OT- To All Who Post on HSM - Assistance to our Continued Forum Use IMHO

[Bob Engelhardt]

-You mean like this one I posted last week? Or the video I posted a few days before that? Or the discussion on CNC work I started?

I stand corrected. My accusation of hypocrisy was based upon your statement that "... I usually don't bother posting about them here because no one else is." I didn't bother to fact check your own statement. My accusation was unfounded & I regret it.

Checking your recent history, speaking of hypocrisy, anything with actual machining content was... posted to the "what did you do today?" thread.

"Kettle!" cried the pot. "How black thou art!".

Doc.

I wasn't being hypocritical because I'm not complaining about the content. (Hypocrisy - behavior that contradicts belief.)

[Bob Engelhardt]

[snip]
Maybe you should read this forum every so often. Doc posts lots of very interesting things. And he starts interesting and directly machining-related threads.

Your comment about hypocrisy is way off target and frankly insulting.
[snip]

As I said in my latest reply to Doc, my 1st reply was based upon his statement about his postings (which I quoted in that reply, lest there be any mistake about what I was basing my comment on). Which was totally misleading.

[Doc Nickel]

As I said in my latest reply to Doc, my 1st reply was based upon his statement about his postings. Which was totally misleading.

-"Totally"? No, you misunderstood it because you have a 'dog in this fight'.

Note I said "usually". Not never, Mr. Exact-Definition.

While I have indeed posted several things here, all of it in total is a small fraction of my total output. Over on my own board, I have a full write-up (over a hundred photos) of the receipt, installation and resurrection of my CNC turning center, and before that was fifty photos worth of refreshing a Hardinge HSL. (The low photo count due to the fact I made a video series out of it) and before that I managed to finally finish the big Springfield lathe, a project I've been working on off and on, since late 2013.

But, I can't carry this board all on my own. Why should I post my stuff when everybody else- you included- wants to hide theirs in the private back rooms of the sub-threads? Where's the encouragement?

Doc.

[J Tiers]

Not "everyone else".... I boycotted the "shop made tooling" thread, posting my stuff directly. Others have done the same.

The "what did you do" thread ought to be for peripherally related stuff, but it gets enough directly relevant content that it probably should be closed, and the "what did you machine today" is clearly competitive with direct posting.

The only excuse I can see for the "what did you machine" thread is that it may have attracted posts that might never have been made at all as a direct post. There is "some" benefit to a place where minor stuff can be put without attracting snarky comments about "you went to the trouble of posting THAT?".

I'm not sure that is a big enough issue to justify the thread continuing, however.

[PStechPaul]

IMHO, the "What did you do today" megathread should be used for most OT posts that may just be of general interest. I see no need to keep such posts machining related, and the thread should not be used for major projects or serious discussions about metalworking topics. IMHO

There is also the "What did you machine today" megathread, and that should (again IMHO) be used for simple machining related activities that may be generally interesting, but not for major projects, important information, and build logs. Those deserve their own threads. And I think one should first search for similar threads that are not too old, and add to them if appropriate.

Perhaps both of these "megathreads" should be made sticky, to encourage their use for OT and incidental machining subjects. And maybe the "Jokes and Stories" as well. Many forums have sub-forums for various OT threads and narrow fields of interest, but I am happy with this as it is, with a "General" section which is pretty much all I look at.

And remember, these are just my own opinions. Y'all are free to do as you like, although I think arguing about stuff like this may be what turns people away.

[Doc Nickel]

There is "some" benefit to a place where minor stuff can be put without attracting snarky comments about "you went to the trouble of posting THAT?"

-I've never really seen evidence of that here. Over on PM, yes, though really only in the CNC or VMC-specific sections.

This is the home shop machinists site. Personally, I don't care if you're making your sixty-third award-winning model engine, or have owned a lathe for two weeks and just successfully cut your first thread. All of it is, and should be, welcome.

Doc.

[Doc Nickel]

There is also the "What did you machine today" megathread, and that should (again IMHO) be used for simple machining related activities that may be generally interesting, but not for major projects, important information, and build logs. Those deserve their own threads.

-Disagree. There is NO reason, none whatsoever, why anything a person might want to post up, would or could be considered "not worthy of it's own post".

Who would determine the cutoff? What defines whether or not a topic is "worthy"? I don't think anyone here would think one of Clickspring's bits as "not worthy", but when you boil it down, all he did was make a tiny metric flathead screw.

This isn't Reddit. Nothing gets upvoted or downvoted, nobody bothers with "likes", and no moderator is going to delete your post for somehow not being sufficiently machinery-related.

The main board itself is designed and optimized for posting individual topics, and laid out to make it easy and quick to see if anything new has been posted. That's the whole point behind this board. Putting all the cool stuff in a handful of unsearchable, nigh-unreadable sub-threads, is like owning a fully-restored, fully-tooled 10EE, but only using a Harbor Freight 7x10 because you don't want to get the good one dirty.

Doc.

[nickel-city-fab]

I would argue that this post and this place are *already* mostly a chit-chat location, and the mega-threads aren't helping things. I use google search but then you have to pick through piles of stuff anyway.... which is kinda self-defeating.

I joined here because of the "shop-made tools" thread, had read the entire thread front to back multiple times. Someone grouched about it enough, and it finally disappeared. Frankly I think all the other mega-threads should disappear too, along with any non-machining content such as this thread.

But then again, I've been feeling my inner curmudgeon lately.

[Mcgyver]

But then again, I've been feeling my inner curmudgeon lately.

might be all the work to small tolerances....the habit of fretting the small stuff

[J Tiers]

-I've never really seen evidence of that here. Over on PM, yes,.................
Doc.

I've seen it, and had the comment made to me. Not for a while, but..... I did kinda quit posting anything fairly small.

I do agree, it should be OK to post ANYTHING involving machine work.

So it is probably not an issue, or should not be. But if it were, a "what small machining job did you do today" thread is not totally unreasonable. I suspect that if we were inundated with "de-burring on the lathe" type posts, there might begin to be complaints. That's hardly the problem we have now.

[RMinMN]

I would argue that this post and this place are *already* mostly a chit-chat location, and the mega-threads aren't helping things. I use google search but then you have to pick through piles of stuff anyway.... which is kinda self-defeating.

I joined here because of the "shop-made tools" thread, had read the entire thread front to back multiple times. Someone grouched about it enough, and it finally disappeared. Frankly I think all the other mega-threads should disappear too, along with any non-machining content such as this thread.

But then again, I've been feeling my inner curmudgeon lately.

I think that most people were complaining that the pictures were what made the "shop made tools" thread interesting and when the offsite host decided to delete them the whole thread became worthless. While the quote, "a picture is worth a thousand words" is relevant, for some of the tools the picture was worth way more than that as without the picture it became very difficult to decipher what the post was about.

[nickel-city-fab]

I think that most people were complaining that the pictures were what made the "shop made tools" thread interesting and when the offsite host decided to delete them the whole thread became worthless. While the quote, "a picture is worth a thousand words" is relevant, for some of the tools the picture was worth way more than that as without the picture it became very difficult to decipher what the post was about.

That is very true, some of them were the most clever things I'd ever seen.

[Dave C]

Ok, so should I stop adding posts to my 5 page thread about repairing a log splitter? It has no machining content. It was started as a quest for advice, since I have limited experience with hydraulics, and need/appreciate all the help that was offered.

[Doc Nickel]

Ok, so should I stop adding posts to my 5 page thread about repairing a log splitter? It has no machining content. It was started as a quest for advice, since I have limited experience with hydraulics, and need/appreciate all the help that was offered.

-Is your thread several hundred pages, multiple thousands of posts and over a decade old? Do people post unrelated content in your thread, that properly belongs in their own threads?

Than no.

While this is a machinists' site, 'off topic' stuff is by no means not permitted- more than a few people have shown welding, sheetmetal or even carpentry projects.

What I'm objecting to, is that a huge percentage OF that machining content, that should be out in the normal forum where regular readers and typical passersby can read and respond to it, are instead stuffed into a proverbial back closet, seen only by a fraction of the local traffic and unlocatable/unsearchable by any interested party.

I mean, why do we even have a board for people to post machining content to, if no one posts it where it's intended to go?

Doc.

[J Tiers]

I think that most people were complaining that the pictures were what made the "shop made tools" thread interesting and when the offsite host decided to delete them the whole thread became worthless. While the quote, "a picture is worth a thousand words" is relevant, for some of the tools the picture was worth way more than that as without the picture it became very difficult to decipher what the post was about.

True.

But that thread was the poster child for all mega-threads. It should have been shot in the head early on, when it began to suck up all the machining posts. I don't know where it went, but good riddance.

Worthless thread. Not the content, but the format. It was just about unsearchable, and I don't miss it.

I posted a couple things in it early, before it became the big alligator in the pond swallowing all. Even got the free copy of the first book. Then I stopped because it was worthless as a reference, and I did not want to encourage it.