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Do You Like This Site?????
- Thread starter spicewine
- Start date
F
flyingbrass
Guest
Thanks for being so open to feedback as requested.
mm_0_mm
Full Fledged Farker
Wow. I've been hanging out here on-and-off for almost 5 years. I don't contribute to the forums as much as others and I haven't made a monetary donation yet, but I have NEVER felt "coerced" into doing so...it has been quite the opposite. The message conveyed from EVERYONE is that there is absolutely NO pressure to donate anything more than quality posts. I don't see anything wrong with giving "subscribers" a little extra bonus in the way of Boolean search, etc.
Rookie'48
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Any donations that I make or have made are because I like reading the posts, sharing the laughs (or tears, at times), the recipes, hints, cooking methods, new product reviews, others' views on all kinds of stuff, etc. Not to mention getting to know some truly outstanding folks. Somebody has to pay for the hardware, software and labor to keep this thing going so that I can enjoy it. Why should Phil have to dig it all out of his own pocket???
txschutte
Quintessential Chatty Farker
I'm sure the experience you have with other groups is massive. However,on the web, this is the only place I can go to laugh hysterically, weep, get advice on anything, and get pointers on some damn fine food. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I pay not just for recipes, I pay to be part of something great. Something I believe in.
I'm sorry you feel "coerced". Not anybody's intention.
Yep, sounds to me you like this site :biggrin:
Also not cool to call folk out who have concern for the growth and security of this site. You simply could have kept that thought to yourself. I digress....
Bigmista
somebody shut me the fark up.
The responses to flyingbrass' comments are the reason why I come here. Nobody called him dick or an arsehole for being new and accusing the site owner of try to coerce him into donatin or subscribing. Nobody flamed him, pointed out his lack of manners in someone else's very happy home or made derogatory comments about his family lineage.
Everyone responded to the accusatory remarks in a very civil and polite manner whether it was deserved or not. I love this place and the people in it. We help pay the bills because this is home.
Everyone responded to the accusatory remarks in a very civil and polite manner whether it was deserved or not. I love this place and the people in it. We help pay the bills because this is home.
chinesebob
is Blowin Smoke!
Mista said it best.... This is home. And we're family. It can be hard for someone coming from the outside to understand that we take all comers. If someone feels coerced because one of the brethren, not the Poohbah, let us know about a situation with the site and we rallied to help not just the Poohbah, but our home, then you probably don't get what we're talking about and what we really represent.
ZILLA
is One Chatty Farker
It seems to me you ought to know better than to use the approach that you used to give your opinion.
Rookie'48
Quintessential Chatty Farker
I forgot to add that I enjoy this site so much that I own & wear proudly 3 Brethren shirts, 2 Brethren hats (1 is put away for a dress-up hat), 1 judges' tote & just ordered 2 Brethren aprons. You might get the idea that I like this site:biggrin:. Oh, yeah one of the g-kids has a little teddy bear with the Brethren tee shirt.
timzcardz
Babbling Farker
I wasn't coerced, but I just made yet another donation to support this site, my friends, and online community.
I am also not coerced by the electric company to subscribe to them, but it beats waiting until dawn for light.
If you are lucky you will see the light soon and realize what this place means to so many of us.
Last edited:
- Joined
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What about the Brethren Thong or official Brethren judges cooler? :biggrin:
txschutte
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Nice use of the word "home". We pay to keep up maintenance on our home.
F
flyingbrass
Guest
I was frustrated when I wrote that earlier post. I could have worded my comments better.
In most venues, this forum being the sole exception I've encountered, newcomers are strongly encouraged to search and read before asking questions. And for good reason. Much can be learned that way. Lazy newbies who can't be bothered to search annoy the regulars.
My initial motivation for joining a forum is usually to gain access to the search function and the ability to view attachments. Joining here felt like a bait and switch. Welcome to the forum, but now to get much practical use out of it payment is required upfront. That strikes me as totally backwards. Usually, the value obtained from a site/forum over time inspires one to donate. Requiring a fee in advance for such basic functionality is a pay site approach. Different strokes for different folks, but had I known that was the deal I probably wouldn't have registered.
I think someone mentioned boolean searches, perhaps implying that a simple single word search is possible. Nope. Non-subscribing members apparently have no searching ability here at all with the exception of the FAQ searchbox. I can't even pull up my previous posts or look up threads I've posted in. I find that to be an extremely frustrating environment.
In most venues, this forum being the sole exception I've encountered, newcomers are strongly encouraged to search and read before asking questions. And for good reason. Much can be learned that way. Lazy newbies who can't be bothered to search annoy the regulars.
My initial motivation for joining a forum is usually to gain access to the search function and the ability to view attachments. Joining here felt like a bait and switch. Welcome to the forum, but now to get much practical use out of it payment is required upfront. That strikes me as totally backwards. Usually, the value obtained from a site/forum over time inspires one to donate. Requiring a fee in advance for such basic functionality is a pay site approach. Different strokes for different folks, but had I known that was the deal I probably wouldn't have registered.
I think someone mentioned boolean searches, perhaps implying that a simple single word search is possible. Nope. Non-subscribing members apparently have no searching ability here at all with the exception of the FAQ searchbox. I can't even pull up my previous posts or look up threads I've posted in. I find that to be an extremely frustrating environment.
You aren't helping yourself much here. How about going to "Cattle Call" and introducing yourself instead of veiled and not so veiled complaints about how a very successful and popular forum is run. We aren't interested at all in how "other forums" are run. We like it here because it is different.
You are welcome here, but if all you are going to do is complain about the forum we love, then maybe you just aren't going to fit in. I'm sure you will fit in if you'll try to conform instead of changing us.
Rookie'48
Quintessential Chatty Farker
I don't do the "thong thing" but tell me more about the cooler, does it come in XXX - large judges' size?
:twisted::biggrin: After I load up at the "grazing table" I might need to get the motorized option with the trailer.
- Joined
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First off, you would be hard pressed to find an annoyed regular here. Somoene is ALWAYS available to answer a question, and Senior and longtime members will even go thru the trouble of searching and posting links to threads that are relevant to questions asked by newer members. We are not your typical forum. Im not sure what your used to, or how you chose to run your own forum, but we are obviously different, and we have a group of us who make decisions which are in the best interest of the site.
Let me offer some insight to everyone into my thinking about digging up historical data using searches. Our forum is over 5 years old. Data from 5 years ago may or may not hold true today. I know for a fact that if you ask me a question today about my brisket techniques, you will get a VERY different answer than you did 5 years ago, or even 2. As our knowledge base here grows, so do we. We have all become more experienced cooks based on things we have taken form here. I personally would prefer a new member ask the question and get new, accurate information than walk away with old informatin that has been much improved since it was written years ago. An added bonus, will in many cases be pointers to old threads that may still hold true.
i would also like to point out that you are wrong in your assumtions in the way our forum works. Search will become available based on your offering to our knowledge base. Meaning it will eventually come with a significant post count in the ontopic forums regardless of monetary donations, as does some other pay features. But they are NOT given away, there are features that will be earned based on a members participation and contribution, and I do not mean monetary. Value added, for adding value.
One of the things that caused us to move to a subscription base is the need for more horsepower, which thanks to the members stepping up, we are in the process of adding. Searches were causing significant spikes in CPU utilization, especially during peak hours. This was causing lags and increased response times. At one point we even had to limit the number of searches to every few minutes. When a board has 2000 lurkers searching, it effects everyone.
Prior to moving to subscriptions, over 1400 members were grandfathered in and have full search functionality. 1000 of them active. Allowing free reign to visitors, lurkers and people that only take away and do not offer anything in the form of knowledge or comaraderie, was taking away cycles and resources from those that helped support the site. It was decided to make the search one of the value added features available to those that support us.
We are in the process of adding a second server to offload all database activity to a dedicated server and this will eliviate the CPU spikes we experience. This feature may be re-addressed once its online and 'free trials' instituted, but our thinking here will always be to take care of those that support our site before we take care of the hit and runs, those that take our information and leave never to return or to ever post.
Let me offer some insight to everyone into my thinking about digging up historical data using searches. Our forum is over 5 years old. Data from 5 years ago may or may not hold true today. I know for a fact that if you ask me a question today about my brisket techniques, you will get a VERY different answer than you did 5 years ago, or even 2. As our knowledge base here grows, so do we. We have all become more experienced cooks based on things we have taken form here. I personally would prefer a new member ask the question and get new, accurate information than walk away with old informatin that has been much improved since it was written years ago. An added bonus, will in many cases be pointers to old threads that may still hold true.
i would also like to point out that you are wrong in your assumtions in the way our forum works. Search will become available based on your offering to our knowledge base. Meaning it will eventually come with a significant post count in the ontopic forums regardless of monetary donations, as does some other pay features. But they are NOT given away, there are features that will be earned based on a members participation and contribution, and I do not mean monetary. Value added, for adding value.
One of the things that caused us to move to a subscription base is the need for more horsepower, which thanks to the members stepping up, we are in the process of adding. Searches were causing significant spikes in CPU utilization, especially during peak hours. This was causing lags and increased response times. At one point we even had to limit the number of searches to every few minutes. When a board has 2000 lurkers searching, it effects everyone.
Prior to moving to subscriptions, over 1400 members were grandfathered in and have full search functionality. 1000 of them active. Allowing free reign to visitors, lurkers and people that only take away and do not offer anything in the form of knowledge or comaraderie, was taking away cycles and resources from those that helped support the site. It was decided to make the search one of the value added features available to those that support us.
We are in the process of adding a second server to offload all database activity to a dedicated server and this will eliviate the CPU spikes we experience. This feature may be re-addressed once its online and 'free trials' instituted, but our thinking here will always be to take care of those that support our site before we take care of the hit and runs, those that take our information and leave never to return or to ever post.
txschutte
Quintessential Chatty Farker
You forgot to mention its the BBQ Brethren for a reason.....
It is?
txschutte
Quintessential Chatty Farker
It is. Everybody contributes in some way for being here. Even Wyatt, who is 10 years old.
