Patstone, you are entitled to your opinion, but I think you are being pretty unfair. Statements like these hardly count as constructive criticism and they are certainly not encouraging to "newbies":
- the threads on this forum have become boring
- recently there have been a lot of newbies who are be-littling the jewellery making process, by chucking things together with very little skill
- now every picture sent in, is "wow, its lovely" when it is just thrown together so no skill involved

I think, sometimes, what "newbies" lack in skill and experience they more than make up for in originality and creativity. All the expertise in the world doesn't make up for a dull imagination and even a so-called "expert" can learn from others no matter what their skill levels. I may not have been on this forum as long as you so I can't really judge what changes for the worse you might have seen, but it seems to me the forum's strength is in its openness and in the range and diversity of the people who visit it. People will always come and go, so the nature of the forum is always bound to be shifting. It would be a pity if it were taken over entirely by hobbyists sharing rubbish. It would also be a pity if it became a closed shop of "experts" sharing in-jokes and technical one upmanship. Vive la difference, I say, and if a bit of naff creeps in from time to time you can simply ignore it or offer the benefit of your expertise - or challenge it by posting something better.

I do agree that it would be nice for the rest of us if more of the "oldies" shared more of their work here, but I think it's remarkable how many of them are willing to put time and thought into advising and helping in other ways - here and elsewhere. And if they don't choose to show so much of their own stuff here, I hardly think it'll lead to jewellery making skills being lost. You just have to look beyond one particular forum to find a wealth of ideas out there on all aspects of design and technique.

I can understand why people fear the loss of time-honoured skills - I've seen similar sentiments expressed before - but I don't see that happening. What I see is evolution. Traditional guilds, workshops and apprenticeships may be disappearing, but technology is opening up whole new ways of working. Think of CAD, lasers, even oxygen concentrators and programmable electric kilns that make small sophisticated home-workshops possible - and, of course, the internet through which anyone can research, develop and market new skills in ways that would have been impossible 20 years ago. I learned lampworking that way. Not so long ago, a Murano glassworker could be executed for betraying the secrets of their trade. Now, at any time of day or night, I can watch and talk to experts in the field in the USA, or Italy, or South Africa; and I can discover and buy tools, glass and everything else I need with a few clicks on a keyboard. Now I'm getting into silver-working and the same applies. I think that's fantastic.

Of course there are plenty of people out there who want to make a quick buck "chucking things together" and flogging them online, but instead of seeing that as a threat I'd see it as a spur to perform better and rise above the mass and the mass-produced.