Your Position on AnvilFire?

[Foo]

This topic has been discussed before, just not this in depth. Here are the loose ends you may be seeking.

At one point, we discouraged user hot linking to Anvil Fire images at the absurd request of Jock Dempsey. The issue, as I recall, was not copying the images to IForgeIron or another server. The bandwidth argument is invalid. After a while, I felt as the request assumed our users were amoral or criminal. Hot Linking (Posting images from another site's server), is legal. It's ethical. It's honest. Jock can get over it or disable it on his server.

Jock's policy for IForgeIron, Forge Magic, and others has been to remove links, remove posts, edit logs, and other forms of censorship. This is Jock's policy alone, and not that of Anvil Fire patrons. Our official stance is not to link to Anvil Fire and other Jock Dempsey projects from our website. We do this out of protest for Jock's reckless behavior.

Glenn and I, love blacksmithing and its community. We support all open forms of metalworking, whether it be an individual or website. Don Fogg's knife forum is one I particularly admire. And KeenJunk is missed.

-----

m_brothers, I sent you a private message. You know why.
If Jock had made this request, the reply would have been worded differently.

[John Martin]

Thanks Andrew, I didn't know, now I do. Wasn't trying to flame.

[Travis Covington]

I have a large respect for anyone that takes the time and effort to have a website. Anvilfire is how I found Tidewater Blacksmiths, and still is a good source of information.
I just feel comfortable here. I think I posted more in one week here than I have in four years across the street.
Travis

[philip in china]

m brothers- just my quirky sense of humour. Of course I took no offence.

Our blacksmithing group here owes Jock a huge debt of gratitude for all his excellent advice. He is a mensch as far as I am concerned and I want everybody to know that. As are loads of the guys who use this site more than AF. I use both because being in China I have loads of spare time to look at both.

If you look at some of the sites which are frequented by... well I probably can't use the word- but it rhymes with Sri Lanka... you will see them squabbling amongst themselves like a bunch of chorus girls. I am a blacksmith and I, for one, don't start talking tough over the internet. Both sites are doing a great job and I am hugely grateful to them both for what they do.

So come on! Let's have a moritorium on carping about each other. Go out and get something red hot and hammer it.

There is still my offer of a free anvil for those who agree with me. That is a genuine offer. No BS.

[Ice Czar]

without promoting themselves

what artist doesnt make a stab at immortality through their art?
why are we working in a medium that takes a thousand years to turn to dust?


not a defense, I just like playing Devil's Advocate

I too reserve my highest form of respect for those that disseminate information openly and freely

[Glenn]

The original question and the answer to that question:

We support the blacksmithing and metalworking communities. We refer questions to the best source for information, usually with a direct link to that site or location. Of all the referrals made from IForgeIron only one site has objected, Anvilfire. Jock Dempsey has requested that no images and no text from Anvilfire be used anywhere else on the internet.

Concerning the discussion:
When you have specific blacksmithing questions, you should seek answers from many different sources and use what works for you. Jock sets the guidelines for Anvilfire and those guidelines should be respected if you visit or deal with that site. The administrators for Forgemagic set the guidelines there, and those guidelines should be respected if you visit or deal with that site. The administrators for IForgeIron set the guidelines here, and those guidelines should be respected if you visit or deal with this site. The same is true for any site.

Thank you to all that have posted, and thank you for keeping the discussion respectful.

[ThomasPowers]

A for profit site that's run in the red it's entire life and for the WWW it's almost a dinosaur? What would the IRS do if it was a business?

Jock has been trying to raise money to cover it's operating costs; it's less a for profit site than my church is---we have to break even with our church budget every year; he's been running it at a loss from his own funds for years.

As for the naming of Guru's; have you read any of the real world discussions on the internet being involved with the demise of expertise? Naming sub-guru's was Jock's attempt to both share the load of answering questions and letting people know that some folks were considered a good source of information *and* what areas they were good in.
Many sites do the same but call them moderators or administrators. It's easy to see where this would raise some hackles though. The ammount of false or misleading info that gets posted on the net is large. Shoot the original wikipedia entry on wrought iron was rife with errors! Who do you believe when you come into an area you are unskilled at?

If the atmosphere someplace is not to your liking---be happy that there are so many other places to go---a real advantage of the net! I can say that something is not to my taste without claiming it's bad.

I post here more than I post over at anvilfire myself and I am a subguru over there, (historical smithing). I am also a moderator over at Primal Fires for two forums and use forgemagic (and it's rescue site) as a way of chatting with friends. A lot of my posting on the armourarchive and swordforum consists of telling people about blacksmithing sites like AF and IFI as they are focused on armour/sword making and have no idea the wealth of blacksmithing info that is out here.

It's Friday can we talk about something fun for a while? I get to clean up 8 trivits I made for a historical cooking prize and then start packing my travel forge to get ready for Estrella.

[Ten Hammers]

Here goes. I am as Glenn glad that this ain't got ugly. I found Anvilfire I guess in 1999 or 2000. The list of people I have met there is long ( from Jim Wilson to Scott Scheer to Junior Strasil and on and on ). Bill Epps, Jim Joyce etc but one of THE most important people I met there was NTech ( Glenn ). I am glad both sites exsist and others as well ( forgemagic ). I read posts and sometimes post in all 3 I have mentioned. HOFI and Roger Lund were incredibly good connections to make ( and Mate, Chopper, I ain't forgot youse. Glenn Moon too ). In closing I will say that I might have never found my brother that was seperated from me at birth ( Fester ). Was nice to see Ian make his trip and see what is up with him these days as well. Folks that I met on Jocks site have visited my shop and home more than once. Some you folks have never heard of simply because they don't hang out on chats anymore but still smith. Keep your powder dry folks and be well.

[Ian]

GOMEZ!!!
Thought me ears were burning

When I first got bitten by the Smithing bug I did what many of us do and did a Google search. That led me to Anvilfire and a huge wealth of information within their Ifi how to's. From using that site I learned about Iforge and have been using this site ever since.
Having used the two sites for several years I still prefer this one for several reasons, including layout, image content and regularity of new information and so on, but I would like to add one last thing, that has cemented this place as 'home' for me. When I was thinking about my trip and discussed the possibility of it on both sites and whether anyone thought a 'roving reporter' would be an interesting idea I was met with utter indifference by Anvilfire. The members were politely interested, the site admin never even replied. Perhaps they thought I was full of... well you know. Guess they know I'm not now, never have been, never will be.

Glenn on the other hand got in touch with me personally and asked me to post what I could, when I could over at Iforge, he felt it was a fantastic opportunity for the folks to see what the rest of the world was up to.

I agreed. I wish I had more hours in my day to get the rest of it all updated, but you know what? The skills I learned over the past three years thanks to both sites has meant I'm now self employed as a Smith, and I work seven days a week as a result. Soon as I'm in the black I can cut my hours enough to spend the time needed to try and do it. The odd hour here or there isn't even making a dent in the mountain.