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Thread: Lack of activity

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    3rd rock
    Posts
    115

    Lightbulb Lack of activity

    This forum appears to have lost momentum.
    This used to be a go-to place for information, but the activity has declined significantly.
    Are people moving away from this brand?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Elgin Illinois
    Posts
    706

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    Hello 8Ball. As a fact, the traffic is clearly down. I agree, things used to be really jumping here. And going back to look at old posts, from before I joined up, maybe 10 years ago, things appeared to be even more lively here. So it would appear without actually analyzing anything, there has been a long term downward trending.

    However, as to the cause, I don't want to speculate. But I hope that whatever needs to happen to make things hop here, can be identified and acted upon. Certainly a good forum was an important thing for me to attract me to Shopbot in the first place.

    Chuck
    Chuck Keysor (circa 1956)
    PRT Alpha 60" x 144" (circa 2004)
    Columbo 5HP spindle
    Aspire 9.0, Rhino 5

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    7,832

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    summertime usually slows always.
    Words of Wisdom:
    “Words that sink into your ears are whispered…… not yelled”
    “The biggest trouble maker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every morn’n”
    “The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth”
    -----------
    Just remember...when it's time for the hearse to pull up..there's no luggage rack on top!
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    The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it...Thomas Jefferson

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Diamond Lake, WA
    Posts
    1,746

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    Quote Originally Posted by myxpykalix View Post
    summertime usually slows always.
    That and I think more and more people are moving away from SB as their technology falls further and further behind the competition.
    Don
    Diamond Lake Custom Woodworks, LLC
    www.dlwoodworks.com
    ***********************************
    Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece; But to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, bank accounts empty, credit cards maxed out, defiantly shouting "Geronimo"!

    If you make something idiot proof, all they do is create a better idiot.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Garland Tx
    Posts
    2,334

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    “This forum appears to have lost momentum.”

    I for one haven’t been posting as frequently… I still check in daily though.
    CNC has matured, there aren’t as many questions as there used to be… design software seems pretty bullet proof. I’ve matured… I still spend time in my shop doing what I enjoy most, making sawdust, but I had to enlist my grandsons today to help me find the floor!
    I’ll try to post more often… perhaps some of what I see as ordinary will inspire a newbie!

    SG

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    iBILD Solutions - Southern NJ
    Posts
    7,986

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    There are a number of reasons...some of which have been already mentioned.

    The givers got tired of the takers taking & expecting 'handouts'...so with no reciprocity to fill their cups as cohorts, they left. See? Socialism doesn't work

    Plus...attached...the devil is in the details. Put your glasses on.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    High Definition 3D Laser Scanning Services - Advanced ShopBot CNC Training and Consultation - Vectric Custom Video Training IBILD.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Marquette, MI
    Posts
    3,388

    Default

    [QUOTE=8Ball;204903]This forum appears to have lost momentum.
    This used to be a go-to place for information, but the activity has declined significantly.
    Are people moving away from this brand?
    AND:
    Thanks for pointing out the obvious. However, it isn't about myself. I have nothing to contribute, with all of the professionals that used to post on here.
    /QUOTE]

    I would say; asked and answered. I would especially note that a user that has posted 32 times in ~6 years calling out a signature line of another user that has posted near 8000 times over 15 years is beyond ludicrous, and since you for sure are not the first and only, your post may be a good indicator of WHY forum contributions are such low number and quality.

    Now my ~3800 posts over 12 years are not near Brady's ~8000 over 15 years, I can feel his pain. The pain occurs when you take of your own free time to post to assist a new guy and he wont do the same for the next new guy. You know, "pay it forward". "Pay it forward" has disappeared. When "pay it forward" disappears, so do the helpful.

    So as you ask your question, I would ask of you: Are YOU participating to be part of the solution, or does your lack of participation make you part of the problem?

    You may not like the "advertising" in some folks signatures. What you may not know that this is a form of self defense. Offering products for sale, gives a legitimate reason to no longer give away unlimited help for free. I would suppose most would look unkindly to that statement, but I doubt most know how overwhelming "helping" can get. When I was active on the forum, I received 25-30 emails a week requesting assistance. That number is down to usually under 5 now.

    Imagine that: 9 years after you sold your last ShopBot and 6 years after you left the company to join another, and a few years after you retired from that second company, I still get emails from ShopBotters looking for assistance. I am sure that someone who has chosen to post around 6 times per year can understand why I do not wish to give up my free time, or take away from my paid time to assist those that I don't know and have never heard from before, but since they have found my name associated with a possible answer to a similar problem on a forum I am honored with an email.

    One of the main reasons professionals don't post here is simple: Because they used to do it and others took their ideas and even their website pictures and info, and used them to provide lower priced versions for sale on the internet, effectively cutting the throat of those that were helpful. This forum is famous for that.

    Now for the reasons that I personally no longer post. The first is stated above, the PM and email requests for assistance were overwhelming, time consuming and of course, financially unrewarding, i.e. taking me away from paying jobs. That current paying job (part time in semi-retirement) is building CNC control boxes for those that cannot build their own. One of these products uses another brand of controller as a replacement to ShopBot's controller.

    ShopBot mgmt. has determined (correctly I might add) that I was violating the forum terms of use and sent me the following email:

    "(pleasantries removed)
    Asyou know from your years of active participation, we encourage open dialog,reviews, and even allow constructive criticism of our products on the ShopBotforum. The forum, which we make available to everyone, has pretty much alwaysbeen an open venue and with very little to no censoring of posts – we’d like tokeep it that way.

    However,there are occasions when we need to remind users that the forum is not a toolfor continual overt outside sales and promotions. Your ongoing use of theShopBot forum to market and sell the centroid/acorn product is not compatiblewith the overall function and spirit of the forum. It is not only inappropriate tocontinuously advertise a competing business on our forum, but against the rulesthat all forum users must agree to.

    Thankyou for the help you give overall on the forum, we do hope you continue helpingwith ShopBot-related questions. "

    I have chosen, since receipt of that email to no longer post here. If one were to do a search of those 2 words, Centroid and Acorn, you would find 5 threads that contain one or the other. I contributed to 3 of the 5. So, even tho I disagree and feel that they may have stretched the definitions of "continuing and overt" a bit I was promoting a competing product.

    I provide these control box products because I feel that they offer a smoother, quieter and faster cutting solution with higher cut quality at a lower price. Not just for SB machines but for others as well. A good number with OEM support and blessings.

    So obviously I have been doing more blatant advertising than Brady, as he doesn't seem to have pissed of the SB Gods, so count your blessings that he is still active here.

    I am not. This is my last post here, period.
    Gary Campbell
    GCnC Control
    GCnC411(at)gmail(dot)com
    Servo Controller Upgrades
    http://www.youtube.com/user/Islaww1


    "We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them"
    Albert Einstein


  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Hobby-Tronics, Chiloquin Oregon
    Posts
    1,356

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    In the past 11 years on this forum I am as guilty as anyone. I still 'lurk' here daily but rarely post anymore. I think back at what I used to post were my train / railroad related projects and my occasional question to the pros. After 11 years I guess I felt that youse' guys were tired of seeing stuff from Da Train Guy. As far as questions, after 11 years with my Bot I think I have 'solved' most of my issues! Maybe if 'we' all started posting to the gallery part of the forum some interest may come back. Anyhow, good thread, good answers (as always), and I hope a touch of vitamin C for this place! Russ
    AKA: Da Train Guy

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Willis Wharf, VA
    Posts
    1,764

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    Hey Russ,

    I stay pretty busy cutting and don't visit the forum as much as I should, but you inspired me to post a picture in the Show and Tell of some carpenter's pencils we engraved at SkillsUSA last week. We did close to 300 of them on a MAX over 3 days and although I'm not very 3-dimensional I think they turned out pretty nice.

    Bill
    p.s. your train stuff is VERY cool...I'm still available to be adopted :^)

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Gainesville Florida
    Posts
    128

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    All,
    I apologize as I have been one of those who hasn't posted much even though I have been checking the forum nearly every day since 2004. I also wish things on the forum and the community in general were as they used to be. I have met many of the big names on the forum as well as Ted and many of his crew. I am thankful to them all for the knowledge they have shared over the years. I admit that I am mostly self-taught but the teachings of Gary, Brady, Tim M., Michael T., Michael M.,and many others has been invaluable to me. I hadn't really considered the stress it had put on them, they were just always there. I will do my best to be a bigger presence on the forum and help carry the torch of all who came before me. I have owned 2 Shopbots since 2004 and may move on to bigger and better in the near future, but I will always be a botter at heart as it was my first. Thanks.

    Mark

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