I was wondering if there are other general woodworking forums out there similar to the old Knots? I am not referring to the specialty forums like home remodeling, boat building, etc. but one similar to the old Knots where there is a sense of community and good sharing of ideas on general woodworking issues?
Taunton may have “shot themselves in the foot” by taking a forum that was a FREE site (to get answers to questions and solicit a wide range of opinions and experiences), and redirecting forum members to a PAID site that answers questions through old issues of FWW and “experts”. If they are successful then the questions won’t appear on the Knots forum nor their answers; if that happens then there will be a lot of participants that will not benefit and therefore find no value in the forum. If I am a paid member I likely will get help from the “experts” and not additionally post to Knots. Surely, there are other forums that compete with Knots that haven’t changed.
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Take a look at Woodcentral. Run by Ellis Walentine who used to be an editor at AWW back in the old days when it was a good magazine. It's a bit touchy-feeley at times but it does have some pretty knowledgeable contributors and you can generally get thoughtful answers to most questions.
I don't like the changes any more than you do; but I think you misunderstand. Which doesn't surprise me, since Taunton has done a very poor job of introducing all these changes.
For now, at least, the "old" Knots is still here -- and it is still free, but they have organized the threads differently (Tools, Materials, General, etc.), and made it way more cumbersome.
There is one area of this new forum that requires you to pay for access; they have made a big deal out of offering "experts" to answer your questions, and that has confused a lot of people. Basically, think of the new area (for which you pay) as a means of gaining access to all the old back articles of FWW, plus being able to view their various videos, plus they will make some expert available to answer your questions on the specific topic at hand.
At least, that's what I make of it. You get to decide if all of that is worth the subscription fee, which to me seems really excessive and a study in wishful thinking on their part.
One of the things that has made Knots valuable over the years is the numbers of knowledgeable people what have frequented their site. Taunton seems determined to drive these people away, and that would be a shame.
There are a variety of other woodworking forums, the most popular of which is probably WoodCentral:
http://woodcentral.com/
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"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
I understand it as you do; my point was that if they are successful and get a lot of forum participants to subscribe, those questions, which would have been presented to the Knots forum, won't be presented there any longer but rather be answered by the "experts"on a different (paid) forum.
Hi, Sailalex, it's so good to see your "real" name, LOL. Hmmmm, reflecting on human nature, I don't think you've much to worry about re: some long-term migration to the paid forum. IMHO, most people will prefer the back-and-forth of a peer-to-peer interaction like we have at Knots. If any significant percentage of the questions posed here went to the experts, they'd run out of experts! After all, I doubt they are paid enough to spend all day answering "which tablesaw" questions, ROFL.
I, too, am feeling pretty disoriented by the change -- no doubt about it! But in essence, Knots has not changed. It's a bit more cumbersome, and I'm sure glad I got DSL before the change occured, but it's still the same ol' Knots. Whatever's going on in the Members Only area will probably not affect the rest of us. Maybe I'll get a ticket for that area under the Christmas Tree! If I do, I'll pass on a report and let you know what it's like, LOL!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Hi FG, Yeah,it is nice to get my name back, IMHO. the most outstanding change made with the new format. :) Maybe we will all get used to it like the last time, but it seems a lot more commercial. We'll see!!
This is a good site I've lurked over in Australia that could add to BossCrunk's list.
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/index.php
Wood Central has the worst software ever.I asked about it and all I got was a smart a$$ reply.
If by software you mean the format of the Wood Central forum, I agree with you. I have always found it somewhat confusing and cumbersome to navigate; they don't seem to have the high volume of traffic that Knots generates, but everyone there seems uncommonly helpful and pleasant.********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
Hi Nikki and all,
I wonder which experts that have already been posting here on Knots will no longer do so and how many they add up to ? IMO there are hundreds of contributors that add value and a vast knowledge to this forum . Many so called experts may be called expert only because they have had some writing published or something that seems to lend credibility to them being an accomplished craftsman or woman . If I were a betting man I'd wager that there may be more experts that have not published works than that have . Any ways there are literally hundreds if not thousands of us contributors active here that are always willing to give help and ideas to any and all that may ask . That gets me back to the question of which experts are they talking about ? Are those experts currently active here , something tells me the answer is no . We have the likes of Lee Grindinger Mr. Richard Jones others may not have achieved the notoriety of the so called experts , but still imo have loads and loads of help to give where needed. My thought is when a person posts a question they need an answer sometimes they are holding off completion of a certain part of the project until they get advice , posting on the pay for advice site may require a much longer wait for reply and then it would only be perhaps one persons opinion , at least on this Knots forum you typically can get many opinions and replies almost always in a short amount of time . We all know there is almost always more than one way to do any particular operation , that's part of the beauty of our craft , it's all good don't you think . Maybe some feel insulted or left out of the inside track of the pay per post avenue. For me the bottom line is help and advice is still available right here as always .
regards to all dusty
Woodnet
Woodcentral
Saw Mill Creek
UK Workshop (Brit site, not quite as busy as most)
Woodworking.org
Woodcentral is probably the best of the bunch but their forum software is lousy.
Thanks for all the referrals; I will check them out.
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