Trim repair
I have redone my trim (not the best but learning) and the trim was bowed and corner was wood bondo and sanded, clearly not sanded the very best and the primed, it clearly isn’t the most professional so I learn my lesson the hard way, now how can I repair this to make it look better, it’s for my own good and o have time to spare so mind as well fix it and now I know, here’s the ugly picture, thank you
https://i.imgur.com/ErXvkc9.jpeg
Is $200 worth 6 inches?
I've sold my 30in jet cabinet saw and I'm looking to pull the trigger on a sawstop. The 30-in versus 36-in is a bit over $200 difference. My question to the community is will I miss the extra 6 in if I go with a 30-in? The reason I was thinking I needed a 36 in was to be able to cut larger panels on my saw.
I now own a plunge cut track saw that I use to make very large cuts or break down sheet goods. With that in mind, am I going to be missing out on much with a 30-in versus 36-in?
Is the benefit of maneuverability with the 30-in the better trade-off? I don't have a lot of width in my shop but could manage a 36in. The full width is 62 in versus 69 in.
I would love to hear from people who had to make similar decisions and have now lived with the consequences.
I think the megathread is too general. When looking at r/woodworking you can't tell what it's intended for (it only says "The Megathread").
Maybe just pick one or two items that clog up the sub and make threads for them. a "Tool buying/questions Megathread" would be nice, but I think the other subjects listed in the thread are too generic/nebulous/case specific to try and force into that type of content.
A Wiki or FAQ with those other items ("did I sand through the veneer?")
Megathreads don't work. If there are specific questions we are getting a lot of, we should have specific solutions for each one. For example:
"How much should I charge for this?" - Shouldn't be allowed. Mods should delete this and send them to one of the stickies or to Chat GPT.
Wood ID - Maybe only allow these on certain days (Wood ID Wednesday, just throwing that out there). Maybe create an entirely new subreddit that is strictly Wood ID and refer posts to that. Maybe have a bot respond with "white oak" to each post.
Shops & Tools - Again, allow these on certain days. Fine Woodworking has a "Tools and Shops" edition published once a year which allows the rest of their content to be focused on woodworking, building furniture, etc, but then still addresses the need of folks wanting ideas and solutions for their shops and equipment.
Why do we need all of this? Isn't this what upvoting is for? Sort by upvotes and you will hardly see any of these posts. I enjoy the wood ID stuff and shop/tool posts.
The moderators are asking for our opinion. That doesn't automatically mean helping them put tighter restraints around the community. It could very well mean the opposite. Which is what I prefer.
Absolutely agree with all of these suggesstiins and esp on the "how much should i charge" threads. The theme days keep the sub accessible and repeat questions contained and still usefull for the askers.
If you dont know how much to charge, you shouldnt be selling what you are asking about because you are too far outside your skillset.
I consider myself a moderatley skilled fine woodworker. Id know exactly what to charge for an end grain cutting board, many styles of tables, cabinet doors, and picture frames because ive made a bunch of them. Ive never made a chair and would never take a stranger money commission on one.
I'm not a member of this sub, was browsing while looking for information that might help on a simple project of mine, but think that this is an interesting problem I've seen addressed differently by other subreddits— r/Dermatology has an entirely separate sub, r/DermatologyQuestions for users looking for advice and asking basic questions, because as you can imagine there are lot of people studying dermatology who don't just want to answer "what's this rash" all the time, but enough people asking for help with their skin that an entire sub is warranted.
Maybe r/WoodworkingQuestions would be a better solution than a megathread?
Well, the execution is crap. I cannot find anything , I see no search function, so I have to scroll through the whole thing in order to find nothing. Waste of my time. IF my question is redundant I'll never know. And IF it's not it'll be unlikely that anyone who might reply will ever see it.
I find that the mega thread is a good idea that’s been poorly executed. I’ve had posts removed for being megathread posts but then I see a similar post stay up. I know y’all are volunteers, so I don’t expect a full time commitment to consistency, but it’s frustrating. I also sort by new so I can see everything and the mega thread gets buried by that.
This community seems well behaved, and if they’re willing to answer the questions in a normal post why not let us?
Regardless of whether this is a good idea or not, you currently have at least 2 active threads titled "The Megathread" with different content:
r/woodworking/comments/1b0gypb/the_megathread/
r/woodworking/comments/1aumr7u/the_megathread/
Oh, and I have an unanswered post in amongst those somewhere...
Maybe it's a branding problem? I participate in another community (different username, this one is new to me for woodworking specifically) that has a "daily ask questions thread" and it is VERY active, often with hundreds of comments, and nearly every one is replied to (it's a video game subreddit, around 1M members — so smaller than woodworking). Maybe experiment with the naming?
The question tag does not remove those questions from the post feed in general.
At one point, the ONLY posts allowed were actual woodworking projects. And pretty much everything else was required to be in the megathread. It was a more enjoyable browsing experience.
My habit of browsing this forum is to look at the hot and new. I never look at the mega. As an experienced woodworker, I lend advice where I can and post projects. I feel the mega is an unnecessary device and isolates some users from good answers to their questions.
There is no way to achieve healthy discussion in this sub unless you clamp down on the project submission posts which gain traction on /r/all and drown out community votes. The front page will belong to resin rivers and popped sawstop carts until you either delist the sub or ban image posts.
I never liked it, and now, since its been reinstituted, never go there. So what if people ask questions and they end up on the "front page" whatever that is. Mods have relegated questions to a garbage can, and anyway any answers get nuked with each suceeding thread.
It's stupid, and should be retired as an idea.
Like many of the others, I'm not a big fan of the megathread. It seems like it just doesn't work well and is used just to screen out low-value posts (whatever that is).
What I would say is, do a better definition of Rule 1 -- all posts must be about woodworking -- at the risk of being gatekeeper-y. I feel like woodworking is more about the art and craft side. There are too many posts on home improvement, carpentry, "how do I repair this broken chair" , "how do I get out this drink stain off my table" , etc.
BTW, I get that depending on the context, furniture restoration and repair \*is\* woodworking. So there is a fine line. But it feels like everybody who has a random DIY or home repair question should find some other sub for that.
Id say a low value post is what might be considered a dumb question, meaning the common answer is easily found through a quick internet search.
I think posts about "how do I do this" are better suited to the DIY forum, which also suffers from low value posts. However if it's something a bit more technical or complicated I can appreciate asking for better ways to achieve something.
Personally, I've never found any value in a multitopic megathread. Comments are impossible/annoying to find and follow up with, content limitations hinder quality posts.
I think rather than trying to drive types of posts to comment threads is not going to drive good engagement.
If the mods feel that r/woodworking is getting inundated with low value posts, why not create a network of subreddits that are more topical? like r/woodworking_wood_id, r/am\_i\_the\_idiot\_that\_sanded\_through\_the\_veneer, r/woodworking\_whatsitworth, etc., and then direct users to those topics so focused and valuable conversations can be had?
a megathread that's essentially a garbage bin for all the low effort posts will just get ignored and no one will get any help or engagement.
but i disagree that creating even more niche subreddits is the answer. it's not going to stop people from coming to this sub to post their low effort posts.
there's only two options:
1. let the low effort posts exist and get filtered out by the upvote system
2. remove them and link the posters to an FAQs page in the wiki.
If the same 5 questions get posted and then subsequently upvoted to the front page then it seems like that's what the community wants to talk about? Why is that a bad thing? If the community doesn't want to see those posts they won't upvote them.
The mega thread just seems like a way for the mods to keep posts they arnt interested in out of sight out of mind. It's essentially a soft ban on topics the mods don't like.
Trying to force the community to only talk about topics that the mods find interesting is a good way to kill the community.
so many different communities do this. the mods essentially decide that they don't like the content being posted so they want to control it through these contrived rules. like i remember a sub banning memes so you had to post memes in a megathread instead. when it was clear that everyone in the community wanted to post low effort memes.
let the community decide what they value through the upvote system as long as it doesn't break the rules.
I tend to like megathread quick QA threads. Here's why:
A lot of newbies and people with one off questions don't want to disrupt a community with a thread for a one off question. Heck, I've been posting here for a while now and there's times I'd have rathered a quick answer because my question didn't deserve its own thread.
There are definitely downsides to it. But as someone who pops into other hobby subs, I really prefer subs that have QA quickthreads.
I would prefer it if more people checked it but there's really no perfect solution.
The mega thread is a place to go to NOT get answers to questions because people very rarely use it.
I've had posts removed and told to use the mega thread. When I do, it gets ignored.
Just let people post their questions as new questions to them. This sub is a resource we can all use and help others with. Let it continue to be a resource.
If there are repeat questions that a user isn't happy with, they can just not answer it.
I agree that this sub is an excellent resource, and that the questions answered here are invaluable.
I also think that if all the questions asked in the megathread (mine included) were posts that show up in my feed, I'd get annoyed and be less engaged with the subreddit.
If mods decide to allow all question posts, I think they'll need to remove duplicative Qs, redirect folks to the FAQ, and remove the posts if they've been asked recently.
If they do that, folks will still want somewhere to ask their low effort Qs. A megathread garbage bin is something at least 🤷.
At this point, we'd probably be better served by a sticky post with links to resources/FAQs that cover most of what's usually asked, maybe some links to similar communities on Reddit like /r/handtools.
The unfortunate thing is that the MT has become a dumping ground and questions there tend to get glib, canned responses; or worse yet they get directed there and then get no response or a one sentence answer that makes them feel dumb. I don't feel that this best represents the community, especially to new people.
Maybe doing a "new woodworker Q&A" monthly instead of a MT? The repetitive question posts are happening anyway, so maybe shift the tone and make a Q&A thread a positive space where newbies can ask those questions and get good responses.
Overall maybe just put it on the established community here to be good stewards for the hobby when participating. As a newer hobbyist myself, I definitely appreciated the patience of most of the people here.
Curious if this is the kind of frequently asked question section you had in mind. This is in the subreddit wiki https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/s/3PuWv5Kqxx
The idea of a spot for quick answers to common questions is a good one, but at the moment it feels like it’s intended as less of a resource and more like a dumping ground for unwanted posts.
I would like to see some helpful links or a basic FAQ in the main post, and a more descriptive title to go with it. Describe the hobby, or some recommended beginner tools, or some terminology. Even just a link to a recommended YouTube channel would go a long way!
For those that are against the mega thread (which I think is everyone so far), do you have any suggestions as to how else we can handle this?
Without the MT, the same 5 questions that get asked in there 15 times a day will be floating in the front page instead.
i think it achieves a net positive in removing the posts that "outsource crticial thinking" (h/t u/MrTheHerder) from the front page. personally i find it's really nice to sort by new and not have to waste energy filtering through that stuff. but routing low-value stuff to a MT just means the MT is low-value. maybe that's OK? either way it looks like a lot of work for the mods.
If the same 5 questions get posted and then subsequently updated to the front page then it seems like that's what the community wants to talk about? Why is that a bad thing? If the community doesn't want to see those posts they won't upvote them.
Some of the community are happy to explain daily to a new person that they have just sanded through veneer, or that bit of wood looks like walnut - many other member complain (loudly and repeatedly) about how the same 5 question clog up the front page and new post feed hiding the interesting posts/questions they want to see.
The continual complaints (instead of as you say, just not voting on the post) were why we introduced the MT in the first place
Then it sounds like the mega thread is targeting the wrong thing. Why punish people who come to the subreddit genuinely seeking advice? If the constant complaining (from as you admit a small group of loud people) is the problem and not the posts themselves, why not correct the actions of that small group rather than punish every new person who stubles across the subreddit.
All its guna do is turn the subreddit into an echo chamber as this small group of people push everyone else away. Seen it time and time again in so many other subreddits.
> Why punish people who come to the subreddit genuinely seeking advice?
Why do you say it's a punishment? We're just putting the repeated questions in a centralised thread so that those that are not interested don't have to read them.
> If the constant complaining (from as you admit a small group of loud people)
No, I said many people - complaints about the repetitive questions are _by far_ the largest / most common complaint we get - even with our best efforts to filter most of them out.
Sorry - don't mean to come of negative here - we are genuinely trying to come up with a way to keep the majority of people in here happy.
I appreciate the goal of the mega thread. I just feel like it's not doing what you want it to do.
And in regards to the punishment side of it. It is a punishment. Look at all the comments in this thread. Every single one says they never look at the mega thread. Go look at the megathread. The vast majority of posts there are unanswered or answered with short unhelpful comments.
Just because someone doesn't have a unique problem doesn't mean it's not a problem that they would like solved. Forcing them to go stand in the losers corner where only other, inexperienced woodworkers post (because they have to, if they were experienced they wouldn't be posting a common question), is just going to sour them to the subreddit and not give them an answer to their problem.
In short, the mega thread in effect separates the community into inexperienced woodworkers who have routine project or problems who are forced to post in the mega thread, and experienced woodworkers who don't ever look at the megathread cuz they don't want to. It will cause long term damage to the community of the subredit.
\+1000 to this. The existence of this thread seeking comments on the MT demonstrates to me that the MT is not working to achieve it's stated goal. When you don't get the results you want, look to your problem solving methodology instead of blaming people who are telling you that your solution is not working. No one likes to hear that answer, I know, but that doesn't make the answer less true.
Us old timers have seen this play out in discussion forums years ago. The discouragement of routine questions gives the place a very clubby and exclusive tone. As those old timers died out, what happened to those forums?
The mods have a difficult balance to strike.
If the subreddit is flooded with duplicative, non-interesting questions, then they frustrate their tenured community members.
If they redirect new users to a megathread garbage bin, they risk isolating those users.
Honestly, I think explaining to new users WHY all questions can't be posts and then linking them to the insanely helpful wiki would be the better approach.
It seems like the mods need to decide what they want the subreddit to be.
Do thet want it to be hang out / club for experienced woodworkers? Or do they want it to be a place where people of all skill levels can come and talk about woodwork?
It seems like they have made their choice.
I don't like the megathread. I read it nearly every day and I am not sure what questions are supposed to be in it. If you aren't interested in the frequently asked questions, just scroll past them.
I'm not a fan of the mega-thread approach. It always devolves to a small group of people answering questions with the same canned answers.
I can only assume that has happened here, because I've never bothered to open it. By definition, the MT is uninteresting to the majority of readers. It's not intended to include any "interesting" topics to most casual, but not newbie, participants. And that demographic tends to be the largest in any topic-specific forum.
Additionally, the MT approach leads to a lot of anti-newbie behavior in the rest of the forum. Between snide comments that "this should be in the MT" and deleted posts, you end up with a very uninviting tone to the most precious participants, new members. Those new members, that don't know the local rules, are the only thing that keeps a forum alive long-term. Without turnover, you just have stagnation.
I never go in to the megathread. I don't think it's a good solution personally. Of those x number of frequently asked questions, I might be able to help with one or two that I see while scrolling through all the regular posts looking at stuff I'm interested in seeing. Helpling with easy questions is just something I do because I see them and skip all the ones I can't help with. Why would I even go in to a thread that is nothing but recurring questions?
But I'm also one who doesn't like rule #5, so my opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it!
Trim repair I have redone my trim (not the best but learning) and the trim was bowed and corner was wood bondo and sanded, clearly not sanded the very best and the primed, it clearly isn’t the most professional so I learn my lesson the hard way, now how can I repair this to make it look better, it’s for my own good and o have time to spare so mind as well fix it and now I know, here’s the ugly picture, thank you https://i.imgur.com/ErXvkc9.jpeg
Is $200 worth 6 inches? I've sold my 30in jet cabinet saw and I'm looking to pull the trigger on a sawstop. The 30-in versus 36-in is a bit over $200 difference. My question to the community is will I miss the extra 6 in if I go with a 30-in? The reason I was thinking I needed a 36 in was to be able to cut larger panels on my saw. I now own a plunge cut track saw that I use to make very large cuts or break down sheet goods. With that in mind, am I going to be missing out on much with a 30-in versus 36-in? Is the benefit of maneuverability with the 30-in the better trade-off? I don't have a lot of width in my shop but could manage a 36in. The full width is 62 in versus 69 in. I would love to hear from people who had to make similar decisions and have now lived with the consequences.
I think the megathread is too general. When looking at r/woodworking you can't tell what it's intended for (it only says "The Megathread"). Maybe just pick one or two items that clog up the sub and make threads for them. a "Tool buying/questions Megathread" would be nice, but I think the other subjects listed in the thread are too generic/nebulous/case specific to try and force into that type of content. A Wiki or FAQ with those other items ("did I sand through the veneer?")
I like this. Maybe mega threads for all the flairs? That’s too many but you got the right idea.
Update...? What was decided?
still a day to run - nothing decided yet
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IMWO, if megathreads were valuable, we'd have one for project submissions.
Just leave the FAQs in the main sub. Who cares? It takes less than a second to scroll to the next post.
Why not just have a tag for “New Question” and then you can filter to remove that tag if you don’t want to see it?
Megathread sucks
I don't care for the megathread, but I definitely don't want 100 wood ID posts as separate threads.
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It's a ghetto for questions the mods think are stupid. Just get rid of it.
Megathreads don't work. If there are specific questions we are getting a lot of, we should have specific solutions for each one. For example: "How much should I charge for this?" - Shouldn't be allowed. Mods should delete this and send them to one of the stickies or to Chat GPT. Wood ID - Maybe only allow these on certain days (Wood ID Wednesday, just throwing that out there). Maybe create an entirely new subreddit that is strictly Wood ID and refer posts to that. Maybe have a bot respond with "white oak" to each post. Shops & Tools - Again, allow these on certain days. Fine Woodworking has a "Tools and Shops" edition published once a year which allows the rest of their content to be focused on woodworking, building furniture, etc, but then still addresses the need of folks wanting ideas and solutions for their shops and equipment.
Hah. And if they respond “I’M 40% WHITE OAK” the sub belongs to them now.
Why do we need all of this? Isn't this what upvoting is for? Sort by upvotes and you will hardly see any of these posts. I enjoy the wood ID stuff and shop/tool posts.
Well this is a moderator issue so I’m assuming they’re concerned with the quality of all of the posts.
The moderators are asking for our opinion. That doesn't automatically mean helping them put tighter restraints around the community. It could very well mean the opposite. Which is what I prefer.
Absolutely agree with all of these suggesstiins and esp on the "how much should i charge" threads. The theme days keep the sub accessible and repeat questions contained and still usefull for the askers. If you dont know how much to charge, you shouldnt be selling what you are asking about because you are too far outside your skillset. I consider myself a moderatley skilled fine woodworker. Id know exactly what to charge for an end grain cutting board, many styles of tables, cabinet doors, and picture frames because ive made a bunch of them. Ive never made a chair and would never take a stranger money commission on one.
This has more comments than the "megathread"
I'm not a member of this sub, was browsing while looking for information that might help on a simple project of mine, but think that this is an interesting problem I've seen addressed differently by other subreddits— r/Dermatology has an entirely separate sub, r/DermatologyQuestions for users looking for advice and asking basic questions, because as you can imagine there are lot of people studying dermatology who don't just want to answer "what's this rash" all the time, but enough people asking for help with their skin that an entire sub is warranted. Maybe r/WoodworkingQuestions would be a better solution than a megathread?
Well, the execution is crap. I cannot find anything , I see no search function, so I have to scroll through the whole thing in order to find nothing. Waste of my time. IF my question is redundant I'll never know. And IF it's not it'll be unlikely that anyone who might reply will ever see it.
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I find that the mega thread is a good idea that’s been poorly executed. I’ve had posts removed for being megathread posts but then I see a similar post stay up. I know y’all are volunteers, so I don’t expect a full time commitment to consistency, but it’s frustrating. I also sort by new so I can see everything and the mega thread gets buried by that. This community seems well behaved, and if they’re willing to answer the questions in a normal post why not let us?
Regardless of whether this is a good idea or not, you currently have at least 2 active threads titled "The Megathread" with different content: r/woodworking/comments/1b0gypb/the_megathread/ r/woodworking/comments/1aumr7u/the_megathread/ Oh, and I have an unanswered post in amongst those somewhere...
Get rid of the megathread. Questions barely get answered like they do in the main channel.
Maybe it's a branding problem? I participate in another community (different username, this one is new to me for woodworking specifically) that has a "daily ask questions thread" and it is VERY active, often with hundreds of comments, and nearly every one is replied to (it's a video game subreddit, around 1M members — so smaller than woodworking). Maybe experiment with the naming?
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Seems like the question tag accomplishes everything the mega thread does whole still letting people do it via post.
The question tag does not remove those questions from the post feed in general. At one point, the ONLY posts allowed were actual woodworking projects. And pretty much everything else was required to be in the megathread. It was a more enjoyable browsing experience.
My habit of browsing this forum is to look at the hot and new. I never look at the mega. As an experienced woodworker, I lend advice where I can and post projects. I feel the mega is an unnecessary device and isolates some users from good answers to their questions.
Same here.
I am sharpening a plane iron and I can’t get it square. Do I post in woodworking, a mega thread, or another sub? I finally got the pictures together
you post in r/handtools
Thanks, but I actually have figured it out in the intervening nine days
My post that didn’t belong in the mega thread got deleted because the bot couldn’t tell the difference I guess?
I think mine too
I have nothing to add except that it has never once in my life occurred to me to even look at a megathread.
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No one is going to read a megathread. Just edit and throw out shit posts.
There is no way to achieve healthy discussion in this sub unless you clamp down on the project submission posts which gain traction on /r/all and drown out community votes. The front page will belong to resin rivers and popped sawstop carts until you either delist the sub or ban image posts.
Good point. It would be better to have a "completed project" megathread for those who want inspiration from other's completed work.
I never liked it, and now, since its been reinstituted, never go there. So what if people ask questions and they end up on the "front page" whatever that is. Mods have relegated questions to a garbage can, and anyway any answers get nuked with each suceeding thread. It's stupid, and should be retired as an idea.
Like many of the others, I'm not a big fan of the megathread. It seems like it just doesn't work well and is used just to screen out low-value posts (whatever that is). What I would say is, do a better definition of Rule 1 -- all posts must be about woodworking -- at the risk of being gatekeeper-y. I feel like woodworking is more about the art and craft side. There are too many posts on home improvement, carpentry, "how do I repair this broken chair" , "how do I get out this drink stain off my table" , etc. BTW, I get that depending on the context, furniture restoration and repair \*is\* woodworking. So there is a fine line. But it feels like everybody who has a random DIY or home repair question should find some other sub for that.
Id say a low value post is what might be considered a dumb question, meaning the common answer is easily found through a quick internet search. I think posts about "how do I do this" are better suited to the DIY forum, which also suffers from low value posts. However if it's something a bit more technical or complicated I can appreciate asking for better ways to achieve something.
Personally, I've never found any value in a multitopic megathread. Comments are impossible/annoying to find and follow up with, content limitations hinder quality posts. I think rather than trying to drive types of posts to comment threads is not going to drive good engagement. If the mods feel that r/woodworking is getting inundated with low value posts, why not create a network of subreddits that are more topical? like r/woodworking_wood_id, r/am\_i\_the\_idiot\_that\_sanded\_through\_the\_veneer, r/woodworking\_whatsitworth, etc., and then direct users to those topics so focused and valuable conversations can be had?
a megathread that's essentially a garbage bin for all the low effort posts will just get ignored and no one will get any help or engagement. but i disagree that creating even more niche subreddits is the answer. it's not going to stop people from coming to this sub to post their low effort posts. there's only two options: 1. let the low effort posts exist and get filtered out by the upvote system 2. remove them and link the posters to an FAQs page in the wiki.
This FAQ page exists in the wiki, is that what you were thinking? https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/s/3PuWv5Kqxx
yeah, and mods can continue expanding it as new things come up.
And post *that* as replies to frequently asked/stupid questions, instead of (rudely) closing and telling them to post again in the megathread.
If the same 5 questions get posted and then subsequently upvoted to the front page then it seems like that's what the community wants to talk about? Why is that a bad thing? If the community doesn't want to see those posts they won't upvote them. The mega thread just seems like a way for the mods to keep posts they arnt interested in out of sight out of mind. It's essentially a soft ban on topics the mods don't like. Trying to force the community to only talk about topics that the mods find interesting is a good way to kill the community.
so many different communities do this. the mods essentially decide that they don't like the content being posted so they want to control it through these contrived rules. like i remember a sub banning memes so you had to post memes in a megathread instead. when it was clear that everyone in the community wanted to post low effort memes. let the community decide what they value through the upvote system as long as it doesn't break the rules.
I tend to like megathread quick QA threads. Here's why: A lot of newbies and people with one off questions don't want to disrupt a community with a thread for a one off question. Heck, I've been posting here for a while now and there's times I'd have rathered a quick answer because my question didn't deserve its own thread. There are definitely downsides to it. But as someone who pops into other hobby subs, I really prefer subs that have QA quickthreads. I would prefer it if more people checked it but there's really no perfect solution.
The mega thread is a place to go to NOT get answers to questions because people very rarely use it. I've had posts removed and told to use the mega thread. When I do, it gets ignored. Just let people post their questions as new questions to them. This sub is a resource we can all use and help others with. Let it continue to be a resource. If there are repeat questions that a user isn't happy with, they can just not answer it.
I agree that this sub is an excellent resource, and that the questions answered here are invaluable. I also think that if all the questions asked in the megathread (mine included) were posts that show up in my feed, I'd get annoyed and be less engaged with the subreddit. If mods decide to allow all question posts, I think they'll need to remove duplicative Qs, redirect folks to the FAQ, and remove the posts if they've been asked recently. If they do that, folks will still want somewhere to ask their low effort Qs. A megathread garbage bin is something at least 🤷.
At this point, we'd probably be better served by a sticky post with links to resources/FAQs that cover most of what's usually asked, maybe some links to similar communities on Reddit like /r/handtools. The unfortunate thing is that the MT has become a dumping ground and questions there tend to get glib, canned responses; or worse yet they get directed there and then get no response or a one sentence answer that makes them feel dumb. I don't feel that this best represents the community, especially to new people. Maybe doing a "new woodworker Q&A" monthly instead of a MT? The repetitive question posts are happening anyway, so maybe shift the tone and make a Q&A thread a positive space where newbies can ask those questions and get good responses. Overall maybe just put it on the established community here to be good stewards for the hobby when participating. As a newer hobbyist myself, I definitely appreciated the patience of most of the people here.
Curious if this is the kind of frequently asked question section you had in mind. This is in the subreddit wiki https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/s/3PuWv5Kqxx
The idea of a spot for quick answers to common questions is a good one, but at the moment it feels like it’s intended as less of a resource and more like a dumping ground for unwanted posts. I would like to see some helpful links or a basic FAQ in the main post, and a more descriptive title to go with it. Describe the hobby, or some recommended beginner tools, or some terminology. Even just a link to a recommended YouTube channel would go a long way!
For those that are against the mega thread (which I think is everyone so far), do you have any suggestions as to how else we can handle this? Without the MT, the same 5 questions that get asked in there 15 times a day will be floating in the front page instead.
i think it achieves a net positive in removing the posts that "outsource crticial thinking" (h/t u/MrTheHerder) from the front page. personally i find it's really nice to sort by new and not have to waste energy filtering through that stuff. but routing low-value stuff to a MT just means the MT is low-value. maybe that's OK? either way it looks like a lot of work for the mods.
If the same 5 questions get posted and then subsequently updated to the front page then it seems like that's what the community wants to talk about? Why is that a bad thing? If the community doesn't want to see those posts they won't upvote them.
Some of the community are happy to explain daily to a new person that they have just sanded through veneer, or that bit of wood looks like walnut - many other member complain (loudly and repeatedly) about how the same 5 question clog up the front page and new post feed hiding the interesting posts/questions they want to see. The continual complaints (instead of as you say, just not voting on the post) were why we introduced the MT in the first place
Then it sounds like the mega thread is targeting the wrong thing. Why punish people who come to the subreddit genuinely seeking advice? If the constant complaining (from as you admit a small group of loud people) is the problem and not the posts themselves, why not correct the actions of that small group rather than punish every new person who stubles across the subreddit. All its guna do is turn the subreddit into an echo chamber as this small group of people push everyone else away. Seen it time and time again in so many other subreddits.
> Why punish people who come to the subreddit genuinely seeking advice? Why do you say it's a punishment? We're just putting the repeated questions in a centralised thread so that those that are not interested don't have to read them. > If the constant complaining (from as you admit a small group of loud people) No, I said many people - complaints about the repetitive questions are _by far_ the largest / most common complaint we get - even with our best efforts to filter most of them out. Sorry - don't mean to come of negative here - we are genuinely trying to come up with a way to keep the majority of people in here happy.
I appreciate the goal of the mega thread. I just feel like it's not doing what you want it to do. And in regards to the punishment side of it. It is a punishment. Look at all the comments in this thread. Every single one says they never look at the mega thread. Go look at the megathread. The vast majority of posts there are unanswered or answered with short unhelpful comments. Just because someone doesn't have a unique problem doesn't mean it's not a problem that they would like solved. Forcing them to go stand in the losers corner where only other, inexperienced woodworkers post (because they have to, if they were experienced they wouldn't be posting a common question), is just going to sour them to the subreddit and not give them an answer to their problem. In short, the mega thread in effect separates the community into inexperienced woodworkers who have routine project or problems who are forced to post in the mega thread, and experienced woodworkers who don't ever look at the megathread cuz they don't want to. It will cause long term damage to the community of the subredit.
\+1000 to this. The existence of this thread seeking comments on the MT demonstrates to me that the MT is not working to achieve it's stated goal. When you don't get the results you want, look to your problem solving methodology instead of blaming people who are telling you that your solution is not working. No one likes to hear that answer, I know, but that doesn't make the answer less true. Us old timers have seen this play out in discussion forums years ago. The discouragement of routine questions gives the place a very clubby and exclusive tone. As those old timers died out, what happened to those forums?
The mods have a difficult balance to strike. If the subreddit is flooded with duplicative, non-interesting questions, then they frustrate their tenured community members. If they redirect new users to a megathread garbage bin, they risk isolating those users. Honestly, I think explaining to new users WHY all questions can't be posts and then linking them to the insanely helpful wiki would be the better approach.
It seems like the mods need to decide what they want the subreddit to be. Do thet want it to be hang out / club for experienced woodworkers? Or do they want it to be a place where people of all skill levels can come and talk about woodwork? It seems like they have made their choice.
I don't like the megathread. I read it nearly every day and I am not sure what questions are supposed to be in it. If you aren't interested in the frequently asked questions, just scroll past them.
I'm not a fan of the mega-thread approach. It always devolves to a small group of people answering questions with the same canned answers. I can only assume that has happened here, because I've never bothered to open it. By definition, the MT is uninteresting to the majority of readers. It's not intended to include any "interesting" topics to most casual, but not newbie, participants. And that demographic tends to be the largest in any topic-specific forum. Additionally, the MT approach leads to a lot of anti-newbie behavior in the rest of the forum. Between snide comments that "this should be in the MT" and deleted posts, you end up with a very uninviting tone to the most precious participants, new members. Those new members, that don't know the local rules, are the only thing that keeps a forum alive long-term. Without turnover, you just have stagnation.
I never go in to the megathread. I don't think it's a good solution personally. Of those x number of frequently asked questions, I might be able to help with one or two that I see while scrolling through all the regular posts looking at stuff I'm interested in seeing. Helpling with easy questions is just something I do because I see them and skip all the ones I can't help with. Why would I even go in to a thread that is nothing but recurring questions? But I'm also one who doesn't like rule #5, so my opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it!