WBF changes coming?

[George.]

So, if the forum ends, will we know in advance when?

Or will we one day just never find it again?

[Joe (SoCal)]

Do we start an alternative web forum as a lifeboat incase this place sinks and I loose all of you ?

We have enough tech people here to collab to design, build, moderate & pay for storage. I'm in for design work, some funds, and whatever.

[L.W. Baxter]

Do we start an alternative web forum as a lifeboat incase this place sinks and I loose all of you ?

We have enough tech people here to collab to design, build, moderate & pay for storage. I'm in for design work, some funds, and whatever.

that ought to go over like liv golf. has-beens playing in shorts with crappy music blaring. no heat to the competition, no spectators, no past haunting hallowed ground, no new blood qualifying.

"man, this is fun. are you having fun?"

"oh yeah, this is great."

"hey, remember that time on the real forum when?"

"oh yeah, that was great."

"we had some great times back then eh."

"oh yeah".

"so...where is everybody?"

blub blub blub.

[Paul Pless]

**https://twodot.smugmug.com/Boat-photos

pr0n motherlode

[L.W. Baxter]

I was banned once* and had posts deleted. The banning was OK, but I thought that deleting posts, including some Japan photos, was unnecessary punishment.
By that point I had contributed wooden boat photography content to the forum worthy of the magazine.**

After that episode I developed an addiction to deleting posts...


*(Donn rudely trolled me on his thread, then pushed the button on me for posting videos of goats jumping on things)

**https://twodot.smugmug.com/Boat-photos

that some lose posts and others not has always been puzzling. some lifetime bans, too. but the forum administration has always been the largely improvised vision of one person, standards and judgments the ad hoc product of one mind. and he did alright. pretty good, actually, better than most could manage.

[L.W. Baxter]

banned for life.

i suggested he make a new login. the guy who banned him is gone. loads of socks have come and gone. nobody cares.

but john t. has his idea of honor, and there is no arguing with a texan.

[Peerie Maa]

fondly i recall how i posted the g.o.t. cuntsplice video to katherine's thread complaining about cuntsplices. scot sent me a warning and took the youtube vid down. i missed the warning in the inbox and reposted the vid (i may have been drunk too soon), whereupon i had two months of posts deleted and was banned for two more. for the word "c--t". in a youtube video. a good lesson in the arbitrary and capricious nature of gawd. thanks scot.

Yep, at the time of the Hebdo killings I posted a political cartoon from an internationally respected broad sheet that contained an F bomb, for which I was banned.
It was an image, not text, so a web crawler would not find it, but hey, rules is rules.

P.S. I believe that it is spelled Cont Splice, from the contline on a rope. But that was probably a bowdlerization of the original talk like a pirate pronunciation.

[Yeadon]

Well, looks like ya'll of us are going to get downsized with the latest tech layoffs. I'm sure a new forum will hire us and we'll learn to be happy there too.

[WI-Tom]

Meh. With McMullen gone, the Forum's been dead to me since around 2014.

Tom

[Breakaway]

Do we start an alternative web forum as a lifeboat incase this place sinks and I loose all of you ?

We have enough tech people here to collab to design, build, moderate & pay for storage. I'm in for design work, some funds, and whatever.

To quote Bill Joel ( and paraphrase any number of other artists):

From the high to the low to
The end of the show
For the rest of their lives
They couldn't go back to
The greasers
The best they could do was
Pick up the pieces
We always knew they would both
Find a way to get by
That's all I heard about
Brenda and Eddie
Can't tell you more than I
Told you already
And here we are wavin' Brenda
And Eddie goodbye

<font color="#202124"><span style="font-family: Roboto">

Kevin

[Yeadon]

Meh. With McMullen gone, the Forum's been dead to me since around 2014.

Tom

It's been nice and quiet. We've all been able to get some work done.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Did not notice. I read my WB from back-to-front, and usually quit before I get to the couple of pages following the cover. The onlyiest thing I noticed about the WB School is that the classic wooden canoe building course is no longer offered. Thought that might have been due to age. I always wanted to do that course, eventually.

If you're a subscriber, you might have noticed that Matt Murphy (WB Editor) and Andrew Breece (WB Publisher) bought WoodenBoat about a year ago.

There have been structural and organizational changes at the magazine, the store, and the school over the past year or two. Some brought about by Covid, some by retirements, and some by the purchase.

[Canoez]

Did not notice. I read my WB from back-to-front, and usually quit before I get to the couple of pages following the cover. The onlyiest thing I noticed about the WB School is that the classic wooden canoe building course is no longer offered. Thought that might have been due to age. I always wanted to do that course, eventually.

That is indeed possible that age or a decision to shift what sort of classes are being offered - I don't know.

However, if you still have an interest, I think both Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok have offered some sort of "build your own" instruction at their shops. I'm not certain if they're still doing that. No personal interest on that one.

[Ed Harrow]

Firstly, a very public thank you to Scot, who has helped me several times over the past years - nothing related to the store, or boats, or anything even semi related. I very much appreciate his assistance, and remain in his debt.

Secondly, I took the time to hand write a letter to an individual on the WoodenBoat masthead in response to an article in the Sept/Oct issue. No response. I did mention, in my annual note to Scot, of this fact, and I probably made note of Carolyn Webb's comment about the importance of responding - and that no response demonstrates that the writer is of no importance to the recipient. Still no response.

The article was disappointing, but the lack of response even more so.

[Yeadon]

How someone or how a company makes you feel during a transaction actually matters more than the performance of a product or a service.

[Canoez]

I am hopeful that the new owners don't forget that it is the people - both employees and those of use who interact with WoodenBoat in many different venues - are what helps make this all a wonderful, connected, experience.

[Canoez]

How someone or how a company makes you feel during a transaction actually matters more than the performance of a product or a service.

Spot on. GMTA.

[peb]

I certainly give Scot the boat for the BROTM.

And I will take this time to express my sincere gratitude to Scot for all of the years he has managed this forum. He has done a great job and its been a great service to many of us.

[WI-Tom]

I am hopeful that the new owners don't forget that it is the people - both employees and those of use who interact with WoodenBoat in many different venues - are what helps make this all a wonderful, connected, experience.

Well, Matt Murphy may be a new owner, but he's not exactly new. He's been WoodenBoat's editor for at least a dozen years. I've always enjoyed working with him.

Many thanks to Scot as well--I do hope WoodenBoat finds a way to keep the WBF up and running. This, Wordle, and my email are about the only websites I visit. There is no equivalent to the WBF anywhere else online that I know of.

Tom

[David G]

Do we start an alternative web forum as a lifeboat incase this place sinks and I loose all of you ?

We have enough tech people here to collab to design, build, moderate & pay for storage. I'm in for design work, some funds, and whatever.

The magazine also hosts a Facebook page. And a few of us ornery types, wanting to be more independent-like, host another: Wooden Boat Forum. But - while they have their places - they are both pale imitations of this joint. FB is NOT the place for lengthy, ongoing conversation.

I would think the best bet would be for some of the folks here to be in touch with Matt and let him know that we'd like to see the WBF continue, and begin discussions re. what it would take to transfer management (and shield the magazine from liability) should they decide to shut it down. Hey... WI-Tom... we could run it as a Syndicalist Cabal!!! <G>

[David G]

banned for life.

i suggested he make a new login. the guy who banned him is gone. loads of socks have come and gone. nobody cares.

but john t. has his idea of honor, and there is no arguing with a texan.

Pffffft. No arguing with a Texan? My experience is, unlike us more reasonable NW types, they'll argue with you, about anything, until the trumpet sound <G>

[David G]

Meh. With McMullen gone, the Forum's been dead to me since around 2014.

Tom

Codswallop!! Now that he's gone, we are able to exist and converse on a higher plane!!! <G>

[Paul Pless]

Pffffft. No arguing with a Texan? My experience is, unlike us more reasonable NW types, they'll argue with you, about anything, until the trumpet sound <G>

arent you a sort of texan?

'splains a lot

[David G]

arent you a sort of texan?

'splains a lot

In all honesty, I have to admit that there were certain traits that rubbed off on me from my time in Texas.

[Canoez]

Well, Matt Murphy may be a new owner, but he's not exactly new. He's been WoodenBoat's editor for at least a dozen years. I've always enjoyed working with him.

Many thanks to Scot as well--I do hope WoodenBoat finds a way to keep the WBF up and running. This, Wordle, and my email are about the only websites I visit. There is no equivalent to the WBF anywhere else online that I know of.

Tom

Andrew isn't "new" either. Matt's a great guy. I don't know Andrew, but knowing the type of folks that are at the magazine, I can't imagine that he's much different.

However, as owners, perspectives and responsibilities may bring about changes in how things operate. As I said, hopefully positive change.

[Ted Hoppe]

42327F7E-D952-4F31-AF2E-DF6E82278694.jpg
how bad can it get?

[Yeadon]

Tough economy right now for a lot of businesses.

For me, labor is my greatest cost by far. But for a publication like WoodenBoat, I don't really know the forces at play. Advertising dollars could be down while printing costs are going up. I have a friend in the book publishing business and he's said that printing costs have skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic. Longer turnaround there, though. Just anecdotal info here.

When I worked at newspapers, it was the classified ads that returned the greatest margin. For what they charged for the space of a two line ad it was "basically like printing money," according to one of my publishers. Craigslist took away all the classified ad revenue from newspapers years ago, and the internet took away the audience/eyes from the printed newspaper.

For a specialized magazine like WB, I suppose it's similar. Subscription costs are always discounted - so my guess is they want to show readership to prospective advertisers. A forum like this seems like it would be a good tool to help drive readership, and in turn, show there's an audience for an advertisers dollars. But again, I don't really know. No one who works at the magazine really interacts with the forum. Obviously they don't have the full, rich lives that we do. (ha.)

I did see that Small Craft Advisor stopped printing a hard copy of their magazine. They're just online now.

[sp_clark]

How someone or how a company makes you feel during a transaction actually matters more than the performance of a product or a service.

This. Rule #1.

And I add my chit for Scot as BROTM for Feb.

Will wait to see how this forum may change with the change in management.

Be a cryin' shame if it subscribes to the FB business model it will.

[Paul Pless]

No one who works at the magazine really interacts with the forum.

not under their real names leastwise

[Tom Montgomery]

Well, looks like ya'll of us are going to get downsized with the latest tech layoffs. I'm sure a new forum will hire us and we'll learn to be happy there too.

Looks like....

I knew that Scot Bell had retired. This is the first I've heard that he was given a gentle push to "reduce expenses." I find that to be worrisome.

[WI-Tom]

Tough economy right now for a lot of businesses.

For me, labor is my greatest cost by far. But for a publication like WoodenBoat, I don't really know the forces at play. Advertising dollars could be down while printing costs are going up. I have a friend in the book publishing business and he's said that printing costs have skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic. Longer turnaround there, though. Just anecdotal info here.

When I worked at newspapers, it was the classified ads that returned the greatest margin. For what they charged for the space of a two line ad it was "basically like printing money," according to one of my publishers. Craigslist took away all the classified ad revenue from newspapers years ago, and the internet took away the audience/eyes from the printed newspaper.

For a specialized magazine like WB, I suppose it's similar. Subscription costs are always discounted - so my guess is they want to show readership to prospective advertisers. A forum like this seems like it would be a good tool to help drive readership, and in turn, show there's an audience for an advertisers dollars. But again, I don't really know. No one who works at the magazine really interacts with the forum. Obviously they don't have the full, rich lives that we do. (ha.)

I did see that Small Craft Advisor stopped printing a hard copy of their magazine. They're just online now.

It's a tough tough time for print magazines. The Internet has been a major disrupter of the old model where people expected to pay for stuff to read. I hope they manage to keep things going at WoodenBoat, but I can understand that expenses are probably way up, and revenues may be way down.

I kind of miss the world where there used to be gatekeepers to keep the riff-raff out, and have at least some standards about what deserves to be published. I hope it doesn't disappear entirely.

Tom

[John Meachen]

It might help if any of us with a subscription renewal due soon could include a few words of appreciation for the forum when they renew.If you don't have a subscription,then maybe its time...

I hope Scot enjoys whatever comes next and maybe he could participate,rather than administer the forum.Which he has done brilliantly for it's whole life.BROTM seems insufficient,maybe honorary Bilgemeister in perpetuity.

[Hwyl]

It's hard to believe that the store does not make a profit.

[Ted Hoppe]

Maybe the forum should be subscription based as well, say 10 dollars a month otherwise it is read only with no images. $25 a month if one posts in the bilge beyond an allocated 5 contributions a month.

[Joe (SoCal)]

Maybe the forum should be subscription based as well, say 10 dollars a month otherwise it is read only with no images. $25 a month if one posts in the bilge beyond an allocated 5 contributions a month.

MY WBF addiction would cost a couple of thousands a month then I would also expect an amazing experience far beyond what we currently endure.
That said I would almost pay anything not to loose this place. I’ve belonged to other forums different topics and even SA but NOTHING NOTHING compares to this place. It simply is the brightest minds ever assembled. I get all my news and life information from here before anyplace