Potential New Forums

[ScottM]

I suggested these two new forums to the BoD and they received positive feedback. Now I would like to get your take. If you prefer to PM me your response that will work too.

The Business Side:
A forum to be used to discuss the business side of woodworking. Some examples/topics are: where can I sell my items, ideas on setting up a business bank account, how do you go about accepting credit cards, suggestions on establishing costs/profit models, recommendations on accounting, how to register a business (tax ID), opportunities. what and where to get CPSC lead testing done, here is a good Craft Fair to sell at, etc. Must be WW related. This forum should only be available to register users and not guests. It is NOT a place to advertise.

Education:
A forum to offer education/mentoring to fellow members, a forum to request education, a forum to discussion education taken (Took this class at the Wood Wright School or the Campbell School and here is my thoughts....). Must be WW related. This should be an open forum viewable by registered users and guests

 

[NCPete]

I like them!

 

[toolman]

The Business Side:
A forum to be used to discuss the business side of woodworking. Some examples/topics are: where can I sell my items, ideas on setting up a business bank account, how do you go about accepting credit cards, suggestions on establishing costs/profit models, recommendations on accounting, how to register a business (tax ID), opportunities. what and where to get CPSC lead testing done, here is a good Craft Fair to sell at, etc. Must be WW related. This forum should only be available to register users and not guests. It is NOT a place to advertise.

:thumbs_up:thumbs_up:thumbs_up:thumbs_up This would be very helpful!


Education:
A forum to offer education/mentoring to fellow members, a forum to request education, a forum to discussion education taken (Took this class at the Wood Wright School or the Campbell School and here is my thoughts....). Must be WW related. This should be an open forum viewable by registered users and guests

Ok with this one! :thumbs_up

 

[Bas]

On the Education forum...could we rename the "How To" forum to "How To and Education"? The two are very close in purpose.
On the Business forum, there is a danger that the it will stray into general advice on setting up your own company. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but hardly woodworking. I think the topic is a little too specialized to warrant its own forum. I suppose we could try it for a while, no harm in that.

 

[Gotcha6]

+1:thumbs_up:thumbs_up

 

[b4man]

The Education piece sounds good. I'm not sold on the Business Forum though. Unless we have a specialist here to write the intro, moderate the content and give sound legal and otherwise advice I think that subject has a lot of negative potential.


Barbara

 

[froglips]

As the "can we close/merge this forum" fellow, I'd ask for some "post/thread" evidence to support a need for dedicated forums?

Personally, I can see the appeal of the suggestions, but question dedicating Forums.

I'd think the Business side fits in between General Woodworking and Where can I buy/find/sell. I'd also be concerned this forum would devolve into a Commercial Classified forum.

I also notice that there has been a rash of new members joining and asking us how to start a biz/sell stuff.

I also have concerns about our Corporation providing a sanctioned outlet for advice that has significant legal and fiscal repercussions. Also, you are talking about money. For every person who starts a biz, they will take biz away from someone else. We could open ourselves up to some very ugly threads.

I have gone on record in the past as not supporting a formalized Education/Mentoring forum. This topic comes up a few times a year. Many folks are excited, then it dies on the vine.

I believe the reason is simple. It requires a lot of work. Its not a simple undertaking.

Case in point is Lazy C's "Forum Suggestion" thread. What it turns out he really wanted was someone to help him design his son's desk. He started out asking us to post our projects with full documentation of tools and steps.

I liked Dennis's suggestion of a magazine subscription.

He has started something I'd consider a newbie thing. "I joined and I want". If you look at Trent Mason's post on his bed, to support Lazy C's request, that post took a lot of work on Trent's part.

I think the culture here works fine. When someone asks for help or mentoring, I've never seen them turned away.

But, I've also been wrong, many, many times

I don't wish to sound like a doubting Thomas, but we might wish to discuss the "requirements" for the features before we pick a solution (tags vs. "new forums"). There are many other ways we might be able to meet the need.

Yes, I'm that entrenched in the "too many forums" camp

Jim

 

[Ray Martin]

I really like the idea of an education forum. I don't think we'll see much of a mentoring call, but the other ideas like working session get-togethers, class or workshop reviews, etc... they sound pretty good.

Not much sold on the business forum. It sounds like another Off Topic; vis-a-vis, not woodworking related.

 

[Glennbear]

On the Education forum...could we rename the "How To" forum to "How To and Education"? The two are very close in purpose.
On the Business forum, there is a danger that the it will stray into general advice on setting up your own company. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but hardly woodworking. I think the topic is a little too specialized to warrant its own forum. I suppose we could try it for a while, no harm in that.

I tend to agree with Bas about renamimg How To.

As the "can we close/merge this forum" fellow, I'd ask for some "post/thread" evidence to support a need for dedicated forums?

Personally, I can see the appeal of the suggestions, but question dedicating Forums.

I'd think the Business side fits in between General Woodworking and Where can I buy/find/sell. I'd also be concerned this forum would devolve into a Commercial Classified forum.

I also notice that there has been a rash of new members joining and asking us how to start a biz/sell stuff.

I also have concerns about our Corporation providing a sanctioned outlet for advice that has significant legal and fiscal repercussions. Also, you are talking about money. For every person who starts a biz, they will take biz away from someone else. We could open ourselves up to some very ugly threads.

I have gone on record in the past as not supporting a formalized Education/Mentoring forum. This topic comes up a few times a year. Many folks are excited, then it dies on the vine.

I believe the reason is simple. It requires a lot of work. Its not a simple undertaking.

Case in point is Lazy C's "Forum Suggestion" thread. What it turns out he really wanted was someone to help him design his son's desk. He started out asking us to post our projects with full documentation of tools and steps.

I liked Dennis's suggestion of a magazine subscription.

He has started something I'd consider a newbie thing. "I joined and I want". If you look at Trent Mason's post on his bed, to support Lazy C's request, that post took a lot of work on Trent's part.

I think the culture here works fine. When someone asks for help or mentoring, I've never seen them turned away.

But, I've also been wrong, many, many times

I don't wish to sound like a doubting Thomas, but we might wish to discuss the "requirements" for the features before we pick a solution (tags vs. "new forums"). There are many other ways we might be able to meet the need.

Yes, I'm that entrenched in the "too many forums" camp

Jim

I tend to see these forums in the same light Jim does, I frequent the Ridgid forum and that is a prime example of the "too many forums syndrome".