Welding Tips and Tricks

I already think this is one of the best forums on the web for welding. I have not come across a better group of people that are so willing to answer questions (without attitude) anywhere.
Anything you do to upgrade it can only make it better.
Thanks for all you do!

Here here. Well said.

Mick

Agreed!

One suggestion comes to mind, though with the upgrades, you are probably ahead of me:

As no one person can monitor the site constantly, it might help you (and us) to appoint a few Moderators. We have membership in Australia, for example, who are most likely to be on the forum while you and I are sawing logs. Only limited privileges would be required, such as the ability to quaratine posts of apparent spam (which has actually become rare, lately), or posts considered rude, offensive, or abusive (which I've never seen, but as the word gets out and the forum grows, is bound to happen eventually), for review by an Administrator.

Two cents...

I praise your site and this forum to anyone who will listen, and give the address out regularly. I'm not sure I've told YOU how much I enjoy it, though.

Steve S

Thanks for all of your time and efforts Jody ( and any Hellers ) as I certainly appreciate it !


Shawn

I meant to type " any Helpers". !!

Jody,

Another thought... The "Forum News" topic is yours alone, and should be locked, so others cannot post to it. This will prevent important news from being buried under a flood of replies.

Steve

Thanks for the comments and support! This is good stuff, with ideas that will really make a difference ...

I like the way the conduct/rules page follows the KISS principle. When I read rule 4, about spamming and advertising, it occurred to me, why not have a "wanted/for sale" subtopic under the "marketplace" section? Not, obviously, for commercial advertising, but a place where a member could post his old work-truck or outgrown welder. Of course, rule four would need an edit... .

Again, I suspect you're ahead of me, by creating the "marketplace".

I love the changes and additions, and hope to see the community grow into them!

Thanks,

Steve S

Hello gents, very excited to see this forum. I spend time on a few other forums and they use a few dedicated threads that seem to be valuable. In no particular order...

How about a new member intro thread - this one is for introducing yourself and what your interests are and where you are located. The moderators can purge this one every so often since it should grow and establish some conversations.

How about specific brand or equipment threads - I thinks it's valuable to see posts about general MIG aluminum welding but its a time saver to be in a section where folks with a miller 211 spool gun set up really want to focus time ... On the motorbike forums I read, brands and models get broken down so I can keep up on what people with my make and model of bike are working on or having problems with.

Pictures and links are really great on forums and some how to post pics and video clips are helpful. Pics save time and to a pro welder can save lots of post and typing time. Maybe a sticky to show people how to do it and what the Best formats are will save on serve storage and keep the format consistent.

I have found myself in a pinch more than once and was thinking a 911 thread could be monitored ... Goal here would be to get you pointed in the right direction in a hurry on a Saturday afternoon before the supply shops close and you waste your shade tree welding fabricating Saturday night and Sunday because your argon tank was bad and your welder settings were dead on...

Otherwise I am very excited to see this and I hope to see this take off in a big way - jhs

Welcome, jhs,

There's some great ideas in your post! I've been a member here for a while, and generally ignore the other welding forums except when referred to something specific. I've never seen any of the posturing and put-downs that seem so common on the large forums. That's largely because of two things (in my opinion). Jody sets a no-nonsense, "Here's what I do. Your mileage may vary." tone with unmotivated honesty, and while the membership is over 2000, the number of active participants remains small. It's my hope to see the community grow and have more active participants, and this seems to be happening, albeit slowly.

Great ideas to make the site more user friendly will help with that goal.

Steve S

Hello!

I've been reading your post on the forum from time to time and finally after a year decided to register. Forum has always been pleasant to visit and the upgrade will make it even more pleasant and neater!

Greetings from Finland

Hey,

Welcome to the group. Feel free to post any welding related topic you like, the people here like to hear other peoples stories and if you have any problems we'll do our best to help you out.

Mick