Interesting statistics - Page 3

Interesting statistics · 12-21-2006, 09:47 PM

Here (link deleted) you can generate some interesting statistics. Not particularly encouraging

MikeL · 12-22-2006, 05:18 PM

As a complete newbie to the subject of woodworking, this site is truely a great asset. The few questions that I have posted thus far have received a great deal of attention (to my surprise). I hope to get to know some of you guys better on this site and hopefully out in the real world. I wanted to attend the last get together but as luck would have it, I had a class at WoodCraft that evening. I'm also interested in the TWA.

Between the threads, picture galleries, and libraries, this site offers so much to a visitor. Heck, if it wasn't for a posting on this site, I would not have just acquired a truck load of tools for my garage last weekend

.

So thank you to those that make this site what it is, and Merry Christmas to all.

Michael

DaveO · 12-22-2006, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by SteveColes

2. DaveO no longer has posted 10% of the total posts

It's about time

, I have been slacking on posting and actually making things in the shop, dang pen turning addiction

Originally Posted by wsd1089

DaveOandaHandfullofNCWoodworkers.com hahaha

That does have a nice ring to it (not), but I like the original name

I post as often as I do on the site because it has become my circle of friends. When I moved here, I knew nobody except for the guys I work with (and I don't speak much Spanish

) I found this site and now I feel that I have a bunch of friends that I can share my interests with. I've learn so much from this site and if I can offer my limited knowledge to someone so they can learn, I am all for it.

Group hug???

Dave

lwhughes149 · 12-22-2006, 07:50 PM

I am in the middle of moving my daughter to her new home so I didn't read the entire post but I had to chime in. I come to this site often to ask questions that I know you folks can help me with and you and the site are a God send for me. However sometimes I will contact a member to carry on a question because I think maybe I am posting too often. Maybe people are tired of seeing me on the site. I didn't get a comment for a couple of days on one occasion and I thought maybe I am asking too many questions. It never occured to me that maybe some of the readers didn't have an answer. Please count on me to keep the post and new threads coming. May I use this time to say a huge thanks for the site, its members and for the warm welcome I receive and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. Lorraine

NCPete · 12-22-2006, 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by justicefan23

truck load of tools for my garage

SHHHHH!

Michael, you can't use the G word around here, everyone's better half might catch on to other uses for our shop spaces.

TominZebulon · 12-22-2006, 09:00 PM

I have to agree with everythng said so far. I absoutely love this site and the camaraderie that goes with it. Before I joined this site, I was a member at a couple other sites that made me feel like a very small fish in a great big ocean. I was talking to and getting advice from people all over the good ol' US of A. A lot of it was good advice, but how can someone from Seattle talk to me about wood movement when the climates are so different? The advice I was getting was very general at best. This site (and the great people on it) made me feel like a member of a close-knit fraternity, so to speak. There have been many times that reading posts helped me on something that I did not even realize I needed help on. And no one has made me feel like my questions were idiotic or "below" them. One thing I really want to work on in the future is getting to some of these get-togethers and actually meet some of these fine folks. It is something I will be working on in the new year. Please everyone, keep up the good work! I will be trying to do the same!

sawman · 12-22-2006, 09:47 PM

Steve,
I am rather new to this web site and have enjoyed reading the posts and the replys/answers/pics and encouragement offered.
Data is a useful tool and your questioning attitude has brought you some more data to digest.
At my usto job, a question was always raised, how can we improve what we are doing?
Post that one and see what reply's it brings.
Then take two tums and forget it until you decide it is time for another review of the statistics.

Later,
Albert, Al or whatever

cskipper · 12-22-2006, 10:16 PM

Well, I've come into this thread really late. I often have absolutely nothing knowledgeable to add to most posts, but do try to comment some along the way. There are two reasons for this - one is to support the poster/thread, but also to encourage other women to see it is a friendly and (for lack of better wording) safe group. I have certainly thrived under the encouragement of the members and have grown in surprising ways because of it. I think the original "core" still exists but has now expanded very well. I can't keep up all the new members, and don't even get through all the threads, but sure do learn a lot on the way.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and wonderful new year!

Gofor · 12-22-2006, 10:32 PM

I think this a great and valuable forum, and thanks to all whom have made it a reality. As for the number of new posts not increasing, I see it as achieving a sustainable critical mass, so to speak. With any large group of a common interest, there are those of the "core" that feel comfortable speaking to everyone, and additional people who have a specific item they feel needs to be addressed. In my experience, the number of new items addressed rarely increases after the group gets to be over 100, regardless of how large the group gets. Once an item is put out to the group, there is a larger number of people who feel they can contribute to its discussion and that number does increase with group size. I think your statistics are reflecting this.
More is not necessarily better if it detracts from the main purpose that draws the group together and deters people from wanting to be part of the group. As I understand it, this forums main stated focus is woodworking, particularly in this region. However, for any voluntary-attendence type group to continue to survive, it must also offer comraderie, member support, and the flexibility for people of different personalities to feel comfortable. (To me that includes feeling comfortable to remain silent as well as comfortable to speak up)
IMHO, this forum excels in all those requirements.

When something is running as well as this is, a little tweaking now and then is fine, but if it ain't broke, don't "fix" it

my $.002 worth

Go

cskipper · 12-22-2006, 10:34 PM

Yeah, what he said (and said it quite well!)!

DaveO · 12-23-2006, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by lwhughes149

sometimes I will contact a member to carry on a question because I think maybe I am posting too often. Maybe people are tired of seeing me on the site. I didn't get a comment for a couple of days on one occasion and I thought maybe I am asking too many questions.

Lorraine, please don't ever think that again. I don't care if you ask the same question twice, you'll get a better answer the second time. I read every post and it is always good to have something new to figure out....so bring it on

Dave

cskipper · 12-23-2006, 11:10 AM

Lorraine, you may not get a better answer the 2nd+ times, but you can add it to the others and figure out which works best for you. You see me asking the same things over and over (or is that what you meant? should I be worried - not). We all learn by the questions as well as the answers.

novice99 · 12-23-2006, 03:09 PM

Steve-
for what it is worth, I share this bit of what the site means to me.

I moved last month and then promptly went out of town for work. I never transfered my ID and password to my laptop (so I can get work done rather than surf this site all day) so I have been going through serious North Carolina Woodworker withdrawal.

Today I finally got around to setting up the desktop in the new house and the first site I pulled up was North Carolina Woodworker. Have I made any sawdust in the past several months- No. Do I have a question today about a technique or problem I have run into- No. Do I need advice today about a tool (oh yeah, but nothing specific today)- No. The reason why I started here today is because of the 'community' that is North Carolina Woodworker. I never really understood the idea of a "virtual community" until I found this site last year. The welcoming and non-judgemental attitude and the fact that the masters ask for advice along with the newbies is remarkable in any collection of people.

I respect your desire to always improve and to try and understand what might not be perfect, but you and all of the wonderful people who make this site work more than deserve to sit back this holiday season and bask in the amazing success that you have achieved. Statistics can give us clues as to how things work, but the best indicator of how successful you are (and have been) is the number of sincerely appreciative posts in this thread.

So to all of the members of this community, I thank you for being a part of something special and wish you all joy, good health, and peace in your lives as we end one year and begin 2007. -M

gator · 12-23-2006, 07:51 PM

OK, I'll add my contribution to the thread (and increase my post total). I come by several times a day (being retired has some advantages) but if I can't add something to the thread, I just read and enjoy. Even though I come in several times a day, the responses are so good and so fast that it usually works out that anything I say will be redundant. Keep up the good work Steve.

Merry Christmas to all.

George

SteveColes · 12-23-2006, 09:23 PM

First of all, let me thank everyone for the nice things they have said and the insights they have provided.

I hope no one felt if I was pushing you for more posts, that was not what I intended. I was trying to find out if the flat post and thread rates were something to worry about and certainly from all of your responses, they are not.

I suspect Gofor probably had it right when he suggested that we had reached "critical mass"

pcooper · 12-23-2006, 09:23 PM

Well, I'm in the same boat as many others posting here, I try to add something useful when I can, and being new and not knowing anyone very well at all I just try to stick with the facts and be sure I can contribute something. I get on this board several times a day if I can, and there is always something on here that is useful or new to me. One thing I haven't seen yet other than complaints is sharp words to others for stating an opinion or asking a question that may have been asked before. I am on another site some that has that problem, even though there are a ton of folks on there, if you state something that may not be popular with the 'in crowd' on there at the time you can get blasted for it. Everyone here has been really nice and helpful with others, and that is the way it should be. I'd rather the thing site stayed small and not get into the problems that nation wide sites or world wide sites have. I say who the other site is because it isn't that important to stir something up. Keep up the great site!!!!

Who knows, maybe someday I will think of something that I need to ask one of you that hasn't been thought about before.

Residency requirements