be readily found. Same problem as a newbie finds in searching.

Further to work satisfactory all bloggs should have a daily bloggs and new bloggs facility as well as an index similar to when we open a particular forum.

So we then have a virtual duplicate system for bloggs as we have for forums. This then will create a disaster for users and mods when posts or entries are made in the wrong section. Crosslinking although a good idea will seldom be used. I may be wrong there but I doubt it.

Question about transferring posts into bloggs or vice versa.

If I felt the need (and had the time and energy which at this stage I haven't) to transfer a current lot of posts on say the Sturdee mini cyclone to a blogg what tools are provided for that.

Is it a cut and paste with editing out the other posts or is there a better set of tools to come.

How would you tranfer the links to photos already posted so that they would open up in the original posts and also in the new blogg entry.

I appreciate that I may be wrong and that time will tell but I've seen other changes come and after a while turn out to be not worth the effort put in for them, eg Reputation system and the prolification of subforums.

Neil, your comments are as allways appreciated.

Peter.

BTW Skew I'd like to think that every post of mine thrown up in a search is worth reading, even if it takes years.

When the blogs were first mooted, I went over to vbulletin.org and checked out some of the more advanced blogs and projects for that matter, to see how I could use it. And there seems to be a fair mix of useless rantings and intelligent conversation throughout some of the blogs.

My first thought was to transfer my whole renovation thread straight to the blog as I thought that it would be ideally suited there (Someone even referred to it as a blog when I first started). But then I wondered how those people who have been tracking the thread could see it if I moved it? And so whilst I think if I start another thread on something I do I will definitely start it in the blogs, at this stage I won't move my thread over to the blogs.

Also, I was wondering (and I may check this out - time permitting) if there is a hack to include new blog posts and new project posts in the buttion which returns new posts? That is basically the only button I use to access the forums, and it would be neat to kill three birds with the one stone.

A bit off topic - but for F&&& sake don't employ Captcha as a security tool to filter searches - it is a right royal pain in the ringo!!

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

I'm reserving judgement, until such a time as I can see any general trend in how the blogs are being used. If 'tis just personal maunderings, I'll be ignoring that whole section.

However, I don't see why more technical issues can't be covered in blogs. After all, people can cross-link to 'em in the forums if they feel any point merits discussion, can't they? IMHO many WIPs would make good blogs... as often as not, all the 3rd-party posts are simply saying "nice job" and not actually contrbuting to the "knowledge quotient." Surely other's not being able to chip theirr 2 cents worth into a blogged WIP won't suddenly make the WIP "not worth reading?"

For example, I've been thinking about setting up my own blog along the lines of "Woodturning on a shoe-string" aimed at beginner turners on a budget. Covering all those questions that get raised time after time and are generally answered with "do a search." Sort of starting at "Which lathe should I buy" and working through "what are these chisels?" into more technical areas.

With these areas alraedy well-covered, why would I throw a blog into the fray as well? Because it'd lump all these basic questions into one contiguous read, no hijacks off into "this tool/lathe is better than that" etc, etc. that are of more interest to turners who are already set up and know the basic principles involved. (Of what practical interest is a debate over different chisel profiles when the typical newby can't even use a basic spindle gouge properly yet? )

I may or may not do it - depends on how much time I have on my hands - but my point is it'll be interesting to see just how the blogs do develop.

Give it time, people. Give it time.

Skew like your way of thinking, I have veiwd read and trolled many sites for information and many are either to product related (nothing but pure sales pitches) or as we have seen hi-jacked threads.
I for one have to adjust everything for my own use but basics are where we all start.

Originally Posted by ubeaut

if someone has a cool $25,000,000

Well I have this friend in Nigeria

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

I've been thinking about setting up my own blog along the lines of "Woodturning on a shoe-string" aimed at beginner turners on a budget. Covering all those questions that get raised time after time and are generally answered with "do a search." Sort of starting at "Which lathe should I buy" and working through "what are these chisels?" into more technical areas.

With these areas alraedy well-covered, why would I throw a blog into the fray as well? Because it'd lump all these basic questions into one contiguous read, no hijacks off into "this tool/lathe is better than that" etc, etc. that are of more interest to turners who are already set up and know the basic principles involved. (Of what practical interest is a debate over different chisel profiles when the typical newby can't even use a basic spindle gouge properly yet? )

Skew,

Do it this is what the Blogging section and this forum is crying out for. Bring on the encyclopeadia Skewtanica

Originally Posted by Gra

Skew,

Do it this is what the Blogging section and this forum is crying out for. Bring on the encyclopeadia Skewtanica

Skew, Do it! Not for the guys who do turn ,but for the rest of us for whom it is the blackest of black arts.

Just a comment on the format of the Blogs, IMO the postings seem a tad too distinct to be considered stream of conciousness or some continued rave. Its given by the framed window and the different colours more than anything, so its a visual thing. Compared to Stuart's excellent diary linked there, it gives me the feeling of seperate posts much like the usual Forum setup.
Just a minor thing, but feedback nonetheless!

Cheers

I don't think my musings would provide anything of interest and I don’t have a WIP, but I spend way too much time surfing the net, and I come across stuff, not woodwork related, but sometimes curious, funny or interesting, and probably not worth posting about here. I have a bit of a space/science bias. A lot of blogs dump a few interesting links with a bit of commentary.

Would that be inappropriate?

pawnhead - Pornography is inappropriate, foul language is inappropriate, pedefilia is inappropriate, denegratindg a person or business is inappropriate, are we starting to see a picture forming here. A science/space bias is quite appropriate, so are Trekies, Stargater's, Babylon 5er, FarScapers and all things space and science even fictional stuff.

It is a space for the members to use as their own little room for doing their own thing whatever that may be. We don't really care so long as it at least attempts to stay within the bounds of reasonably good taste.

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This a woodwork forum first and foremost. But some people have become a bit too precious about that fact and don't think anything else should be spoken of in here. But not everyone's life here revolves soley around woodwork and if it did, that would be a bit sad. We all have other interests and/or involvements so why not share them here. You might even find a whole heap of others with a like interest, matter of fact I can just about guarantee you will

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namtrak - The blogs are the ideal place for your renovation thread but not at the cost of losing the thread from the open forums. That is great in there and that's where it should stay.

The ideal thing to do would be to copy all the good stuff across to a dedicated blog, where it would be seen in a different light (and the bloody pictures might work properly) This is what we envisage for the blogs. For Threads like yours the Open Forums are like the rough draft that people flit through making comment along the way. Whereas the Blog is more like the full hard bound book that you sit and pour over at your leisure.

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Maybe I'm just looking at it through rose coloured glasses but that's how I would like to see it and when the Wiki comes on line soon (I keep saying that but we keep running into problems) the forums the blogs and the wiki will merge over a period of time into what could be an absolutely fantastic repository of information on woodwork and a whole gamut of allied and peripheral information that in time could be a series of snapshots of what we are and all with our own unique Austrailian bent.

Those who don't like really don't have to look or be a part if it they don't want to. Same as they don't have to look at the threads or forums that don't interest them. No one is twisting anyones arm.

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OK dinners ready I'm outa here.

Originally Posted by ubeaut

pawnhead - Pornography is inappropriate, foul language is inappropriate, pedefilia is inappropriate, denegratindg a person or business is inappropriate, are we starting to see a picture forming here.

Of course. Ignore the implication of my 'handle'. It's just one I chose for some reason when I joined an online chess club years ago, and I haven't bothered changing it, although I suppose I should have. Meh.

I'll put together a few subjects I've found interesting and if I get no comment it doesn't really matter.

Thanks Neil.

Originally Posted by ubeaut

It is a space for the members to use as their own little room for doing their own thing

Wow! I wanted to say that, but I was worried I would be banned!

The blogs are the ideal place for your renovation thread but not at the cost of losing the thread from the open forums. That is great in there and that's where it should stay.

The ideal thing to do would be to copy all the good stuff across to a dedicated blog, where it would be seen in a different light (and the bloody pictures might work properly) This is what we envisage for the blogs. For Threads like yours the Open Forums are like the rough draft that people flit through making comment along the way. Whereas the Blog is more like the full hard bound book that you sit and pour over at your leisure.

IMHO this hits the nail on the head and blows away all the negative comments. This end certainly justifies the means.

Whether blogs are the most effective means, though, may still be a concern (for you, not the members). Given that what you propose still requires decisional imput, it would have been much simpler to set up an "editing committee" of some description to select the threads worty of becoming "books" to be put in the "reference library" and maybe give the author the honour (and the job) to copy and paste.

The bottom line would appear to be whether the additional cost to you of providing to the members the new service is justified by other benefits. As you said, time will tell. We, as members, can only be grateful to you for your generosity. Those who are into intellectual wa**ing will particularly appreciate it.

As regards your asking price for the forums, I have a potential buyer. I have been asked to do a due diligence audit for the proposed acquisition. Please let me know how to contact your accountant.