I'm new to Leatherworker.net and Needlebar (I joined up a couple of months ago), but not to leather work, sewing and the Internet. I found joining Needlebar a real kick in the pants. I'm a good boy and behave myself on the many forums that I join and participate.
Joining was strict, and you have to justify why you should be granted entry into this elite group. Odd is the forced introduction of yourself. Ok, very atypical of a forum. If you don't introduce yourself (and get an official greetingl) you can't read not post to any of the other forums. Most internet forums are friendly places, but Needlebar is of a different stripe.
Still as stated, Needlebar has depth of knowledge and seemingly nice people that post. Unfortunate for the all non-Needlebar members, this is not shared with the rest of the Internet. It's like there is a Great Firewall of Needlebar, and if you don't like it you can go away.
The rules of the Needlebar forum are:
Do not ask for values or how to sell machines: fair enough, I don't do this anyway.
Do not offer anything for sale or post any ads: fair enough, I don't do this anyway.
Do not tout for offers or post personal email addresses: fair enough, I don't do this anyway.
Do not post links to commercially-operated picture sites
Do not post links to commercial sales sites
Do not post live auction links
Do not post pictures in the forums: These conditions are against the openness of the Internet.
Some people like to post all their pictures on picture sites. It is efficient to do this if you have a lot of photos to manage, and is a very common and accepted Internet practice. Nor can you post your photos in forums. Nor can you link to photos from commercial sites. Therefore there are no photos of any kind in the forums. I've sent Needlebar some photos and I've yet to hear back from anyone nor see my photos displayed. I believe in the "a picture is worth a thousand words" camp, so by not posting any photos at any time makes it difficult to describe a problem or to show a solution that you have found.
I'm not a big fan of commercial content on forums, but sometimes there are some people who are knowledgeable and happen to have turned their hobby into a means of living. There are many commercial sites that have great content, but all this is excluded on Needlebar.
I don't mean to grumble, but I feel Needlebar is trying to be the one and only place for all sewing machine knowledge on the Internet, and as intelligent as Needlebar participants are, they are flowing against the spirit of openness of the Internet. I feel disappointed that they would not foster increasing the knowledge of sewing machines, not just on their one site but throughout the world. Needlebar compels me to lurk rather than to contribute, to take and not to give back.
Then again I am not a sewing machine expert. Maybe they don't want people who are not experts to contribute, but don't mind allowing them to join their club.
