Those We Have Loved!

[jvnshr]

Jvnshr I will take you on your word no need to prove. Please do not prove.

I was just going to share a photo of mine with a cigar.

 

[igloo]

Careful you might incite the fiefs. :nana:

 

[deathmetal]

The fiefs don't bother with me at this point. They've put me in the nutcase file.

 

[igloo]

Well that beats being a votary.

 

[jefff]

Indeed.

 

[mortonbriar]

This is slightly off topic but can you imagine if Napoleon had a twitter account in his day...

 

[pipesmokingtom]

This is slightly off topic but can you imagine if Napoleon had a twitter account in his day...

Oh... I think we have a pretty good idea of what that might be like. :lol:

 

[mortonbriar]

He would have to type with one hand (obviously) to be able to keep his image up.

 

[deathmetal]

IMO, there is a fine line between being very active on the forum, and making this place too significant a part of your life and psychi. Some will come and go. We have a whole new batch of personalities now, as every year when I return after summer. I enjoy getting to know these folks as well as catching up with those that are a part of the furniture here. Some may return, when they have something interesting to share, or when a thread piques their interest. We have far more people who watch our forum without participating at all.

Having done "the forum thing" for over 30 years now, let me add this:
The real threat is not from the outliers, but that the herd takes over.
When the herd takes over, the insipid plays-well-with-others person gets ahead of someone of actual insight.
I come here because it tolerates firebrands like mso, Cosmic, mlc (to a point), and many others. I do that because my experience is that forums die of entropy when too many nice guys just want to discuss nice stuff and as a result, all the information because low value, all the discussions become circular, and anyone intelligent flees.
I consider this the best pipe forum. I do not post on Reddit because I am not a barista or Whole Foods checker, and I was ejected from one other forum that had a political agenda, and left another because its mods were incompetent.
The worst thing to see on a forum is this:

Person A: (innocuous, happy but factually incorrect opinion)
Person B: "That's nonsense and does not reflect reality."
Moderator: "Person B, you're in time-out!"

You should give Person B (firebrand) a medal for resisting entropy here.
All of us succumb to this mental disease: we want to hear happy things, believe everything is going to be OK, and think fondly of simple solutions. But that never works, and if you encourage it at a forum, entropy wins.
Sometimes those who invest the most are your most vital users, and they are actually committed, so they will take it seriously because they see the forum as a community, not an online site. These generate more problems, but also better results, than the herd.
$0.02

 

[mackeson]

I came back after being inactive for a while and noticed no more Nate. We exchanged some tobacco and I always liked his posts. He was also a very generous guy (although he'd probably deny it).

 

[tschiraldi]

Okay, meathead, I accept your challenge! Peterson pipes suck, and so does Penzance! Take THAT, you scallywag! Oh yeah, Pagan... come back!!!

 

[deathmetal]

Peterson pipes suck, and so does Penzance!

Penzance does not suck at all. However, its bulk variety, Mixture 79, is quite excellent.

 

[tschiraldi]

Does too! So does Royal Yacht Yuck! Come to think of it, I haven't seen mckinter or oldgeezersmoker around in a while. Maybe I'm just reading the wrong posts. Both have been very generous to me! I hope I'm just missing them and they're not gone!!!

 

[mackeson]

Penzance does not suck at all. However, its bulk variety, Mixture 79, is quite excellent.

I admit, with a red face , you tricked me with that same quote about a year ago. I was sent a sample of Mixture 79 from a fellow forum member, and enjoyed it on it's own merits... but not what I was expecting...
BTW what ever happened to Nate?

 

[deathmetal]

Mixture 79 is not bad at all, and I owe thanks for that realization to a generous forum member who sent a sample. Compared to most aromatics, it is quite mild and pleasant.

 

[condorlover1]

How does Mixture 79 differ from Mixture 80 or 78. Just asking out of curiosity?

 

[deathmetal]

They do an LD50 test. If too many people die, they reformulate with less of the topping.
Mixture 80 incorporated other changes in the topping and is currently used to clean aircraft parts.