Kenneth Cochran

Designating a collection of shared community tools that can be donated to sounds like a good idea. Rather than lending the tools how about a small rental fee and/or a refundable deposit when the tool is needed.

Tools eventually wear out from normal use. The rental fee could go into a tool replacement fund.

Just a thought.

Someone posted a question on sustainability.stackexchange.com on this topic. My answer was downvoted by the CFL fans.

http://sustainability.stackexchange.com/

This sight is in "Beta" status, meaning if it doesn't get enough interest before the end of an incubation period they shut it down. It's nearing the end of its incubation period and has struggled to gain enough traction. I figured since sustainability is a topic near and dear to most permie's hearts maybe you guys could give it the boost it needs to avoid the ax.

If you're not familiar with the stackexchange format it is dedicated to Q&A. Questions should be answerable rather than open ended and everyone can vote up or down on both questions and answers. It's kind of a game. Each person is awarded points everytime someone up votes one of their posts and loses points when someone down votes. The asker of a question gets the ultimate say in which answer best addresses his question. The answerer whose post gets accepted as the best answer gets bonus points.

What do you guys think about starting stackexchange site dedicated entirely to permaculture? Are there enough questions to be asked to sustain a Q&A site of this format?