our forum verse the biggest competitors box forum

fishlessman · July 2011

here is an eye opener
bge forum 26,722 members
primo 248,760 members rounded total

what happened, whats going on :ermm:
.
.
.
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then it hits you

bge members online 142
bge guests online 472

primo members and guests viewing topics 16

golfguy · July 2011

Interesting stats. Guess the Primo forum field of membership is not indicative of activity/discussion.

BGE forum ROCKS B)

Ohio48 · July 2011

Grill Dome forum is pretty in-active also.

Mainegg · July 2011

hmm I have noticed that before also... all those new and improved and updated forums are just so much better huh?

FSM-Meatball · July 2011

Its not the layout of the forum, but the people.

Here are the stats from a Motorcycle Forum I am a member of that uses the "box" style.

Threads: 110,508, Posts: 2,041,239, Members: 24,308
184 members online now

This is specific to one Motorcycle, not even Brand.

The Naked Whiz · July 2011

Part of the equation though is that the Primo forum is a closed forum. You must join to even look at the forum, let alone post. I'm sure that keeps a lot of casual visitors away.

RRP · July 2011

Good point, Doug. I have to wonder though about their claim of 248K members - I reallllllllllly doubt that!

Photo Egg · July 2011

This forum also seems to "keep" you logged on unless you you take the time to log off.

fishlessman · July 2011

alot here are members there, im one, would assume you and the whiz are too, and the whiz has a point about not allowing guests. only 16 members were viewing the whole forum there at the time, some boxes had only 1 viewing, most had none. i would bet there are more viewing this forum by far right now

Mudflap · July 2011

Pardon the dumb question here but what is a "box" style forum?

fishlessman · July 2011

this would be an example, so many boxed in subjects you forget were you even posted an hour ago :laugh:
http://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/index.php

Mudflap · July 2011

Thanks. I have seen forums like that. I should have known what boxed meant. Those forums are tough to figure out where to go. Also, you always get "in trouble" for not posting to the most appropriate board.

DanB · July 2011

Well, the number of boxes there makes it difficult to know where you are. It's pretty clear to me the organization of topics is under the control of the forum administrator. I see nothing wrong with upgrading to new forum software that allows easier navigation while keeping the same "boxes" we have now. Hopefully that's the plan.

I'm a member of several other forums that use software that's much easier to see what's new that you haven't read yet, easier to attach pictures, and easier to follow threaded discussions. This forum is active, but that's not the only thing that's important to me as a reader. For example, not allowing local storage of pictures risks lots of lost picture links in this forum as various picture repositories go out of business, change their business model, or members decide to stop maintaining their pictures.

- dan

WessB · July 2011

98% of egghead forum users "don't" use the boxes we have now.....and with regard to local storage of images...that would require BGE to purchase ( just picking a number here ) 12TB of hard disks, which they would then have to maintain and back up, all in order to make it easier for you to post a pic, that is not difficult to do anyway....I don't see that happening..

Bordello · July 2011

I have to say that forum responds way quicker, that was nice.

Regards,
Bordello

DanB · July 2011

Ease of use would only be a secondary benefit.

The primary benefit is the pictorial history we have here. there are lots of ideas on stuff to cook, lots of pictures of food, egg tables, people, etc. How long do you suppose these pictures would be accessible if Photobucket were to go out of business? How many of any specific member's pictures would stay around after the member dies and their flickr account gets closed?

Storage is cheap. Storage is needed anyway if BGE values the forum message database; the cost of storage for pictures is negligible compared to the cost of administering and backing up the forum itself.

- dan

Austin Egghead · July 2011

I belong to another box type bbq forum and they only allow 3 pictures if not linking to photobucket. Most of us to photos are picture recipes, lots pictures and little verbage (except me :blush: ). I have never had a problem recreating a recipe from pictures...Plus I love food porn :laugh

thebtls · July 2011

RRP I'm thinking they have their 'visits' counter mixed up with their 'membership' counter, ha.

Austin Egghead · July 2011

Is not that "cutting off your nose to spite your face". The object is to get people involved. Time and job constraints kept me a forum lurker far longer than I wanted, but I always took time to read the posts.

Grandpas Grub · July 2011

On our forum go to flat view find an older post and look at it. Make a post and the count will increase by 2.

BobS · July 2011

The Naked Whiz wrote:

Part of the equation though is that the Primo forum is a closed forum. You must join to even look at the forum, let alone post. I'm sure that keeps a lot of casual visitors away.

I have to respectfully disagree. You have to be a member to post, but not just to view. I am a member of the Pimo forum too and when I go to the home page that has the welcome and an overview of the rules, there is a section that shows (at the time I am posting):

25 users on line
15 members and 10 guests

As for the difference in the format, I am comfortable with both formats now.

As for use of the forum -- there are many more users/viewers over here (sales are a lot higher too), but I get as many or more responses to my individual posts on the Primo forum as I do here.

You can see from my profile that I cook on a Lg and S Egg and an XL Primo, but I NEVER post my Primo cooks over here or if I do, I just comment on the cook and show the finished product. In contrast, all my cooks are welcome on the Primo forum -- the level of responses are the same and there is never a bad word about the cooker used.

It is fine to be proud of and happy with this forum as well as being prooud and happy with the BGE, but if you are looking at friendly tolerance and celebrating cooking instead of cookers, there are some things that could (should) be learned over here.

Mudflap · July 2011

BobS wrote:

The Naked Whiz wrote:

Part of the equation though is that the Primo forum is a closed forum. You must join to even look at the forum, let alone post. I'm sure that keeps a lot of casual visitors away.

I have to respectfully disagree. You have to be a member to post, but not just to view. I am a member of the Pimo forum too and when I go to the home page that has the welcome and an overview of the rules, there is a section that shows (at the time I am posting):

Bob,
I completely agree that it would be nice to share recipes and cooks no matter the brand. I really could care less if any of my friends by a ceramic grill that isn't a BGE. Although, I must respectfully disagree with you now. I think the Primo sight is misleading by showing guests online as if that appears to mean guests can view anything of value. The Naked Whiz is right. A guest has almost no access. I decided to visit as a guest. I could click on the first 3 forums, News, Support (manuals) and Testimonials (reasons to buy the Primo). The other 33 forums (the ones with useful information) like recipes, tips, charcoal, classified ads, smokers forum, etc showed me no threads.

It is clear to me that is why they have such a large membership. That being said, I am going to join so I can be part of it. Thanks for the information as I'm always looking for good sources for recipes, cooking advice and techniques.

Jeremy

BobS · July 2011

Mudflap, thanks for the heads-up, I did not go far enough with my check of the Whiz' comments. You are right -- access is very restricted.

I just posted a message asking why. I have sent a number of folks to the site and had no idea that they could not see what was posted before deciding to join or not.

Mudflap · July 2011

You're welcome. I personally don't think having to register to post is a bad idea. These cooking forums people (for the most part) seem to be respectable. I've been on some other forums, namely for hunting and fishing, and some people get nasty. It's almost always "guests."

Now I do like to be able to view content w/o having to register, but then again it's a very small price to pay for all of the enormous amount of free information.

I just got notice that my account has been activated. First stop Wild Game forum!

BobS · July 2011

Mudflap wrote:

You're welcome. I personally don't think having to register to post is a bad idea. These cooking forums people (for the most part) seem to be respectable. I've been on some other forums, namely for hunting and fishing, and some people get nasty. It's almost always "guests."

Now I do like to be able to view content w/o having to register, but then again it's a very small price to pay for all of the enormous amount of free information.

I just got notice that my account has been activated. First stop Wild Game forum!

Welcome!!! You will be well received even with pictires of your Egg, Keg, Grill Dome or anything else you bring to the party.

deepsouth · July 2011

the bbqbrethren forum is very good IMO and is a vbulletin forum. JUST the "q talk" portion has 49,139 threads and 794,946 responses. also, Currently Active Users: 1465 (371 members and 1094 guests)

not sure where i'm going with this other than, i can't wait for the new forum software!

funhunter63 · August 2011

I agree- primo has a more standard format. It is easy to BGE new or old forum. BGE old forum was easier than the new. BGE should quit trying to be different and use a standard format! Maybe BGE is trying to give a bigger share of the market to Primo. That will probably work well for Primo.

DrZaius · August 2011

hmm I have noticed that before also... all those new and improved and updated forums are just so much better huh?

They actually are better. The old BGE forum software is/was out of date. Modern features that most of us use don't work well there.

morrobayrich · August 2011

After reading down thru this list of posts, I have no idea who is talking to who. At least with the "original" forum if some one was talking to a secondary poster you could tell using the classic view.

Spring Chicken · August 2011

I also trip over to the Primo Forum every once in a while to look around but not being a Primo Owner, I don't post. I did add my Coop photo years ago because some Primo guys liked it and wanted to know more. It is still shown on their photos section but seriously needs updating.

There are seldom as many active posters there as BGE but those who do post come up with some scrumptious dishes just like we do here.

I'm sure there are Eggheads who own Primo's and Primoheads (if that's a word) who own Eggs. All good folks just like here.

We all have to realize that ceramic cooking is contagious and what-kind and where-to purchase decisions are made based upon recommendations, availability and budget, and a knowledgeable dealer.

Spring "Never Thought I Would Be Known As An Egghead Until I Became One" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

fishlessman · August 2011

After reading down thru this list of posts, I have no idea who is talking to who. At least with the "original" forum if some one was talking to a secondary poster you could tell using the classic view.

what really makes this confusing is that this post had nothing to do with this forum, it was made before this forum was online

@chicken, i was a primo regular before they switched forum types, bunch of great cooks over there, always willing to help an egghead

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our forum verse the biggest competitors box forum

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