Official Luthiers Forum!

Connect and Conquer!

I have been doing a lot of thinking about my "Divide and Conquer?" topic the other day, and the responses to that topic. What a bonehead I am! Every one of my ideas was terrible! Every one of my ideas would make the OLF a worse place for luthiers, not a better place! Every one of my ideas would split, fracture, divide, and ruin the OLF!

A sincere thank you to Mattia, Hesh, Bob J, Todd, Larry, Michael, Colin, and Paul for pointing out the (now obvious to me) errors in my thinking. Some excellent points were made!

Most of the advanced or pro luthiers (however one wants to define the word "pro") that participate in discussions at the OLF have plenty to do in their busy lives and luthier careers, and truth be told, they probably could easily complete the rest of their careers as luthiers without ever visiting the OLF. So, most of them are here for exactly the right reasons: they are here to share their knowledge, and here for camaraderie. Most pros do not want to be divided away from the OLF membership as a whole.

As a beginner, I sure as heck do not want to be restricted to sharing only the insights of other beginners, or even beginners plus intermediates. Great companionship, but probably not a group with the most first-hand answers.

So, if the pros don't want to restrict themselves to hanging out only with other pros, and the non-pros don't want to restrict themselves to hanging out with only non-pros, any division based on skill level would be a terrible idea.

Any individual pro with a depth and breadth of knowledge vast enough to hold seminars and workshops, create instructional DVDs, direct a luthier school, or write a book on lutherie (all potential revenue producers) is probably already doing it, planning to do it, or has no interest in doing it. So, creating a one-person forum for any individual luthier here at the OLF is a bad idea as well. There's no financial incentive, other pros might become resentful that they were not given the same consideration, the pro may become too busy to participate at times, and it could be potentially very embarrassing if that solo forum was not frequented.

So there you have it. My admission that every one of my ideas in the previous topic were bad ideas.

With apologies to Glen H and any others that do not like threads like these, that are focused on the Luthiers Forum rather than lutherie, I'd like to ask for a "show of hands" from members that agree that dividing the OLF is a bad idea, and who think it is a good idea to focus on cohesiveness and connectivity rather than division, for the health of the forum.

What say ye?

Dennis Leahy

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

"One-Room Schoolhouse" for me.

Nice followup BTW, Dennis. I always appreciate intellectual honesty. Apply that to your building and you'll be a master in no time!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Part of my job is to administer a forum similar to the OLF. It serves a community that shares a hobby. The suspects are as always a handful of pros, a bunch of middle folks, another bunch of rookies, the usual. 

We currently have over 7000 registered members, the average number of posts per day is 138, new topics per day 21, most online average per day 41, while the record is 237 !  So you can see this is a fairly busy place.  

The forum is divided in 7 categories which have 38 sections, including a couple places where only the pros venture to hit reply, while the others just pay attention or say thank you.   The OLF has 1 category, 9 sections, only one is busy. 

My point is that if we would not split our forum in so many specialized sections, it would be a complete mess to follow for both members, lurkers and moderators. 

Right now the OLF community is small, still mostly a bunch of buddies, and I don't think there is need for divisions.  I can easily follow all discussion on a daily basis, and skip what does not interests me. 
But in the future, 1 year, 2, 5, depending on the growth rate (members and posts) a division will be needed. Everyone will feel the need for it and it will be natural.  There can be a section for each important part, like neck related, bridge, bracing, finish, showcase, etc.  It is the only way to make a large forum truly functional, and one of the important features that makes it a better tool than the old type of mailing lists.

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Build log

[QUOTE=DennisLeahy] Any individual pro with a depth and breadth of knowledge vast enough to hold seminars and workshops, create instructional DVDs, direct a luthier school, or write a book on lutherie (all potential revenue producers) is probably already doing it, planning to do it, or has no interest in doing it.

Dennis Leahy[/QUOTE]

I've read your post now, several times, and while I don't totally understand it, I do respect, greatly, the amount of time it took you to develop, and type it. Viva la' connectivity!

That said, can I please use the above quote as part of my signature tag on the OLF? It is, perhaps, the greatest line I have ever read. Thank you.

Bill

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

I am not one that would ever discourage discussion. But I suspect That Lance closed the topic on this to avoid getting into another drama session. so don't be surprised or offended if this one to gets closed.

By the way I have not read anything in this one that is inappropriate I just suspect Lance will rain it in before it has a chance to go south.

What am I missing here...why is this thread considered to be even remotely controversial??? We have a brother here who freely admitted that he was wrong...I find that noble. My post was intended to reward exemplary behavior.

Grumpy?...Me?...Perhaps more golf is in order

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

My canteen is sealed!!!!!  

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I don't think anyone is out of line. my comment was that I expected that Lance would close this as soon as it became controversial. I thought I was clear when I wrote it it that nothing yet was anywhere near out of line. I just suspect that because it is related to a previously closed thread that will bring some of the same back and therefore I expect it to get closed.

Dennis,

Good show.

I agree that splitting the OLF into different sections is not a good idea, at least not right now. But someday the OLF will be a lot bigger and it might be a good thing to do, as Alex points out, though perhaps along different lines, such finish, setup, electrics, etc. For example, if the central Active Topics sections was divided up it would fall below critical mass and lose its momentum, I think. Like a party, which the OLF is at times. At a party, it's often best if there's a certain critical mass of people in one room. The noise and energy keep the party going, as if the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Split it up into smaller rooms and the collective energy drops.

If the OLF had the traffic that Alex's forum has, Active and Main Topics would be chaos.

Just my two pesos.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Good show Dennis and I agree, division is no good for anyone. Just think about it, we could divide and divide until we are all right back where we started before the OLF, before the Internet .

As for the problems we encounter here, well the solution is easy, in fact it's THE main rule of the OLF, "Be Nice To Each Other" EVERYONE

Sheesh

Kim