The Forum-Why are you here?? - looking for inputs.

lousubcap

 I attempted to create a thread questionnaire looking into why the forum has such low participation.  I spent too much time creating a host of options to assess the atmosphere.  Thus abandoned the project.  (Will eventually serve the suggestion with topics up to corporate.) 

But for those who read this-I'm sure the corporate czars would appreciate the pro's and con's of your engagement and any insights as to why others have left. So fire away.

I'll go first-got here (alerted from a friend ( some 14+ years ago. I'm a short timer)-not the dealer) to initially learn more about the BGE and the recipes (however as he said to me, "welcome to the club-now for the cult.") and thus it became, but more for the entire Q exposure and beyond than just the BGE. 

I'm still here because I enjoy the comaraderie and the broad expanse of talents and knowledge across the spectrum shared by those active members.  The wealth of experience and willingness to share is unmatched for me.

I'm still here because of the way this place enhanced life during the covid shutdown.  The every Friday night Zoom's were of great value.

I'm still here because I have made friends that I may never see in real life but we all have common ground where we can come together and provide support across any level of challenges.  I am so much better for it.

I'm here now to offer my attempt to get more to participate.  What say You??

(no corporate affiliation). 

lkapigian

I joined 10 years ago yesterday because I had just purchased a new to me Egg, that’s what brought me here, I am  here for the comradery , food, bantering. New cooking ideas …everything has ebbs and flows , though participation may be low, I know there are some good text threads that are active with eggheads 

I can’t emphasize enough, get out and meet and greet, I have made lifelong friendships here 

Florida Grillin Girl

Yes, @lousubcap, I got my first BGE and new virtually NOTHING about how to cook on it, and had to teach myself. But when I discovered Eggfests, I attended, and met other Eggers and learned abuncha stuff and had alot of fun, meeting wonderful cooks and new friends. It was over 12 years before I discovered there was an active forum (the old one) that I could have been learning from.

I have no idea why this place is skating downhill, and why hardly anyone is posting their cooks. I, myself, have had trouble trying to post pictures, so that's why I have not been participating in that way. Just sad really. 

I wish you luck trying to help figure it out.

FGG

Ozzie_Isaac

I came here because it felt selfish keeping my awesomeness to myself.


lol, seriously though, I originally came here because my dad  @Jeepster47 bought me an XL as a birthday gift, one stipulation was I needed to join this forum.  That was circa 2014. I was in BBQ Brethren at the time and many other forums.

This is the only forum I am still on regularly.  I stay because most of you have become, what I consider, friends.  The BGE is great and all, but pales in comparison to this group.

JohnInCarolina

I’m just hoping to get on the panel.

Ozzie_Isaac

JohnInCarolina said:

I’m just hoping to get on the panel.

Brother John, they can’t afford your panel participation.

lkapigian

JohnInCarolina said:

I’m just hoping to get on the panel.

LoL

JohnInCarolina

It seems like the real question we want answered is why many BGE owners aren’t on the forum.  

To find out, one of us should go into one of the many Facebook groups dedicated to the BGE and ask the locals why they’re not here.

 I would offer to do this myself, but I have been banned by every one I’ve joined.  

StillH2OEgger

Other than personal trial and error, most everything I have learned about the BGE has been the result of this wonderful resource of a site. I love that in addition to all the info related to the actual BGE, there is a mix of other non-grilling and non-BGE topics and rabbit holes that keep things interesting. I'm sure there are other places to find can offer assistance, but the people make this forum uniquely special. Having said that, I don't like the new site and definitely visit less and peruse fewer topics and threads than I used to. Navigating not as efficient as previous version (coming from someone who uses laptop and rarely phone).

lkapigian

I think this thread needs a memoriam for the family @bgebrent @SoCalTim @Little Steven and so many more of this family … Fvck politics 

Botch

I'm still here only because a contact lens popped out, and I haven't found it yet.  So watch your damn feet!  

DoubleEgger

Too many quality cooks are piled up in the what are you chefing thread. I personally think it’s a forum killer.  The amount of actual cooking threads has greatly diminished over the years. This place used to have a good mix of quality cooking threads and every day BS. It feels more like Reddit now. 

fishlessman

JohnInCarolina said:

It seems like the real question we want answered is why many BGE owners aren’t on the forum.  

To find out, one of us should go into one of the many Facebook groups dedicated to the BGE and ask the locals why they’re not here.

 I would offer to do this myself, but I have been banned by every one I’ve joined.  

so in some odd way i read that as....you being only here is making facebook great again

Foghorn

JohnInCarolina said:

It seems like the real question we want answered is why many BGE owners aren’t on the forum.  

To find out, one of us should go into one of the many Facebook groups dedicated to the BGE and ask the locals why they’re not here.

 I would offer to do this myself, but I have been banned by every one I’ve joined.  

That's either a joke - or the answer.

alaskanassasin

I came here for advice, and stayed for friends and comradery.  When I first came around this place was crazy with activity and there was always something going on, something interesting to read. I remember planting corn and reading the forum at the same time, getting off my mark but being like, ****! But I have to read this before it gets nuked!

 Fast forward to today, and your question @lousubcap, I am hanging around because I am hoping this place will take back off and be interesting again, no offense to the current posters, we are all trying, in that same vein the last two non bge threads I created were sunk the first day.   

 Honestly I don't think corporate wants this forum to exist, over the years hundreds of requests from members to forum admin for changes have completely been ignored. A rule I usually follow is don't hang around where you are not welcome, and that is the current vibe I get from Big Green Egg.

Ozzie_Isaac

DoubleEgger said:

Too many quality cooks are piled up in the what are you chefing thread. I personally think it’s a forum killer.  The amount of actual cooking threads has greatly diminished over the years. This place used to have a good mix of quality cooking threads and every day BS. It feels more like Reddit now. 

That’s an interesting take.  The “What are you doing now” thread was meant as a place for all the non-cooking stuff so we wouldn’t have a 100 non-cooking threads, but still had a place for camaraderie.  It was for all the BS non-BBQ stuff to land.  Now the “What are you chefing, Dr.” thread did the same thing but for all the BBQ and cook threads?

Canugghead

lkapigian said:

I think this thread needs a memoriam for the family @bgebrent @SoCalTim @Little Steven and so many more of this family … Fvck politics 

... @Gator Bait @Carolina Q @Mr Holloway

JohnInCarolina

DoubleEgger said:

Too many quality cooks are piled up in the what are you chefing thread. I personally think it’s a forum killer.  

 I think this is another way of saying that @nolaegghead killed the forum...

Legume

If I remember, leading up to these consolidation threads there was a lot of complaining about some posts not getting enough views, likes, comments, dopamine, etc. And that drove all the complaining about cliques, the popular kids, etc.

It was a lot of butthurt about nothing.

AprèsSki

Came here for knowledge on my new Big Green Egg and occasional recipe ideas. There are a few good cooks here and they have been helpful in helping me learn a new cooking technique. 

I spend a lot less time here now and see myself spending even less as the inspriation for cooks has mostly disappeared. The juvenile humor, sexism and political crap is pretty embarrassing. I'm surprised that the Big Green Egg corporation has allowed this to keep going as long as it has, it really isn't welcoming and reflects poorly upon the brand. 

Thank you for introducing me to the Ceramic Grill Store and Rockwood, corporate lost some money on those introductions and I'm a better cook knowing about them. Thankfully a well worded google search will get me to any cooking advice I need. 

Enjoy this while it lasts I wouldn't put money on it being very long. 

xfire_ATX

I came here after getting a new to me LGBE for my own general questions and recipe ideas.

I only show up once a day now, look over anything new and close the tab.  When I came here the forum was lively and active with hundreds a post a day.   Now I am guessing its never more than 50 posts a day unless something interesting causes a forum war.

Seymour_Smoke

Greetings,
  After lurking for quite a while, I just joined this forum in the hopes of continuing to learn how to make this new 'egg thing' work. I've already picked up several recipes and techniques. 
  I bought an egg primarily to do low/slow cooks and have a quiver of other cookers for everything else. My brief foray last year into pellet poopers was a failure and I was never able to relax or enjoy the cooking experience. 
  My 'handle' here is a spin on my handles on other forums I participate in,  'Seymour Toulane' on a couple of RV forums and 'Seymour Flatwater' on a waterski forum.
  Hopefully I can make a positive contribution to the group and help keep it going.
Thanks for having me. Regards, Michael

danhoo

I'm here for a number of reasons, yet IMO the forum software and the way the forum is setup gets in its own way.

most all of the discussions fall in the general "egghead" forum its impossible to find anything useful by clicking through and browsing.

A better layout would have a home page showing sub forums, and a hierarchy of forums would also help. 

A good crew of "moderators"  or forum custodians can help cultivate the content.  Sticky Threads harvesting great info for example. 

There are many good forums out there so the wheel doesn't need to be reinvented.

That's the foundation. After that it is the people and the content that make the forum worthwhile. In spite of my comments above that's the only reason I come back yet. I can't keep up the the 30 post a day chit chat threads so I'm sure I miss some great cooks, and other good conversation.

Ozzie_Isaac

Anyone remember the cook-off contests?  I used to really like those.

lousubcap

@Seymour_Smoke - Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Above all, have fun and thank you for joining in.  Everyone is capable of contributing with cooks or their knowledge in other areas.

Many here are very talented at serving up rabbit holes to help remove your discretionary income.  Sounds like you have a few hobbies that would easily quality. 

lkapigian

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Anyone remember the cook-off contests?  I used to really like those.

For Sure! @Ozzie_Isaac , you get one started say superbowl cook thread, I'll throw in a $200.00 amazon card to winner........you'll need to figure out the winner 

fishlessman

danhoo said:

I'm here for a number of reasons, yet IMO the forum software and the way the forum is setup gets in its own way.

most all of the discussions fall in the general "egghead" forum its impossible to find anything useful by clicking through and browsing.

A better layout would have a home page showing sub forums, and a hierarchy of forums would also help. 

A good crew of "moderators"  or forum custodians can help cultivate the content.  Sticky Threads harvesting great info for example. 

There are many good forums out there so the wheel doesn't need to be reinvented.

That's the foundation. After that it is the people and the content that make the forum worthwhile. In spite of my comments above that's the only reason I come back yet. I can't keep up the the 30 post a day chit chat threads so I'm sure I miss some great cooks, and other good conversation.

whoever wrote vanilla was NOT a type a personality i run from those boxed in forums where everything has to have a place.  its not for everyone and i could see somethings being cleaned up but im good with an on topic forum and a off topic forum, atleast they all show up here or in off topic. a better search function would be nice though but theres google

MaskedMarvel

I originally came because my dad got me an Egg for my 40th, and I had NO idea how to use the thing. 

After twelve years of being here, I would call myself a better than average Egger. And I’ve gained lifelong friends and a group that I feel lucky to be a part of. 

…..

I’ll say, comparatively, this forum has a lot of activity when you consider other cooker-specific online forums. I’ve been trying to find a Yoder group so I can do there with my new pellet grill what I did here. That forum doesn’t exist. Well - unless three unhelpful posts a month is what you’re looking for…

My posts I’ve made, simple as they are, have been very kindly received by this forum. I’ve learned a lot from others’ posted cooks, and continue to do so. 

I stay out of the various “what are you” threads.  They have intentionally wide focus, and the posts counts there are too much for me to keep up. I know I’m missing cooks. Sucks for that. But people are free to post where and how they like. 

….

i used to manage and administrate various online forums. Some were pretty huge. None of those forums exist any more. Lots of reasons for that, but the social media power of Facebook etc has shifted the paradigm. There are a lot less cooks in those places. Lots more questions. 

fishlessman

I'm here to improve my photography skill

DoubleEgger

Welcome @Seymour_Smoke. 

Woooo! 

unoriginalusername

Because Facebook sucks