How is this forum going so far?

[John Cantor]

I would think that the rate of home mending has gone up greatly over the last weeks.. all those I'll-fix-this-on-a-rainy-day things that people should be actually mending.

Well,.... this was a bit of an experiment, and if it doesn't do much good... then never mind. If someone wants how-to advice they can simply look at youtube and select something of a simple or complex level to suit their needs, so maybe this forum is unnecessary??

I had envisages the local menders keeping up with some sort of comradery in these dont-see-anybody times. However, given that nobody has put up a picture of themselves, and the use of usernames, I don't know who is who on this forum. In that sense, its not got the feel of something local. And we have no idea where the people asking for help live. It is also interesting to note that from the very few posts, there has been no mention of thanks or even feedback saying if the replies were useful, or even read.

Is it worth injecting a bit of energy into this forum to see if it might work?? depends on you really.

Has everyone sussed the 'notifications' in settings. You can set different notification options for something you are watching. Its quite useful to have Private Message notification on 'instant'. Personal messages are useful for things not relevant to all.

[andyrowland]

We haven't promoted it much yet, John, but probably a lot of people are not users of Forums so it's Another Thing To Get to Grips With. Also, despite our aspirations to share skills at Repair Cafes, most users probably want somebody else to fix it rather than have a go themselves. Discuss.

[velossembly]

It is difficult to overcome the inertia that exists in (how can I put it?) the non-engineering society.  Many folk are thoroughly dissuaded by "regulations", doubts about safety and worries about doing something that might do more damage and thus cost more to rectify in the long run.  Isn't it our job to persuade people that, with guidance, they can undertake repair tasks themselves?

An old friend of ours has a washing machine on which the door interlock switch has broken.  Her FIRST reaction was to try and order a new machine!  However, the current situation has made that impossible, as has obtaining the services of a repairer.  Unfortunately, she lives 250 miles away from me in Suffolk and there's no way that I can persuade her to order a new switch and retrofit it herself.

It's a confidence thing; coupled with the fact that when some people who say "I'm not mechanically minded", what they really mean is that they don't like getting mucky hands or chancing the loss of skin off their knuckles.

BB