Woodworking is not something I am primarily interested in, but getting to know the community that is passionate about it has been intense. 3 badges and 74 reaches later, I have questions that woodworkers won’t answer.

I asked two questions, firstly how do I get started and what tools should I consider. Neither of the questions was met with particular enthusiasm. The people in the community were very particular about the questions asked and more than happy to engage in lengthy debates about whether the question belongs to this stack exchange or no. I suppose it is not a bad practice as most of the posts end up being largely useful to the people inside and outside of the community. Especially seeing that many posts had thousands of views, and only 5 comments, it can be assumed that this stack exchange serves more people from outside “Woodworking”. I appreciated the promptness of replies, often within minutes, and the dedication of the users willing to reply at all times. While unfamiliar with woodworking and uncertain as whether all the advice has been actually useful, I suppose that, for instance, the recommendation to join a woodworking class at a community college near me, something I got as a comment on my post, is a good piece of advice for the beginners.

When I asked the community: what tools should I use, my post has been edited and changed to meet the community standards. I am still confused as whether I am absolutely annoyed or grateful for this. However, in the light of this event, I am just happy I did not get banned. 

In my short time as a member of woodworking I noticed a special category of users – the ones obsessed with getting reputation points. Someone called “Nate”, a new user,  commented multiple times on all my posts as well as on all the new posts that went online over the weekend. Why was he doing this? I will probably never know, but it is refreshing to know that, like me, he was also disliked by the Woodworking community.

Woodworking, I won’t be back, but I will go back to Stack Exchange.