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Drop in Forum Activity

RFGuy

So there has been a marked drop in activity on this forum for say the past few months. Assuming this is because everyone is busy in their shops which is a good thing. One possibility is a drop in new forum member sign ups, as mentioned in another thread, which hopefully has been resolved now. I just wanted to point out something that could explain it. Did you know that there is a time limit on the "New Posts" function on the forum? If you use "Quick links -> New Posts" to check for new postings it has a flaw which is it times out after a certain number of hours. Don't assume that if you check "New Posts" only that it shows you ALL new posts since you were last logged in. I have noticed on multiple occasions where if I am away for say half a day or a day then come back to check in that it shows nothing available as a new post, but then if I go to "Board Index" and look I don't recognize a few of the posts that have come in while I was away. So, "New Posts" under Quick Links is NOT a reliable way to see what has been added to the forum, unless you check it like every 2 hours. I just wanted to point this out in case anyone is not aware that it times out and resets after several hours. I don't know when it resets, but it does...

JPG

Unread posts seems reliable.

davebodner

Perhaps the reduction is posts is due to reduced spam.

wa2crk

I don't post every day but I do read every day

Bill V

dusty

Part of the problem is brought about by threads like the one that HeathMajors is active in.

Do a search on heathmajors and tell yourself which of these posts you consider to be spam.

DLB

dusty wrote Do a search on heathmajors and tell yourself which of these posts you consider to be spam.

I either can't or don't know how to do that since the software change. Tried that this morning when I was looking for something based on I knew who wrote it but not where it was.

I think a lot of the reduction is the new member thing. Seems like there are a lot less newbie questions under Maintenance and Repair and Beginning Woodworking. No statistics as far as I know.

I've noticed that at any given time there are way less folks looking at the forum, both registered and guests, compared to the previous SW. I have no idea why that is or what it means, but I'm thinking it is in the range of 10% compared to previous.

- David

BigSky

Click on the wheel in the far upper right hand corner of the main page and follow the instructions to search on an author.

rpd

An alternate way to get to search is click on Quick Links on the upper left side. :)

RFGuy

Thanks. Maybe I am the only one that checks for new posts this way, but I use "New Posts". I used "Unread Posts" in the past and it works well, but my problem with it is you have to manually scan through the list to see what is new AND of interest. New Posts just takes less brain power because it is a shorter list. With regard to spam it has been greatly reduced (thanks to MODERATORS and any changes to the forum sign up process), but I too sometimes see an occasional post that looks suspicious. I have grown to ignore them because it is difficult to identify them. I mean how do you tell a newbie woodworker apart from a savvy marketing person trying to gain trust on the forum before advertising/promoting their website/tool? Sometimes they look very similar in content and sentence structure.

StevenAyres

I imagine part of the reduction in activity is the drift of younger people to different platforms. This forum format is great as far as I'm concerned, but it's definitely old-school.

JPG

StevenAyres wrote I imagine part of the reduction in activity is the drift of younger people to different platforms. This forum format is great as far as I'm concerned, but it's definitely old-school.

Indeed. A clue is the competence of it's 'members'. :D

DLB

BigSky wrote Click on the wheel in the far upper right hand corner of the main page and follow the instructions to search on an author.

rpd wrote An alternate way to get to search is click on Quick Links on the upper left side. :)

Thank you both. Old dog, new trick. An advanced search for me has involved heading for Google :o I'll try this next time.

-David

chapmanruss

We may have lost some activity due to the difficulty signing up as expressed by some recent new members. I believe that has been corrected. Hopefully we haven't become the dinosaur of the Shopsmith Forums. I believe we have the best source for assistance to new users with the experience of the members posting here. We also have a strong sharing of ideas. Maybe we are just seeing a drop in Shopsmith activity as I have noticed in the last couple of months based on Shopsmiths available for sale near me. One of my favorite suggestions when talking to anyone about Shopsmiths is to check out this forum if they want to know more about these tools.

RFGuy

chapmanruss wrote We may have lost some activity due to the difficulty signing up as expressed by some recent new members. I believe that has been corrected. Hopefully we haven't become the dinosaur of the Shopsmith Forums.

Thanks Russ. Okay, maybe I am too new here, but are there other forums for Shopsmith besides this one? I know there were some Yahoo groups around in the past but didn't those go away? Other than the Facebook groups, I thought this forum was it. I agree this one is the best one, but just curious if I missed some other groups out there.

Hobbyman2

something new and inexpensive to the industry may bring more people to the company ? I dont look at the new products on the website all the time but when ya mention SS it seems folks attribute it to the older equipment or something they dont want to invest so much in . a lot of folks buy a saw they will only use once or twice , on another topic , the cost of materials is crazy ? I was talking about lumber prices last week with another hobbyist , we both felt lucky that we had stocked up on lumber some time ago , and how a few local wood mills are now busy milling private lumber and people were bypassing the big box prices , how going green may mean getting back to saws made with real metal bodies and products made from biodegradable materials and away from all the throw away plastic junk we see today . its up to people like us to keep the hobby going with new innovative ideas .

dusty

I was dead set against using Facebook but I have relaxed my opinions on that subject. I have visited both the Shopsmith Owners Group and the Shopsmith Sales Group on Facebook and I see a lot of very good information being posted there by well qualified Shopsmith users AND the traffic is much greater than here.

The FB sites, however, have some issues that I believe are now the norm of social media. I'll hang in here until there is no other way.

chapmanruss

I think, as Dusty points out, Facebook is the other main option and most people already belong to it for one reason or another.

RFGuy

Hobbyman2 wrote something new and inexpensive to the industry may bring more people to the company ? I dont look at the new products on the website all the time but when ya mention SS it seems folks attribute it to the older equipment or something they dont want to invest so much in . a lot of folks buy a saw they will only use once or twice , on another topic , the cost of materials is crazy ? I was talking about lumber prices last week with another hobbyist , we both felt lucky that we had stocked up on lumber some time ago , and how a few local wood mills are now busy milling private lumber and people were bypassing the big box prices , how going green may mean getting back to saws made with real metal bodies and products made from biodegradable materials and away from all the throw away plastic junk we see today . its up to people like us to keep the hobby going with new innovative ideas .

I think you bring up a good point and I have wondered this as well in the past. Shopsmith doesn't publish their financials but I wonder the breakdown of their business between selling new parts, SPT's and replacement parts. I think they are going the Apple route of trying to sell what is perceived as a high end brand with no low or mid tiers underneath. This works when you have carved out a niche and/or have a loyal customer base that follows you no matter what. I am not sure Shopsmith has as strong of a position for that these days so perhaps a mid tier product would be a good option for those with smaller pocketbooks. Isn't JET and RIKON the same company? I believe so and JET is the premium option and RIKON the less expensive one (correct me if I am wrong). Shopsmith could do something similar with a mid tier I think. I believe the low tier has been ceded to Asian manufacturers unfortunately and would likely be difficult to compete against.

P.S. With lumber prices what they are right now, I wonder if this will dissuade potential newcomers to woodworking for a while as well. This only reinforces the American trend of buying from the Walmart & IKEA's of the world rather than build it themselves. :(

Hobbyman2

I dont know about the markets but point in hand I bought a 1/4 of cowhide from a world renowned leather company and it had a made in brazil tag on it . seems like we have shot the country in the foot so to speak with all of the shipping issues we see . JMO

wa2crk

I don't text, I don't face and I don't twit. Don't have to. This is one of the best forums and also one of the most civilized.

Bill V