More New Forums Members Than Ever? Why Is That?

[Flatfish]

I haven't been here very long.

There does seem to be a pattern of sorts to the posts on this forum. (probably every forum)

I have noticed that people such as myself ask questions. Probably the same questions that have already been asked many times before, and that will continue to be asked by new members. These are good as it helps people to learn.

Then there are the "Hi, I'm new" posts which seem to fill the mailbox sometimes.

Then there are the massive, been going for ages posts such as "what are you smoking" which personally I don't find interesting but obviously many others do. Or at least others like to tell everybody what they are smoking whether other people are interested or not.

It is hard to think of an original question or subject. But they do turn up from time to time which makes it interesting coming to this forum.

Long may it continue.

 

[georged]

It's an example of accelerating accretion.

How PM.com became the "seed" for that accretion in the first place is the question.

In hindsight it's obvious: Kevin successfully walked the tightrope between the hobby world and the professional/commercial world from day one. He kept both groups happy enough to stay put while countless other forums over the years bloomed and died.

That fundamental soundness was then seasoned with a sense of humor and resonableness when policy violations or questionable taste "incidents" occurred, as opposed to having a Demonstrating Who's Boss reaction, a la Melvin Schwartz.

Interestingly, the SITE'S reasonableness actually rubs off on the PERSONAL reasonableness of the people who use it. There's a general sense of assumed good intentions and fair play when something is ambiguous, while in similar situations in the world at large humans can be counted on the assume the worst and behave accordingly.

There's a feedback loop of positivity, in other words.

The net result is The Last Man Standing.

 

[Winnipeger]

Does this indicate an upsurge in pipe smoking, or is there some other factor? It also seems that about a third of new members are from outside the U.S. I'm intrigued, but I can't think of any contributing factors that would make this true. Ideas?

As for an uptick in pipe smoking generally, I think that's entirely possible. For my part, when I started pipe-smoking in 2017, I'd had it up to here with the non-stop media coverage of toxic masculinity. I think I was nostalgic for the old days when my grandparents were still around and their influence could still be experienced, and I also missed the party atmosphere of my youth. I've never been the least bit misogynistic, but when I was young, at least you could approach a female and call her attractive if you thought she was, without fear she might accuse you of sexual harassment or assault. Anyway, the world changed A LOT, and FAST in a pretty short period of time. There was a backlash and a pining for the way things were before the world went insane. Tobacco smoke always accompanied the good times back in the day. It was unhealthy and the bars and restaurants stank. But now there's NO tobacco use ANYWHERE. Since it's completely absent from society, the smell of it tends to bring back memories. Pipe smoking is a more healthy way of indulging in a sacred herb that has gone missing from our society.

Not sure if that makes sense, but it's an attempt to capture a cultural feeling, maybe a backlash, that may be leading younger men to pursue a traditional, taboo pastime.

As to why more members generally:

The internet came to permeate our lives, especially during Covid lockdowns. I started turning to my laptop for leisure when I wasn't working online. The social isolation imposed upon us was real. I imagine there's a lag between when the majority of people start reading this site, and when they take the plunge and start posting, so the surge you're seeing now must be part of a multi-year trend. For my part, I started reading this site 5 years ago. It took me this long to join because I'm not a "joiner." This forum is the only social media I've used, really ever...[and yes, this forum is also a social medium. It has likes and reaction scores. That makes it potentially addictive for the same reasons FB, Twitter and Instagram are...]

What's NICE about this forum is NO POLITICS. There's a lot of positive discourse. If the members here were free to speak their minds on all topics, there would be camps and cliques and less positive give and take. It's like when everyone used to attended church back in the day. We're here with a common cause, apart from our secular cares, and an atmosphere of conviviality prevails, for the most part.

This place is essentially a men's club. Apologies if that offends any of the female members. It's gotta be 98% true though. A lot of men are lacking social interaction nowadays. Maybe that's generational, but there's lots of literature supporting evidence that people are more lonely and isolated than at any time in history, and that young men are uniquely in crisis. (Meaning unique from how young women are also in crisis.) The internet and social media are largely to blame. One thing that might be unique here is that the membership spans at least a couple of generations. For that reason, it's not an echo chamber. Members have widely diverse interests, backgrounds, geographical locations, economic situations etc. I guess this is the online Church Of The Pipe.

 

[LotusEater]

If I was to shoot from the hip, a lot of social media makes tobacco related content hard to enjoy or speak about openly. Here, a good old fashioned forum shines. Most forums are dead, their communities refugeeing to Discord or Reddit, but forums dedicated to particularly niche hobbies and subject can still thrive.

Also, Google is good to this forum. You Google a pipe related question, and chances are the first thing to pop up is a thread from this forum. It's how I discovered this place, and I even get the magazine catalog sent to my door! I think I was trying to find info about Peterson System Deluxe pipes, found a few threads here, and was impressed with the knowledge and kindliness presented by most of the people here. I only have one friend who smokes pipes, and bless him, he is a complete flake, so if I want to discuss this hobby, I got to do it online, and this seems like one of the best places to do it. I know I've enjoyed my time so far.

As something of an aside: I know newbies have a tendency to ask the same questions and not use the search function. I used to be member to several forums, so I was able to acquaint myself before even making posts here; you're all welcome I didn't ask you about using Q-tips to clean system pipes. But a lot of new folks, especially younger ones, well, forums are new to them. They didn't grow up with them like us millennials and younger gen-xers did. I know this probably doesn't need saying, but when a new guy comes with an old question, humor them and be polite. I'd bet you a dollar and a doughnut it's why we get newer members. But you folks are already decent at this, so all's good. Besides, even covering old topics can occasionally yield new perspectives.

I think you are spot on - Google sends a lot of traffic this way.

 

[Swiss Army Knife]

For me it was because I kept ending up here whenever I was searching for pipe info or questions on Google.

I stayed because PM was the perfect middle ground between the insanity of SPEZ and the more stodgy halls of the other old pipes forums. The Secret Santa thread has me questioning that though lol

 

[kola]

The buy and sell forums seem a bit more active with noobs. Keep driving those prices up, ladies !

OH! and "covid" too...gotta' keep that blame-train rolling.

 

[edger]

A hearty Amen to the responses above. Sometimes I get bored here and I need some comeuppance!

 

[OzPiper]

And chicks dig it.

I'll have to tell my wife she is DEFINITELY NOT a chick

 

[Servant King]

Kevin has been running some promotional billboards recently....

View attachment 174606

So that's why there have been all those car accidents on that stretch of road. Damn rubberneckers!

All the pictures and posts there are blurred out like it was porn or something.

For many of us, it is. I am not one of them.

 

[Pipeoff]

New members are always welcome but a new trend are many probes for evaluation and hidden attemps for pm sales. I wish members would stop answering, even photos show junk shop background. Little background info and never seen again. Let’s not be used and put away dirty.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Possibly some of it is due to Reddit making the pipe tobacco subreddit an 18 and over community. All the pictures and posts there are blurred out like it was porn or something.

Something doesn't look right.

 

[ChonkyTonks]

I came here for the wisdom and community. I am traditionally a loner in life, so not many forums have appealed to me. I feel more at home here, but sill finding my way. I find that I do not post many new threads because the questions I have (mostly) have already been answered and google-fu is a great way to find what you need here. I cannot guarantee that I will be here always, but the crowd seems to be my speed and committed. Not much drama, either. I love that.

 

[Chaukisch]

I just thought it'd be nice to hang out with fellow pipe smokers, I personally don't know anyone who gives a puff about tobacco tasting or the act of pipe smoking but I want to read and talk about it, never had anything to do with those Facebooks and Twatters or whatever they're called.

This forum seemed to be the most active one so I joined, six days before I bought my first pipe. Then I forgot about the forum for one year and now I'm back and glad to be part of it.
In these few weeks I learned more about tobacco and pipes than I learned with the random articles I've read for over a year. And that's one of the reasons why I joined an US based forum, there's much more information in English than in German.

I don't see myself leaving any time soon either although I kinda feel like a leech here and it disgusts me but what can a rookie or bum do? The best I can do is not to bother anyone with questions that were answered multiple times over and maybe post a picture. Once I learn something new it'll be old news to the rest of you.
So me being active here really makes no sense at all and I guess it's pretty shallow and selfish but one has to be amongst likeminded people. Even if it's just to share a good time or shitty picture.

 

[mortonbriar]

Thanks @Chaukisch for providing me with 'who gives a puff' I think that is going to be worked into the daily vocab.

 

[clynch]

Lets hope this forum isn't the Alamo.

 

[mortonbriar]

The largest contributing factor is probably that they are foreigners, but there could be others.

Foreign to what? 'merica?

 

[pauls456]

Social media. Good in the short term, but the bubble may pop when the next trend hits.

 

[mso489]

This is an unusually amicable and interesting site in a landscape of dysfunctional digital distress. Kevin's patience and diligence is much to credit, along with moderators who guide the site with judicious insight. It is by lucky chance that most of us discovered Forums. I hope its success is ongoing.

 

[Chaukisch]

Kevin's patience and diligence is much to credit, along with moderators who guide the site with judicious insight.

I can only agree. I was very active in a local forum, even worked my way up to SuperMod and eventually admin, since the only one had abandoned ship. The website technology was old and open for scammers, I can't count the hours I spent deleting pages of botspam after botspam or that whole thing about geting into adminhood.
It was Sisyphus work and I eventually left after the forum was picked up by a local magazine and got back into shape. But that's because of the theme and resulting circlejerk of the forum, not because of the work itself.
Although I was very tired of it all, it takes a lot out of you. Especially when you're just learning and self-teaching yourself.

I feel for mods and admins ever since and felt deeply ashamed when a mod had to cut down the title of my second thread in this forum, after my introduction. I'm out of touch with the craft(!) but should've known better.

Mods and admins never get enough credit. And this forum seems to be doing very well.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

To the Mods...