Shopsmith Forums

I really enjoy Scott Markwood's My Growth Rings segments on You Tube. Every one of them I find to be very informative and causes me to think about doing things in a way which never occurred to me. The latest installment was a response to another woodworker, John Malecki (sp?) who was talking trash about Shopsmith on his YouTube channel. I viewed that one after watching Scott's video. After viewing Mr. Malecki's video, it became painfully aware to me that the man: 1) had his mind already made up and that 2) he had not once referred to looking at instructions while he was putting the machine together and failed to properly do any of the alignments of the machine he had purchased secondhand. I applaud Scott for issuing his challenge to Mr. Malecki. If you're reading this and wondering what I am talking about, just watch the two videos to see what it is I'm talking about.
BPR

John's video was pure click bait to increase his channel. It had nothing to do with a responsible tool review. Just look at the picture of the post. There have been some comments that say they watch his posts and he is good. Barff! I did not know who he was before this video and I have no desire to watch anything he posts.

I applaud Scott for taking the high road but don't hold your breath that he will accept the challenge. This guy is purely out for the money he can get from Youtube and does not care who he trashes.

Again, pure click bait to increase his viewership.

I have watched some of the videos and I agree that John (Malecki's) primary purpose is "sales" and as such does not belong here on this forum (not opinion but the rules). However, trashing this guy because he does things/says things that you disagree with is not right either.

I found some of his ideas quite interesting. I might even invest!

Yup. The video was a complete hit job on SS. Obvious from the start.

Not only did Scott take up the chore to rebut but so did Tom "Woodshop Nerdery". So well, that Scott complimented the effort. WATCH....and save for future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etxn1YkEIsg

Doc

Not picking sides here because I didn't watch John's video, but I did watch Scott's. Also, don't really care because there are pros and cons to using any tool (Shopsmith or other brand). Any time a pro or a con is brought up online someone inevitably comes up to push back the other way against you. Ad infinitum. Having said that, I did see Scott's video and believe I can provide some context here. I try to watch Scott's videos when I can, but don't get to see all of them. I agree that Scott did a good job on that video and I applaud him for issuing the challenge to John. Also, appreciated the Norm reference that Scott made in his video. In fairness I didn't go and watch John's video so I would want to give him a little bit of a benefit of the doubt on his video since I didn't watch it. Having seen a couple of his past videos, you have to understand that John's videos are almost exclusively for entertainment purposes only. In contrast, Scott is making videos primarily to educate and sometimes there is entertainment in them. So, apples and oranges comparison between them IMHO. Both are making videos to make a little money. John is a former NFL football player who in retirement has enough money to splurge on big items (e.g. in his shop) and talk about them on his YT channel. Some pro football players get into online gaming and can be found on your favorite streaming platforms like Twitch, YT, etc. Instead of gaming, John is into woodworking and home improvement apparently or at least this is what I have seen on his YT channel. Honestly the 1 or 2 videos that I saw on home improvement projects from him left a lot to be desired. Kind of glossed the surface of the project and it seemed more like bragging than actually trying to educate someone on what to consider either as a DIY'er or as a homeowner wanting to learn before hiring a contractor themselves. Not trying to hate on John, because I generally found him to be entertaining in his videos, but not very useful content for me at this point in my life so I stopped watching anything else from him. Last point, keep in mind sometimes these setups on YT are pre-planned, i.e. one takes one side and posts an outlandish video on a topic and the other rebuts it to increase view counts for both of them. NOT saying Scott did this, but perhaps John is doing this with another YT'er already unbeknownst to Scott...and Scott is just weighing in. I believe Scott's video to be genuine, but only pointing out that creating fake drama on YT is a surefire way that some YT'ers increase engagement which means more profit for them. Again, remember John's videos are primarily for entertainment only, so wouldn't fake drama on this video from him fit his channel? Enough said.

I guess that I have not viewed the video that brought all this on but I have viewed several and have not yet found anything that should bring on this level of criticism.

dusty wrote: ↑Thu May 18, 2023 8:41 am I guess that I have not viewed the video that brought all this on but I have viewed several and have not yet found anything that should bring on this level of criticism.

Dusty,

John Malecki posted a questionable review of Shopsmith as a woodworking tool on YT and Scott Markwood (My Growth Rings YT channel) posted a rebuttal to him. You would have to go to YouTube and check out their videos to get more context. Look at the latest YT video from Scott.

P.S. The "John" I am referring to in my post above is John Malecki, NOT jsburger (John Burger) if that helps.

I did watch John's video and it seemed like he went out of his way to willfully misunderstand or misrepresent nearly everything he complained about. As Doc says, obvious hit job. He started with the premise that SS is a POS and then set out to "prove" it.

26 minutes I'll never get back! ;-)

HopefulSSer wrote: ↑Thu May 18, 2023 8:59 am I did watch John's video and it seemed like he went out of his way to willfully misunderstand or misrepresent nearly everything he complained about. As Doc says, obvious hit job. He started with the premise that SS is a POS and then set out to "prove" it.

26 minutes I'll never get back! ;-)

Yeah, kinda the reason why I don't want to go and watch John's video. It is just too long and I already know the kind of content that he provides on YT. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if he is manufacturing this drama to up subscriber views on his channel. It is a common ploy by "successful" YT'ers...

OKAY I have watched the video and I agree that it is full of inaccurate statements ( all given as opinions ). John was definitely not trying to sell Shopsmith.

My only word of advice to John would be to "read those manuals" before attempting operation. You'll be much less likely to get hurt.