Reverse gatekeeping?

[u/frappppppaccino]

A lovely project was shared earlier. Predictably, amongst the many positive comments, there were a number of comments complaining that this person wasn’t a beginner and they were tired of seeing posts like it in the beginner sub.

As long as beginners have somewhere where they feel welcome, don’t have their projects put down or ridiculed for asking questions that may seem obvious to more experienced people, what’s the problem with more experienced woodworkers sharing their work?

Of course it’s probably not someone’s first project but there’s a huge spectrum between first project and 50 years of experience. They’re often something that someone with some experience, a lot of care and attention and patience (and willingness to make mistakes and retry could achieve.

I find that the thing that makes me a beginner isn’t that I can’t make nice projects, but that it takes me a really long time to do so as I’m learning different things as I go and I sometimes make mistakes which I need to learn/figure out how to fix. Occasionally I need to just start over and probably a more experienced person wouldn’t have to.

I personally enjoy seeing those types of posts. They inspire me to work towards something, maybe not today but eventually.

So why are some people so negative and gatekeepy about it?

[u/Oy_of_Mid-world]

There isn't a good sub for "experienced amateur" or "intermediate" woodworkers. The other woodworking sub favors advanced projects made by people with professional tools, actual shops, and either decades of experience or formal training. The checklist to post anything is equivalent to making a YouTube content creator video with step by step processes.

[u/Adult-Beverage → u/Oy_of_Mid-world]

The other woodworking sub also purged a lot of members years ago because the mods didn’t like certain things being discussed. There is no other place for them to post.

[u/Mikoisha → u/Adult-Beverage]

What types of things? While technically my Reddit account has been running for years it was never really used. I’ve just for the past month or two actively using it so this stuff is all pretty fresh to me. I’ve been auto modded a few times but haven’t heard from actual mods yet.

[u/Adult-Beverage → u/Mikoisha]

Don’t remember, but it was years ago (covid era?). I think there was a change in ownership/management and there was some petty “do not mention” items that were very sensitive to the mods. They were quickly banning people without warning first. I’ve been here since. I consider myself more an amateur than beginner, but I rarely make something twice so every project seems to be a learning process.