Where have all the flowers gone?

[Mr.Peaberry]

When I joined coffeeforums.com it was a much more lively place, but now it seems as though the flowers have been replaced by tumbleweeds. If I am at all at fault, I apologize!! :lol: Okay, so that was a joke; however, the regulars aren't so regular...probably because their life IS coffee, and they just need to step away at the end of the day rather than jump on the forums to the benefit of the newbies. I get that. Personally, I feel that the blow up with Alex of ensoluna may have contributed somewhat. NOT POINTING FINGERS...just sayin'. One thing I'd like to support is perhaps a sub forum where regulars can hang out, and hope I get invited, lol!! Just getting a little tired of the barrage of new members whose only reason for joining seems to be to promote a product or service they feel is "perfect" for a group of coffee lovers.

Any thoughts on an invitation only lounge area? Has this been discussed before?

Cheers,

Mr. Peaberry

 

[PinkRose]

Hello Mr. Peaberry,

It does appear that many of the other flowers have disappeared . . . but at least we have a Rose who is still here lurking in the background.

I also miss the lively interaction that we've had in the past.

You are probably correct in thinking that the blowup with Alex turned some of the long-time members off from the Forum. And, you are certainly correct in thinking that many people are just too busy running their businesses to participate as much as they used to. Recently, I've noticed that some of the long-time members log in, but I'm guessing that they just look at the active topics for the day, and then they log out again.

As you know, many of the questions from new members have already been discussed over and over again in other threads. It would be so much easier if people would take the time to search the Forum threads before posting their questions. Many of the answers are already here on the Forum. I certainly appreciate how much you've jumped in to help the new members whenever you can.

I think if an invitation-only sub-forum, where active members could hang out, were to be created, it would take most of the legitimate activity away from the main Coffee Forum. We'd all be hanging out there, instead of reading through the recent posts and responding to them.

But, on the other hand, if a Forum topic area, where all of the lurkers, advertisers, and spammers could hang out and post their wares could be created, that would be something that the rest of us could just ignore and skip over so we could focus on the real discussion topics.

That's my 2¢ for today.

Thanks for trying to keep the Coffee Forum alive and kicking.

Rose

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

LOL Rose! I hadn't even thought of the connection your user name brings to the title I chose for this thread! Classic...as are you!

I suppose the activity can be cyclical, after all, I'm not by any stretch a long standing member, but it would be nice to hear more often from some of the members who seem to have gone into the stealth mode. I'll don't start a lot of threads, so maybe I'll work on trying to come up with something worthwhile to say...just sayin'...

Peaberry

 

[peterjschmidt]

I'm still here, Mr. DougieBerry... but you do such a good job of answering the noob questions that I rarely have to post. Keep up the good work!

 

[PinkRose]

I'm not by any stretch a long standing member, but it would be nice to hear more often from some of the members who seem to have gone into the stealth mode.

Hey Doug,

Very soon you will have a three-year anniversary. I think you qualify as a long standing member. You've even reached "senior" status already. You're certainly a flower on the Coffee Forum.

A peaberry starts out as a coffee flower and magically transforms into something special. Just sayin....

Rose

 

[topher]

I have been here for a while. All I can do is recommend you stick out the slow periods. I try to log in every day and make sure the site is spam free. When I first joined this forum I was working 21 hour shifts and my computer was right next to my roaster..I was on constantly. I am in a new company that is growing tremendously. I started here a little over 5 years ago and we have gone from 3 stores to 25. I have been slammed. Remember to give the newbies a chance. I am always suggesting to people that I meet that are in the industry to come check this out. It will pick up...it usually does.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

I'm still here, Mr. DougieBerry... but you do such a good job of answering the noob questions that I rarely have to post. Keep up the good work!

Thanks Peter! FYI I am ready to burn my first batch of beans today. Why so long to get to this point you may wonder...or not? Simple answer is I work two jobs...roughly 85 hours per week...leaving me very little time to work on this rendition of the turbo oven build. I will be posting soon on this, and it's been a fairly bumpy road as I burnt up the plastic shroud on the oven and had to replace with a much better SS top...What I learned is that you can't run up the heat without the fan....the fan does not just heat up the roasting chamber, it is critical for cooling the motor, et al. I've seen someone hook up a separate fan for the motor chamber, but, based on your information, that would not produce a significant difference in the cup. Anyway, thanks for posting, and the new nickname...Dougieberry....lol!

Cheers!

The member formerly known as Peaberry

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Hey Doug,

Very soon you will have a three-year anniversary. I think you qualify as a long standing member. You've even reached "senior" status already. You're certainly a flower on the Coffee Forum.

A peaberry starts out as a coffee flower and magically transforms into something special. Just sayin....

Rose

Thanks Rose...I had forgotten that I had joined that long ago. I really only started posting regularly about a year ago. It's been a great place to hang out, and I just want to see this place thrive. It is refreshing to see new coffee lovers come in, but I was getting a little bummed that so many regulars were hibernating....just sayin'...

Doug

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

I have been here for a while. All I can do is recommend you stick out the slow periods. I try to log in every day and make sure the site is spam free. When I first joined this forum I was working 21 hour shifts and my computer was right next to my roaster..I was on constantly. I am in a new company that is growing tremendously. I started here a little over 5 years ago and we have gone from 3 stores to 25. I have been slammed. Remember to give the newbies a chance. I am always suggesting to people that I meet that are in the industry to come check this out. It will pick up...it usually does.

...

Jeez Toper...that is some serious growth. Crazy hours with that other job, but man, if it had to be, thank god it involved coffee right?? lol!

I am noticing that I need to focus on being a kinder & gentler Peaberry, especially with newbies to coffee...so it's not just the forums, it's a frustration I feel when I hear someone suggest that this third wave coffee phenom has taken the coffee world from the dark ages to a level of enlightenment never before known to the coffee world...sorry, I just felt a bit of a rant coming on so I'll stop now...hahahaha!

Cheers all!!

PB

 

[hotcoffee]

Forums are sadly going the way of the dodo

 

[topher]

I just remember why I got really active on this forum and quit the roasters guild forum. People would troll and wait for a noob to say something incorrect then blast them. We have to remember we were all green at one point...the people starting today have an advantage that some of us "old timers"didn't have...the internet.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Forums are sadly going the way of the dodo

Hmmmmm....well we've got a few dinosaurs here, including myself of course, so you might be right hotcoffee! BTW, how's coldcoffee been lately??

 

[Bardo]

I have learned a tremendous amount from the forums. I admit that I left for the reasons Mr. P states in the OP. But I have come back and do find a bit of a dirth of interesting topics, at least at the moment. To be fair, my niche is not the fast growing commercial roaster world that Topher and others inhabit. I designed and built my own roaster and deliver small batches weekly to local customers. But I am growing, despite my own full time job, and find that I have questions that need answering. So maybe some of you greybeards in here can help me get to the next level! I would be sad if you locked yourselves away in a private forum. Thank you Rose and others, for your kindness over the last few years!

 

[namballe]

thanks to Mr. Peaberry, i've been humming that song by Peter Paul and Mary:lol:. i noticed that when someone posts a question, and folks take the time help them out, they don't get back and the thread eventually goes dead.

 

[Musicphan]

I think its normal ebb and flow... lots of graduations / vacations / etc over the last few weeks. I opening my roasting business so I've been just a tad bit busier than before