Tobacco Reviews Website Update

[Peterson314]

What nobody here has mentioned, is that TobaccoReviews is setting itself up to be a direct competitor to PipesMagazine. Whether this will be good, bad or indifferent remains to be seen, but the advertising dollars are now divided between two similar sites, and viewership will be as well.

I agree, but just because there's a new open door doesn't mean that the community will flow over there. I'm on SP all the time as well, and if they opened a forum, I'd probably just talk about it over here.

I like TR and I check it out often. But I mainly use TR to catalog my own experiences with a particular blend. I read and revisit my own reviews regularly so I can watch how my own tastes evolve. And then I come here to hate on Autumn Evening (y'all can have it).

If y'all move, I'll move. But momentum is a stubborn bitch. TR needed fixing, but this forum really doesn't. I like it here and plan on staying.

I don't have a problem with MacB investing in TobaccoReviews. I am glad that someone with a legitimate, continuing interest in pipe tobacco is going to maintain the site. The rollout is painful, but if they fix the Search, that's huge in itself.

 

[woodsroad]

I agree, but just because there's a new open door doesn't mean that the community will flow over there. I'm on SP all the time as well, and if they opened a forum, I'd probably just talk about it over here.

I like TR and I check it out often. But I mainly use TR to catalog my own experiences with a particular blend. I read and revisit my own reviews regularly so I can watch how my own tastes evolve. And then I come here to hate on Autumn Evening (y'all can have it).

If y'all move, I'll move. But momentum is a stubborn bitch. TR needed fixing, but this forum really doesn't. I like it here and plan on staying.

I don't have a problem with MacB investing in TobaccoReviews. I am glad that someone with a legitimate, continuing interest in pipe tobacco is going to maintain the site. The rollout is painful, but if they fix the Search, that's huge in itself.

I said nothing about moving.
It’s a question of divided time, fewer clicks, less ad revenue.

 

[Peterson314]

Just signed in with my email, not my username.

Aaaaaand I cannot find my reviews from my profile. I am currently rocking 0 Activity and a crowd-pleasing 0/10 rating. I have no received dislikes, so that's something.

I found a review I wrote on Ruins of Windsor, a hard-to-like blend from TCS where I was one of two esteemed tobacconists reviewing the blend. My username is there, but I can't actually use it to find any other reviews that I've written, and I can't edit.

Beating this horse just one more time, as a software PM, I would have had this shit in my test suite.

 

[Peterson314]

I said nothing about moving.
It’s a question of divided time, fewer clicks, less ad revenue.

True, and I expect some boat-rocking.

But, TR has always been a site for pipe tobacco enthusiasts. The ads were already there.

The question is if their forum will siphon from Pipesmagazine. Their WAYS thread already has 4 posts and 73 views. How we doin?

 

[woodsroad]

True, and I expect some boat-rocking.

But, TR has always been a site for pipe tobacco enthusiasts. The ads were already there.

The question is if their forum will siphon from Pipesmagazine. Their WAYS thread already has 4 posts and 73 views. How we doin?

View attachment 237629

True dat

 

[LOREN]

I don’t like the set-up of the new site. Time will tell if I use it less.

 

[proteus]

Still broke. Now @JimInks is a brand and blends is a date with reviews counted in stars. Apparently Jim has medium to strong strength too. I didn't know that about Jim.

 

[AJL67]

I'll be honest I haven't been back since I signed up, no real need or want there. I'll still read the reviews but i have a home board I like, that's enough.

 

[JimPM]

I went to post my Friday review and discovered that changes. Not necessarily a positive experience. I hope they continue to improve it

 

[username]

As someone that just lurks that site I hate that it keeps pestering me to essentially create a account and long in after each review.

 

[sablebrush52]

So, I tried log in and after a few bumps, managed to reset my login. The site seems very responsive, but the search appears to have lost some functionality. It doesn't appear to support a search by genre, a feature I found useful when I was looking for new and/or unfamiliar choices of a particular type of tobacco blend.

I asked them if that feature had been discontinued, or how to find it.

I briefly checked out the new forum, but I barely have time for this one, so I don't see much need to get involved with yet another one.

 

[Brendan]

Apparently Jim has medium to strong strength too. I didn't know that about Jim.
View attachment 237811

Well once he can clean and press his own bodyweight in tobacco tins he will progress to 'strong to very strong'

 

[cersono]

Account password is reset, now I can see no reviews whatsoever. I was saving my own reviews to a text file on my PC, so no big deal. But what about the rest, the loss of access to which is a big deal indeed?

Thank you guys for "fixing" what wasn't broken

 

[CptKing]

No idea what the impetus for redesigning the site was but it was obviously a mistake. I never saw anything wrong with the original site and regardless of the connection and databasing issues, which one would assume will be resolved, I think the redesign is a step backwards. Site looks clunky now and if the plan was to create a competitor to this forums destroying the reason ppl came to the site in the first place is a not a great first step.

 

[sardonicus87]

No idea what the impetus for redesigning the site was but it was obviously a mistake. I never saw anything wrong with the original site and regardless of the connection and databasing issues, which one would assume will be resolved, I think the redesign is a step backwards. Site looks clunky now and if the plan was to create a competitor to this forums destroying the reason ppl came to the site in the first place is a not a great first step.

I doubt their goal in adding forums was to try to compete with this or any other forum.

It was probably more along the lines of why a lot of video games went to having "guilds" and teams or whatever... increases participation. That, and it gives them more traffic and page refreshes to serve more ads. That's probably the entirety of the reason for them making forums.

 

[sablebrush52]

So, I tried log in and after a few bumps, managed to reset my login. The site seems very responsive, but the search appears to have lost some functionality. It doesn't appear to support a search by genre, a feature I found useful when I was looking for new and/or unfamiliar choices of a particular type of tobacco blend.

I asked them if that feature had been discontinued, or how to find it.

I briefly checked out the new forum, but I barely have time for this one, so I don't see much need to get involved with yet another one.

Got a reply to my query. Advanced search features will be added. So, the site is not yet finished.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I doubt their goal in adding forums was to try to compete with this or any other forum.

It was probably more along the lines of why a lot of video games went to having "guilds" and teams or whatever... increases participation. That, and it gives them more traffic and page refreshes to serve more ads. That's probably the entirety of the reason for them making forums.

I agree. Lots of places toss in forums and it’s not uncommon for them to see little or no use, especially if the forums aren’t the main purpose of the site.

 

[sardonicus87]

I agree. Lots of places toss in forums and it’s not uncommon for them to see little or no use, especially if the forums aren’t the main purpose of the site.

Even if not used much, it also makes more "pages" that can be indexed by search engines, making the site more likely to be found in general.

As an example, someone might not be looking for reviews of a blend, but might be instead looking up stem repair. Now it gets TR in the results for that search if there's even just one thread mentioning stem repair.

Plus, forums are relatively easy to implement quickly. You can buy forum software and just upload it with minimal setup. They might not be great forums or well integrated into the main site (I've seen several websites where you have a membership to the website and it's main stuff, but then need to sign up separately for the forums because they never bothered to fully integrate them in and just tacked them on beside the main site).

 

[ThermionicScott]

Got a reply to my query. Advanced search features will be added. So, the site is not yet finished.

That is good news. I liked the ability to sort reviews by date.

 

[Chalaw87]

Well once he can clean and press his own bodyweight in tobacco tins he will progress to 'strong to very strong'

I'm pretty sure he can smoke his own bodyweight worth of tobacco though.