[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.