Source
r/Blacksmith•
Thefallguy951

What can we do to improve this sub reddit?

I recently joined this sub reddit and have already received a lot support, advice, and praise that I'm really appreciative of. It it got me thinking of how I can give back to make this a more interesting, active, community. So I started this thread to brain storm ideas on what people would like to see from here. How can we entice our more experienced members to share their knowledge? What activities (such as this monthly contest) can we implement to generate more interest and contributions? What can I do personally to make this sub a epicenter of learning and sharing a trade that is slowly dying out? Don't get me wrong, this place is already great. But there could always be room for improvement.

Posted Jun 2, 2015, 11:01 PM UTC

1117
icecoldcelt•

I think the mods need to stay on top of the contests. It's the end of the second of the month and we don't have a new contest. It seems to happen every month, then delay with the winner getting the thread posted and stickied.

I think we should have an automod which posts a new thread every week from a script which comes off a monthly poll for new content ideas. If I get time, I might code and host the bot, with the permission of the mods. While we're at it, the bot could also take care of the contests, too. I'm sure there are better coders than me in this sub, though. (Please reply so I don't have to disappoint everyone with my sloppy coding!)

We could also do a Tutorial Tuesday, where someone volunteers or is called out to do the next week. That way one user per week has a whole week to come up with a tutorial to post. That way we have a constant stream of new tutorials, which can be collected in the side bar.

It's really a matter of whether we want more content or more interaction/activity. I think content is king, and we need more content, but activity is its own sort of content, so that would be good, too.

5
Nightshade3312MOD•

We're currently waiting for last months winner to post the idea for next month's contest. If they don't get back to us in a week we pick for them.

We could do something like that but the problem would be picking a subject every month. We could have a bunch of pre-loaded subjects for each month's contest but that takes part of the fun out of winning.

3
Fargraven•

Those are both very good ideas. I feel like one person choosing the theme for the monthly contest isn't the best way to do things. It seems like it would be hard to think of a good idea.

I prefer more interaction because it's really helpful for beginners like me. It can also spark more content just by immersing people into experimenting different things.

2
Thefallguy951OP•

Thanks for Volunteering! These kinda things need proactive people to get it off the ground. I like your idea of Tutorial Tuesday, its simple and catchy. But how would we choose who was the responsibility? what if multiple people volunteer their time to do a tutorial the same week? Should we exclude duplicate submissions of the same subject? Shall we dictate what the topic should be or just let the submitter freely choose what they want to share?

I personally think that it shouldn't be overly structured. We have a sticky suggesting tutorials of subject that have not been covered yet as a guideline. However you can do what you want. Since there are many methods of doing the same operation it would be good to have exposure to all of them.

1
Thefallguy951OP•

I could do a tutorial on how to properly punch a through hole in a bar next Tuesday to help promote this idea.

0
Fargraven•

This is a very good question.

I feel like we're limited, just by being a relatively small subreddit, especially with a large fraction of subscribers just observing the work of others, without actually having blacksmith knowledge themselves.

r/welding does "First Try Tuesday" which seems pretty cool. Maybe we can have a central theme, or just a general thread for attempting something you usually don't do, if ever (Rubik twists, braids, etc). But one downside is the fact that it can be difficult to gather a small group of people together and have everybody fire up their forge in the same day. I, for example, usually only fire up my forge on the weekends. And even then, as a beginner, finishing certain projects within 1 day isn't necessarily a guarantee.

There's also some cool ideas in the comments of the stickied post at the top of the page, here.

4
Thefallguy951OP•

We could try to initiate something in spirit of first time Tuesday. Sometime on the weekend that everyone may likely have a chance to partake in. It would be good if we where not constrained to a theme. since everyone has their own requirements on what skills they need to improve on. Perhaps instead on fully manufacturing a object we attempt different operations such as forge welding, punching, tenoning, basket twists, extra. These projects can easily be attempted in a afternoon. We can post pictures of process and the end result, in hope of constructive advice from our more experience counterparts, to help correct for mistakes.

2
Fargraven•

Yeah maybe instead of having one specific idea, it can just be something that you're having trouble with, or don't do very often. Having the event during the weekends is a good idea as well. Even with something more complex like rubik twists (which for me, would probably take a while) can be completed within two days.

2
ColinDavies•

I have been wanting to go through and curate all the past content here, but it is a very time-consuming task. If anyone is interested in helping me out, I think we have enough material on the sub to make a pretty comprehensive FAQ/wiki.

Also, one less serious idea just popped into my head: an anvil race! Everyone has to find the best "anvil" they can on a tiny budget in a short timeframe. Can't be something we already own or have access to. Then we have to make something with it.

4
Slaiest•

I'm gonna start off and say that this subreddit has been nothing short of a blessing to this art, and also the primary reason I use reddit.

Aesthetically, The color/theme of the sub should be darker. We're blacksmiths. The only thing clean in this sub should be our forge welds.

Content wise, The sidebar can be condensed in terms of links and wording, update the FAQ, and ultimately creating a comprehensive Sticky for the sub.

Community wise, icecoldcelt's idea for the polling autobot poll, Fargraven's idea of creating something akin to what r/welding does for First Try Tuesday I believe are both excellent ideas, and I hope to see those come to light.

2
Bosskode•

I am going to agree with the comprehensive database of how to's. I have long used http://www.anvilfire.com/iForge/ as a primer but it doesn't appear to get updated very often.

I like how anvilfire has their howto's in groups from beginner to more complex. It is always fun to complete a project that I wasn't able to previously.

My biggest request would be a guide/howto on making some basic most used tools. Everyone is going to have an opinion on what they need and use most, and THIS is what I would have loved to have getting started. To be honest I still really want to see what folks consider their must have tool load out.

Anyway that is my 2 cents. Great post and response thank you all for helping make this such a vibrant and growing community.

BK

2
hammertongs•

These are all great ideas! If I can request, maybe a tutorial or two that uses ASO's instead of the super slick setups that the pros have?

Seeing someone make a set of tongs with a soup-can or firebrick forge and a railroad tie might just be the kick in the pants someone teetering on the fence needs to get their setup going.

I'm not saying all of them need to cater to that level of beginner/newbie, but one or two would sure be a blessing. "Can't afford a full shop? Check out this tutorial done with a soupcan and a harbor freight ASO!"

3
funkywhitepoi•

There is actually a post (the stickied one?) about flair updates. Seems to me one way of getting more involvement is offering something like special flairs. The "newb", 1yr flair, 2 yr, 5 yr, 10yr. What about an AMA flair..... say a pro takes the time to do an AMA and earns different colors for how many they've done or something to that effect. It means at a glance we could see others level of involvement. I'm sure there is more here but that's what I got at first blush. This is great thanks for taking the time on this post! This is absolutely my favorite sub....... I'm a professional welder/fabricator and I spend most all of my Reddit time in here.

Edit: additions I already said this in said sticky post but one thing I'd like to see is a bit more art in the design of the sub layout. It's a place for smitss after all... some of the greatest and most diligent artists ever. Also a pristine white enviroment a smithy is not.

2
funkywhitepoi•

I'll x/post this comment into that post about the flair

1
Trajjan•

Change the up and down votes to something forgey

2
Thefallguy951OP•

My own idea is a stab at getting contributions from experienced blacksmiths. If we could have a weekly thread where people discuss their techniques on how they like to do a particular process, tool, or what have you. Then saving the thread somewhere as a database, organized by subject matter, forever immortalized as a resource for those wanting to learn.

1
Barbarian_Overlord•

Less railroad spikes, moar big weppons

1