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This is the Bender-Huey-Lang creation in their post-PW days.  The Modern Woodworking guys snagged what appears to the first interview, in their podcast no. 61.  Haven't listened to it yet, but it is out there if you are looking for more info. 

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Be cautious. I was a member of Chuck Bender's NoBS online school at the highest subscription level. Worst online woodworking exerience by far. After a 200 dollar subscription, there was an over six month period with no content and after tons of excuses about tech issues, i got a refund and then he moved on to pop woodworking. Im a network engineer so i know BS tech excuses when i hear them. Listening to the podcast sounds like three guys just discovered the Internet and now plan to "reinvent publishing". Give me a break guys. As a member of Mark and Matts online services, I'm laughing because these guys "reinvented" publishing years ago. To prove my point go to www.acanthus.com.and then go to Mark, Matt, or Shannon's site. Chuck Bender is no tech guru obviously.

We shall see but its gonna be hard to match the hype. "Dawn of a new day in woodworking". Unless these guys are putting a holodeck in my living room, i dont think so.

Steve Naslund

Chicago IL

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Can't wait to see this "new technology" they say they are going to apply. Video-done, live chat-done, twitter, google, facebook, podcasting, done, done, done. Unless this comes with VR googles, good luck. I love any content anyone takes the time and love to create and wont criticize imperfect sites. I just hate, hate, hate empty marketing hype. Hey, didn't the Segway already revolutionize the planet?...Cool, yes. Revolutionary, probably. Change the world? Nope.

First off, i dont want to sign up just to see what you are doing. Show me something, then i will decide. I hate to hear about a website and then get the "sign up so we can tell you when it's ready" thing. After being in the Internet business for years I can tell you that is a huge mistake. You really get one first shot at that eyeball. The best sites are kept offline until BANG!!! , launch day with full features and gripping must have content. I know Mark, Matt, and Shannon evolved over time but they did not start with a commercial angle on day one. How aggravated have you guys gotten with "come back soon" and "under construction" web sites. The Schwartz is way ahead of these guys with an online presence, tv appearances, class teaching, and traditional book publishing.

Welcome to the party that's been going on for years guys.

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Did you listen to the MWA podcast yet? If not. Check it out. I am not saying anyone will get burned here but that was my previous experience. I think it is fair to look at your existing website if you are gonna tell about applying new technologies to content.

Maybe it will be great, we'll see.

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I liked their work in the magazine (and elsewhere, e.g. I have Lang's Sketchup e-book) - they are very talented guys. I'm not sure that going on the MWA podcast before they had something substantive to say was the best move, but I'm sure they were getting bombarded with "what's up" inquiries. I wish them well and hope they knock it out of the park.

 

Cheers,

Brian

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I can always use more content, and these guys at least know what they are doing woodworking-wise.  If it is a subscription service, I will probably subscribe, depending on the price.  I have gotten over the notion that everything on the internet should be free, and have started to pay for services I use often (Woodtalk Online being one).  I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just noticed that there is now a video of the guys on the front page of the site. They are going in to more detail about what is coming as well as pricing. While I do respect all of these guys, I'm not sure why they think that what they are bringing to the table is anything that Marc, Matt, Shannon and others have not already been doing for years. (And really well, by the way) I'm sure they will be able to frame things in a more "magazine" style, but I guess time will tell. Not trying to be negative, it may end up being great... I just think they are late to the party.

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Showing up "late" to the party may not be a bad thing. Some of the most fun I've had at parties was very late into the party.  :D

 

I am interested to see what they will offer. I am sure they have some good ideas. You normally don't leave a job with no ideas of what to do next. I wish them well. Good woodworkers with good knowledge to offer and are also good are writing about and teaching it. Sounds like a recipe for success to me. 

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I guess if you've spent your life at a magazine, text and video in the same article seems revolutionary. Will be interesting to see what they come up with.

 

 

I'm interested to see what they do, because I'm not a big fan of video for video's sake.

 

I love video for demonstrating a specific technique, but I greatly prefer text, as I can add notes and very quickly refer back to it, for step-by-step instruction.  I can also more easily skip stuff I know well.  I'll go to the video when I need to see it, but will rarely sit and watch the entire piece.

 

It's not revolutionary, but the only time I see much combo stuff is video accompanying a magazine article.   For example, the videos sold on DVD usually do not come with any text based materials, nor do YouTube presentations link to a printed page.  To most efficiently learn something from them, I need to sit and take notes as I watch.

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Cessna, the first text/video link that really helped me was Marc's time clock operation cues for the guild videos. Most of the time I want one or the other and do not need both. If these guys can hot link to specific points of larger videos in a database environment of articles that avoids YouTube's commercial downsides, they may have something.

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I guess if you've spent your life at a magazine, text and video in the same article seems revolutionary.

 

But I do wish they'd stop throwing around the word "revolutionary." 

 

I think McQ nailed it perfectly.   To be perfectly honest, I couldn't even watch more then 3 minutes of their little "introduction" video they have posted now.  It's awful.   This is pre-recorded, and they are stumbling over the sentences and speaking really choppily like they've never done a video in their lives...or like they forgot their line or lost their place on a cue card.  It's pretty bad.   Also if they think randomly-timed switches to awkwardly-framed close-ups of their face from a side angle where they aren't even looking at the camera in the middle of their talking is some kind of advanced video feature, they're out of their minds.  The whole thing looks like some kid that just discovered Windows Movie Maker.   Even what was said is almost laughable..."the picture are gonna be a good size...so uh...you can see the stuff"...  High res pictures on the web are apparently revolutionary.  Maybe it will all work out, but from that video alone, I'd have very serious doubts.

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Showing up "late" to the party may not be a bad thing. Some of the most fun I've had at parties was very late into the party.

 

Actually, this is a very good point. For example, Capital One (the bank/credit card company) was one of the last large issuers to have a website and a real internet presence back when the internet first got big, and the idea of paying your bill online was revolutionary. This didn't hurt them at all. In fact, when other companies had technology issues ranging from site availability, security, actual payment processing, etc, not to mention a ton of money invested in websites people just weren't ready to use, Capital One sat happily on the sidelines. Then, when it was good and ready, it launched a website that just worked. It was the gold standard for credit card sites for a while.

 

The iPhone wasn't the first smartphone, but it was the first 'cool' smartphone. The Cadillac Type 53 wasn't the first car - but it was the first car with modern controls, and set the template for all others.

 

There's something to be said for being first. There's something to be said for being good.

 

Of course, I'm super cynical about this whole thing too.

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so I'm completely new to this world and don't have any long term connection to any of these publications or professionals or personalities beyond what I've read, watched, and listened to during the last several months or so.  Marc is a very good presenter, has a ton of personality and is both a good teacher and entertaining as well. and of course, he's a really good woodworker.  Paul Sellers is also very good in a completely different way, as is Steve Ramsay and probably a whole bunch of other people I'm neglecting to mention.  It's tough to compare to those guys and a few others who are really quite good on-camera personalities to those who just don't have that skill.. being good on camera is a very distinct skill that IMO is not necessary to be a good woodworker, or even a good instructor. 

 

so while these guys are kinda stiff and unpolished on camera I didn't find anything at all offensive in their presentation, just 3 guys who have a ton of knowledge embarking on a new project, so to speak.  I also didn't see from their video anything that suggested that they would be breaking wholly new ground or anything like that, just that they have a specific idea about how they want to deliver content.  their video suggested something along the lines of "if this sounds like it will work for you then please join us" and nothing like the "we are revolutionaries you must pay attention" that seems to be going around here.  IMO we all choose what we like and discard what we don't.  for me, for now, I'm devouring all I can, but I certainly have my favs and those i'm not as big a fan of.  my choices are not criticism, just preferences. 

 

seems that's the way this should be too. if you're not into what these guys are doing, by all means, don't watch.  if you're into what they're doing or even just curious and interested, then they're probably worth watching.  they promised a fair amount of free content coming soon so I think we should probably judge them by that and not the glib intro video they just posted.  just my 2cents.

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I'm a visual learner.  I don't have comprehension problems, but all other things being equal, I usually get more out of a poorly done video than a beautifully written article (not that the latter even exists in woodworking...grammatical correctness is usually the best you can hope for).  So the fact that these guys switched media is fine by me, regardless of the production quality.  We know the content is good.  Call me simple, but that's all I care about.  If I wanna be blown away by video I'll pop in a Kubrick movie.

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Regardless of their time arriving at the party, they are in the unique position where the LESS they say, the more hype they may be able to generate. If anyone else was opening a site like this, no one would care. But because of the controversy surrounding their departure from the magazine and their future, even the lone splash page caused imaginations to run wild.

 

Yes, exactly. The very way that they went about this was really genius. Obviously they wanted to create a buzz, and we're all jawing about it.

 

Yes, there have been some critical comments made and some gloomy predictions. I hope my earlier post wasn't taken in a bad light. I was serious when I said I wasn't trying to be negative, I really respect these guys. More content is always better in my opinion, I just hope the plan is solid since they are coming into this later in the game.

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