this is what Lumberjocks has turned into

I’m a newbie, but i will give it a shot.

This is a huge forum. Huge spectrum of people socio-economically, age, sex, parts of the country, etc. Then you have the skill levels from none to Master. Throw in the specific interests (and inversely the not-at-all interests).

I saw that huge post. It is a lounge type post and does no harm. It is a social thing. Why not? I even made one comment at 200 posts that was a little too risque that they removed and you can see the confusion at around 200 posts about why they were 200 then became 199 magically. lol But I understand. The moderator made a call. I might have done the same thing myself. This is a family forum. It’s all good.

What you want to see and what I want to see is probably quite a bit different. I am not into bowls and pens and boxes. I can appreciate the fine work when I come across it. I keep my mouth shut about the fairly large ration of stuff that I think is a waste of time. But its not my time, and they like their stuff so I can appreciate whatever makes somebody happy to make AND the other people that make and approve of those things.

I was active in the RX-7 club forum for years. The largest post on that site in the 1st generation sections with many thousands of reads and thousands of posts was a thread titled “You know you are a first generation RX-7 owner when…” All the posts are all the members sharing mostly humorous comments that would mean something only to an enthusiast / owner. They made a t-shirt with scores of the best sayings on the back in the shape of a rotor (triangle) that i must say included three of my posts. What was the harm?

So, just be glad all these fine people are on here and there are many that share our same passions or have knowledge or opinion that we are able to seek out just by posting.

It’s all good. Something for everybody.

-- If you're going to stir the pot, think BIG spoon or SMALL boat paddle. David Grimes, Georgia

Well !!! You can read what interest’s you, and skip what doesn’t.
Very simple

-- E J ------- Always Keep a Firm Grip on Your Tool

Andy, gotta have something to talk about while the poly is drying. ;-)

-- Carpenter assembles with hands, Designer builds with brains, Artist creates with heart!

I think Daivid G. said it nicely along with bubingas’.

-- Don't rollerskate in a buffalo herd

That’s the great thing about this country, no one is going to force you to read something that you don’t want to read and if some of us want to have a little fun, no one should try to force us not to. What’s the harm. There is still plenty of great forum topics and blogs and how tos and projects here to view.

-- ♫♪♪♫♫ Saddletramp, saddletramp, I'm as free as the breeze and I ride where I please, saddletramp ♪♪♪♫♪ ...... Bob W....NW Michigan (Traverse City area)

At least here the “noise” is pretty well policed and most of it ends up in forums that I ignore. So I haven’t seen any real change since I joined—still a great bunch of woodworkers ready and willing to share ideas, encouragement and experience.

-- Woodworking is easy as 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510...

I think what pommy means is we see less and less woodworking posting the site is gone more to discussions on all different topics than what it is meant to.
With the CL the entire off topic was all in one location and we had the choice to read it or not, now the CL is everywhere.
What we need is a Forum for “stupid threads” with a heading it is your choice to read it or not.

The same question can asked of this thread. And here I am reading and responding to it.

-- All lessons are repeated until learned

Pommy, me old china, as the membership of this site increases, so does the variety of opinions and subjects increase. There is more than adequate opportunities for posts covering all kinds of woodworking ideas, projects, information and such. If members do not choose to post items or comment on anything that is meaningful to their particular “LJ need” then that is up to them – free country and all that jazz.
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” so the saying goes, so as an added bonus we had an area for “chit chat” or light entertainment called the Coffee Lounge which was abused mainly by sanctimonious confrontational addicts who went far beyond the code of decency, hence, an outlet for a “break area” was closed,much to a lot of LJs dismay.
Myself, being a lousy woodworkier, cannot offer much advice but I do submit sane responses to things that catch my eye or truly take my breath away or show a great effort.
“Off topic” posts are for those who could use a little nonsense to brighten up their day, and some posts lately have done a lot to boost morale, which I think is great. These posts are not just funny, but also demonstrate intelligence, wit and friendship without flaming arguments and hostility.
There may indeed be some stupid threads, but they seem to be restricted to the WW fanatics -my opinion.

-- Roger-R, Republic of Texas. "Always look on the Bright Side of Life" - An eyeball to eyeball confrontation with a blind person is as complete waste of Time.

The stupid threads forum would be nearly empty just because the truly stupid posts would originate from truly stupid “special jocks”. But they wouldn’t know ! How could they ? lol

-- If you're going to stir the pot, think BIG spoon or SMALL boat paddle. David Grimes, Georgia

I agree with bubinga there’s a lot of posts here because of the size of the membership. Many different types of people, skill levels, and interests. Am I interested in every post that comes out, NO. But that doesn’t mean it’s not liked by others. I’ve clicked on posts only to find it’s not my cup of tea, so I just move on and respond only to the posts that as Roger Clark put it “Take my breath away”. If the only posts here were about widgets, how long do you think this site would last?

If you want more good informative posts and less social, political, opinionated and / or disruptive posts then don’t start or participate in threads that are inappropriate in your opinion and start and participate in threads that are the type you want to see…

-- Herb, Florida - Here's why I close most messages with "Be Careful!" http://lumberjocks.com/HerbC/blog/17090

your should try 4chan then

-AG

LOL with agallant. If you’re not interested in a post, skip it. If the title sounds interesting, take a look. I don’t think one silly thread it’s a comment on the community or website. They’re just enjoying themselves driving the post count up with nonsense. I enjoy a beautiful piece of woodwork as much as the next guy. But I like stupid stuff too.

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

And to GMan, Stumps started that thread for precisely that reason: to show support for reopening the coffee lounge (which was long before my time). Although there might be a lot of trash talk, it’s trash talk by active woodworkers (who I consider the finest people around).

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog