I appreciate the kind words. I want everyone to know that I have great respect for this forum and its many wonderful contributors over the years. Perhaps my mind is too different, but I saw tremendous value in this forum as a kind of living history of the Shopsmith community. I only came to learn of this forum a few short years ago even though I have been a woodworker on Shopsmith tools for over 3 decades having started as a teen. Often I would stumble on a past thread or one of you would link to one of them and I was amazed at the care and thought that went into the responses. There is a wealth of information embedded in these past threads. Just one example is the thread discussing different hacks/mods many have made on the Mark V lower saw guard. There were many great trial and error perturbations that led to some really interesting "fixes" for the poor dust collection capability of the lower saw guard. It was really helpful for me to address a nagging issue of my own 520 in my shop. This is just one example and there are more, but I see value in the entire forum over all time. So, it greatly disheartened me recently when Shopsmith, in their infinite wisdom, chose to a) break links between past forum threads and the main website and b) change how new members can link to the Shopsmith forum from the main website. Maybe a third of the reason that I chose to self-exile from the forum recently was due to the collective recent Shopsmith changes and these negatives as they impact this forum and the ability for new forum members to derive use out of past threads. I wonder have all of the older threads become pointless now??? Some of you may be on newer social media like FB, IG, YT, TikTok, etc. and have grown accustomed to the short attention span mindset and limited timeline available on these platforms. It can be really hard to search old posts, for example, on the FB Shopsmith groups and the format tends to be short form, unlike my common long form answers here. Everything is geared towards being in the present moment and it is like there is no past on these types of media. It has its place for some people for certain communications, but it is not adept at fully helping people as I perceive the forum has done for decades. So, when a new owner doesn't understand the company, its products or its community and breaks what has been built it causes a visceral response. Those of you who get all of the above, I applaud you. Those who don't, there aren't enough words for me to eloquate this to you.
Now, I must apologize again because I didn't attempt to fully explain before the how and why of my departure. In doing so, I may have caused offense to some of you that I have great respect for. I truly apologize for this. I too love Shopsmith, not just my tools, but the company. I try to be balanced in my responses and sometimes I come off as too negative. I like to point out where my Shopsmith tools excel for me in my shop and I readily admit we all have different projects, shops and workstyles so what annoys me about the tool may not annoy others. Some of you love Shopsmith as well and you see some of the same faults that I do in the tools and acknowledge them. In sometimes raising these faults, I hope that one day the company might address them on new tool versions. Perfect example is we now have a Gen 2 PP. Who thought that would ever happen, right?
However I want a constructive dialogue and recognize a few rare times I have crossed over into complaining for complaining sake. For the latter, please forgive me as it was not my intent. 
A very few of you, like to hold up Shopsmith as this perfect company and tool that has no flaws who I have accurately labeled as Shopsmith fanboys. Not going to name names, but you know who you are. Anyone who brings a well reasoned, thoughtful and respectful response with one of my posts, I will do my best to absorb the information and try to bring the same level of response in return because I have deep respect for you. I may need more words to try to fully elaborate what I want to say, so please forgive my verbosity, but I do so in order to attempt to give clarity to my thoughts and feelings on all things Shopsmith and woodworking. Remember there is no contextual information available as this is a print medium, i.e. you can't see facial cues or sense emotion on social media. For the active posters on this forum, I think most of you understand my humor and tolerate it. 
Having shared many conversations over a few years, there is a connection between us such that you hopefully understand what I am saying most of the time, though you may not agree with me (and that is expected and accepted). Recently I tried to make light of a stressful time and situation with a new owner assuming command of the mothership. I know I pushed my humor too far, but there was also sincere warmth and affection in my portrayal of the new owner as I stated I wished him and the new company the best. I want them both to succeed. You know, you can have a conversation and make a statement and it can have multiple meanings - it doesn't have to be singular. I love word play and puns, but without more contextual clues available to all of you, it gets lost in translation. Mocking was not my intent. I apologize for this misperception if I created it. Should I continue to contribute on the forum, I will likely curtail this as it is too exhausting for me to explain to everyone exactly what I mean when I have already poured out so many words spelling everything out to begin with. While I am a fast typist and creating posts like this are effortless for me, it still requires energy and I can choose where I devote my energies.P.S. IF the general consensus is that the forum wants me to continue to contribute, I will do my best to try to contribute in a meaningful way while I am still here. The technology and machinery on this planet have been an interesting distraction for me while I have been sharing this planet with you. Many here like to joke about Shopsmith being the "mothership" and this particular humor is apropos. My ride back home will be here shortly, so I will continue to participate on the forum while I am here, but one day soon it will stop as I need to return to my home planet.
Some will perceive this as humor, but you will just have to wait and see that I am serious. Take care and please enjoy whatever tools you have in your shop.
RF Guy
