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Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,346
Please elaborate.
Banter seemed to spring eternal with no arguing or thread closure/deletion. Threads would go on endlessly batting thoughts back and forth and now a thread is lucky if it reaches two pages with coherent content. Many of the members from those times haven't been active here for a long time.
 
Jun 9, 2018
4,012
12,928
England
Banter seemed to spring eternal with no arguing or thread closure/deletion. Threads would go on endlessly batting thoughts back and forth and now a thread is lucky if it reaches two pages with coherent content. Many of the members from those times haven't been active here for a long time.
I believe you were allowed to discuss politics at one point.
 
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didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,894
31,601
34
Burlington WI
Banter seemed to spring eternal with no arguing or thread closure/deletion. Threads would go on endlessly batting thoughts back and forth and now a thread is lucky if it reaches two pages with coherent content. Many of the members from those times haven't been active here for a long time.
Those threads quickly lose touch about why we are here on this forum. Facebook or reddit is where you go to spout of dumb shit or politics. We have had members quit due to other unruly members. I believe most of the members you are referring to, we lost in the great forum restoration years ago. Lol people complained that it was too hard to use since the change. I however absolutely love everything about the new forum.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,346
Facebook or reddit is where you go to spout of dumb shit or politics.
Never said anything about dumb shit or politics. Those old threads managed to stay on target with new ideas and thoughts being added to them. The past couple of years have seen more derailment and political outbursts than there were then.
 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,894
31,601
34
Burlington WI
Never said anything about dumb shit or politics. Those old threads managed to stay on target with new ideas and thoughts being added to them. The past couple of years have seen more derailment and political outbursts than there were then.
You used the term dull so it Sounded like you were saying you missed the derailments! Must be a long night on my end!
 

wyfbane

Lifer
Apr 26, 2013
5,117
3,517
Tennessee
People seem friendlier this round, but I only just hopped back on recently. Like a new guy said he was a piper and years ago, several would have called that out.

Lots of new faces, to be sure.
 
Jul 26, 2021
2,176
8,943
Metro-Detroit
So… like… why doesn't someone just start mixing together some 5100? puffy JK

I am surprised that we don’t get more gurgling questions lately.
And here we were having formal discussion on a productive level about non-mundane discourse.

You had to jinx it. This is why we can't have nice things. I jest.

But back to the point, I agree the questions are often redundant (as are the answers). However, the think-tank here is deep with knowledge, experience, backgrounds, and stories. I've also gotten to know several members through posts and enjoy learning about them (others not so much).

So while some topics are full of supersilious nonsense, others make me warm and fuzzy inside or smarter in areas I normally wouldn't consider. It's why I try to add more to food posts, since I'm a large American that has a cooking background and passion (like at least 4 others here).
 

Ray Popp

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 14, 2022
173
249
And here we were having formal discussion on a productive level about non-mundane discourse.

You had to jinx it. This is why we can't have nice things. I jest.

But back to the point, I agree the questions are often redundant (as are the answers). However, the think-tank here is deep with knowledge, experience, backgrounds, and stories. I've also gotten to know several members through posts and enjoy learning about them (others not so much).

So while some topics are full of supersilious nonsense, others make me warm and fuzzy inside or smarter in areas I normally wouldn't consider. It's why I try to add more to food posts, since I'm a large American that has a cooking background and passion (like at least 4 others here).
Make that 5 others ...
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
It's become dreadfully dull compared to just a few years ago.
A few years ago was dreadfully dull compared to a few years before that.

Part of this in endemic to forums, repetition of the same topics with no new findings or other new info resulting. There's even the repetition of the same bad advice, which suggests that people aren't listening anyway. After one's 4,000th "How Do I Clean My Pipe" thread, it's not easy to feel the rush, the thrill, the excitement.

This is why people eventually leave, not enough new to keep them coming back for more. It's not always about croaking out.

The forum works best when it provides the opportunity for the inexperienced and experienced to mix it up. Both can learn from one another. But people, take ten seconds to do a Google search about pipe cleaning and spare us. Come up with new questions or observations.

It also depends on the quality of posters here. We do have a number of very fine correspondents here, some of them very engaging, and that livens things up quite a bit. We've lost quite a few of them as well.

And we have some whose posts read like they were typing with their nose, and/or for whom English is their native tongue and they don't speak it.

I like this place as an escape from the pressures of work, a short break from production. Once I retire and this forum isn't needed for that purpose I don't know whether I'll still pop in or move on.

But, for now, let's dance.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
My scale was the 2014-2017 years. Lots of interesting talk, topics, and members.
We had some really outstanding members then. Funny, smart, and incredibly knowledgeable. We had more pipe carvers who participated, blenders who participated, as well as some significant collectors back then. Then we got a couple of waves of barbarian hordes, experts in narcissism more than anything, and those earlier members moved on to other social media.
 
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