Anyone heard from David Weaver?

[Robert McNaull]

I consider myself to be an internet friend of Dave, through two forums. I won't speculate on his reasons, but I wouldn't be surprised if you don't see him back. That said, don't feel responsible yourself. The prior forum actually asked him to leave. This time, the motivation was self-driven, at least. I see that as growth on his part. Maybe more woodworking and less posting would be a good prescription for him.

Well that is disappointing to hear, I frequently read here and don't post much because I don't have anything to add and really enjoy his posts. I enjoy a lot of folks around here who take the time to share their knowledge in an area that I will be a student for a long time. I read the thread shared by Winton and generally understand the frustration. Also to have to remember this is an internet forum and without actual face to face interaction, tone and attitude can only be interpreted and not observed.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Count me in the "Come back Dave!" club. I always enjoyed his input. While reading that thread Winton linked to as it developed, the reasons he left become obvious. The silent majority gets it Dave, you are not speaking in a vacuum when something you validate goes unresponsive except by the one you are debating.

[John Coloccia]

It's a forum. You don't get to preach. You get to have discussions with people that don't agree with you (even if they're wrong), and that may not even like you. I always try and take the approach of "here's my opinion, but try for yourself/don't try/do what you want...I don't care." When I find myself getting too wrapped up in it, like it actually matters, I take little breaks too until it's back in perspective. That's not always a bad thing.

[Daniel Rode]

I traded emails with David recently. While I miss his voice here, I understand his reasons for not participating here.

[george wilson]

Too bad David decided to end his membership here. The place will be missing his input and good sense.

[Sean Hughto]

I dunno, I can understand his frustration. It's only human to suffer pangs of "pearls before swine" thoughts, especially when the pearls get all mixed up with plastic imitations and too many can't tell the difference. May as well do something else, like make furniture.

[Moses Yoder]

The way I understand it everyone here posts voluntarily. If someone learns something they really do not have a moral obligation to share it freely, no matter how much it may improve the life of those people who learn of it. While I appreciated Mr. Weaver's posts while he was here, I will continue to learn just as much from the people who still post here. If someone decides not to post, I will simply continue to learn from the people who enjoy posting. It makes me no difference.

[Sean Hughto]

Yes, everyone is fungible and everyone's knowledge is equally valuable. It truly makes no difference.


eye roll eye roll sarcasm sarcasm sarcasm.

[george wilson]

Sean,I can hardly agree with your last post. How can everyone's knowledge be equally valuable? People have different knowledge and talent,and definitely some more than others. For example,David's knowledge of stones was outstanding,and I learned things from him that I doubt I'll learn elsewhere. He also put us onto the correct use of the chip breaker. That was very valuable information. Not being a furniture maker,I used only a block plane most of my years making guitars,and did not have that information.

Edit,Sean says it was a joke. Glad to hear that!

Moses,I seriously doubt that David's full knowledge is replaceable here.

[Judson Green]

And good sense of humor- who else will make a comparison to playing football wearing cast iron flip flops.

[Graham Haydon]

It's a shame he's not posting. He has a lot of good sense and I learned a lot from him. He did a good job of passing on knowledge he had gained through first hand experience.

[Paul McGaha]

David's a good man. I've asked him lot's of questions and he was always willing to help me.

I hope he finds his way back here.

PHM

[Mike Holbrook]

Communication via Forums can become frustrating. Certainly we can get tired, heated, preachy...and not make our best effort at being understood/communicating. Trying to "perfect" our message can become very time consuming and keep us from other things.

On subjects I am more technically versed than I am in the subject matter on this forum, I find that there are things to be learned even from those with little/no/incorrect...information/opinion. If one is trying to impart better information to an audience looking for that information there is certainly a great deal to learn concerning how to present better, more accurate, more helpful information in a format that the interested audience can glean that information from easily. There is always the challenge of saying more with less words. The biggest challenge for me is figuring out how to help people, including myself, have fun learning or teaching. If nothing else sometimes I learn what not to do.

[bob blakeborough]

It's a forum. You don't get to preach. You get to have discussions with people that don't agree with you (even if they're wrong), and that may not even like you. I always try and take the approach of "here's my opinion, but try for yourself/don't try/do what you want...I don't care." When I find myself getting too wrapped up in it, like it actually matters, I take little breaks too until it's back in perspective. That's not always a bad thing.

This in spades...

[Malcolm Schweizer]

This forum frequently has posts with thousands of views but only 10 or so people commenting. Those are not healthy stats. Add to that- good folks are departing. Red flags.

I believe forums have a life cycle similar to rivers: youthful, mature, old age, rejuvenated. SMC is in the old age stage; a small number of posters with high skill levels and few new posters. The new guys lurk because they love being fed, but they feel too inadequate compared to the members with high skill who frequently post. Those higher skilled folks tend to critique (*often unwittingly), and therefore people become afraid to post. Ultimately posts turn from "Here's what I'm building this week (photos)" to "Here's another very technical argument about something we have hashed out already but I love talking about (graphic data, photomicograph)."

Boom.

For an old age stream to rejuvenate, it has to meander back upon itself, ultimately cutting off an oxbow and creating a fresh channel where water flows more freely. The faster flowing water causes other parts of the river to follow suit, and soon you have a rejuvenated stream. *EDIT! This is not a reference to cutting off David or other members- I mean something must change to rejeuvenate and get the flow going. That could be something like getting rid of seldom-used subforums. Example- I am a boatbuilder. I teach boatbuilding. I think I have posted on the boatbuilding forum maybe four times. There are established boatbuilding forums for that. Maybe merge a few of these specialty categories to get more folks talking together instead of segregating them.

Perhaps that should become a new thread topic followed by asking people how to improve and why they don't post, especially begging lurkers to comment. I say this not negatively but because I see a need for it when so few are sharing and folks are leaving. We noticed David. How many did we not notice?