Hello all,

This is my first post, though I've been an avid lurker here for over a year. I got my carvewright about 10 months ago and have about 100 hours logged making various projects, with quite a bit of success.

I'm a web developer by trade. I've watched the 'pattern depot' thread grow and grow, and also the recent idea/project of the pattern dvd. I downloaded it and checked it out. Please understand this: I do not mean to offend anyone with what I say here - I can appreciate all of the hours that went into it and all of the forum responses where you guide each other to patterns. There is a much, MUCH better way folks.

I'm doing my homework and will most likely be launching a website that will simply be a repository for all of the free patterns out there. Patterns will be searchable by keyword and tags, browsable by cagegory, you'll be able to rate and comment on patterns, etc. These are all common, standard, features for collections of anything. I can't believe people here have suffered with that gigantic thread for so long without revolting

Once the project is off the ground and running, I may ask for donations to help cover some of the up front costs (I'm not going to slouch here - I'll cough up cash to hire another developer with customizing the coding so that this thing works perfectly for us) or to help with the hosting and maintenance, and I'll probably beg for some volunteers to help sort the patterns and input the data for things, but this isn't a money venture for me. The site will be free - I'm just trying to make it so if you want, say, a pattern of an eagle, you can see all available screenshots and download what you want in a minute or two, not wade through tons of stuff and pull your hair out.

Maybe we can do something where people that carve professionally or sell other patterns can advertise on the site to cover the running costs - who knows... I'm just tossing ideas out there, but I'm gonna build a site for patterns even if it's all on me

I'd like this post to be the spot where everyone can weigh in and go over options, features, and suggestions for the site. I've got close to 15 years of full-time experience in the web development field and can hopefully create a single place for everyone to share and use all of the great free patterns out there!

Love to hear some feedback from you senior members! You guys have a great little community and I hope I can contribute to the success of everyone here.

-- Jack