To all my buddies, cleaning up the site

[Jitterbugdude]

That's a good point Bob. The moderators should be a little more active. I posted the Shredder review update, watched it go way off topic and did nothing. I'll be a little more vigilent.
Randy B.

 

[Daniel]

All I can say is you won't be seeing my critique of the shredder here anytime soon. Way to sensitive of an issue. I am pretty sure there are at least a few others that won't be sayign much about it here after this either. I don't really care what other concerns you have are. I also won't tend to trust the evaluations of the machine on this group after all this. it is pretty clear that your right sales pitches for Don or keep your mouth shut.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Daniel, I think you are missing the point . It's not about whether the reviews are good or bad its about letting the original topic stray so far away that the subject matter is no longer relevant. I would love for someone to post a bad review of the shredder, it'll make me pay more attention to mine. So far though I have nothing but praise for it.

Randy B

 

[wazzappenning]

i think keeping on topic is simple. ok ill try to explain a little differently.

if someone on the shredder reviews says

that thing looks like such and such (completely unrelated)machine, like when i was a kid.

and if i have a story about that such and such machine, or one like it, but has nothing to do with tobacco, all i have to do is post a link to a new thread in the off topic forum.

whether i title it or not shouldnt matter, a visitor will quickly see that the main subject is covered in the main thread, and that links go to less related stuff, unless someone says, here is a vid of it in action, and posts a link to that vid, etc.

i agree its a pain to go though 7 pages of stuff to get your answer. some of it is amusing, but then again, no one would be stopping a visitor to the site from following the links to off topic stuff. sometimes you just need an answer right away, and others you have time to read chit chat.

 

[deluxestogie]

I also won't tend to trust the evaluations of the machine on this group after all this. it is pretty clear that your right sales pitches for Don or keep your mouth shut.

It does sound like censorship, if you don't trust the moderators. My personal notion of product reviews is that I encourage all product comments, positive or negative. It speaks to the integrity of the process. A look at any site that permits product reviews (Amazon, NewEgg, etc.) will show whether or not the reviews are candid. I like to see an occasional trashing of a product I want to purchase, when the other reviews are generally favorable.

The point of avoiding off-topic excursions (into what jellies Grandma used to put in her breakfast pastries on Thursdays) within product reviews is to lower the pain of locating meaningful information. Ease of access to information is not an evil thing. It permits a novice to enter an otherwise impenetrable domain.

Bob

 

[FmGrowit]

The Amazon / NewEgg analogy is a pretty good one and might be the starting point to identifying what is on and off topic.

When reading the reviews at Amazon, you never see an off topic conversation...the reviews are strictly "reviews". So maybe we could all agree on this one example...if a thread is titled "Review", that only reviews are offered?

Maybe there should be a forum "Reviews"?...I don't know.

BTW...I'm quite sure I never suggested the reviews for the shredder must be positive, nor have I deleted posts critical of the shredder.

 

[BarG]

Daniel,

I'm not sure if you even saw the events leading to this situation, so I'll recap here.

Please don't anyone take this as me looking for pity, because I'm not. I'm going to add some things that haven't been exposed before in hopes we can finally put this issue to rest. I know some of you will view me as a money grubbing capitalist and maybe I am, but it is what it is.

We did the group buy for the shredder. I sold them at $20 over cost, $8.50 of which went to paypal and $3.50 went toward boxes. I charged $20 for shipping (I'm not sure if you saw the actual cost for your shredder, but it was over $30). I also ended up with a shredder myself, but where the true ownership lies is unclear to me. Someone wanted to buy it, but I really can't sell something that isn't mine...technically.

After the shredders were delivered, one of the members started a thread "Let the shredder reviews begin"...or something like that. This thread could have been a great marketing tool (for me) to sell more shredders and actually make a little money on them. Unfortunately, after the second page of comments about shredders, the thread evolved into not less than three pages of off topic discussions IN A ROW.

I've never asked for a dime to help with the cost of the forum. I've come right out and said I do not accept donations, but here was one real opportunity, one that developed as a natural progression of the sites own merits to actually perhaps make a few bucks selling shredders. As I watched the thread deteriorate to resemble nothing even remotely close to the thread title, I got an email. It was from a non-member who wanted some information on the shredder that I have for sale on the whole leaf site. What could have been (should have been) a perfect presentation of what the shredder can do had turned into a mishmash of miscellaneous conversations. I politely directed the customer to the youtube video's.

I thought this would really be just a common sense issue and I assumed everyone would know your grow blogs are YOUR glow blogs, but everyone wants to find fault somewhere in every aspect of trying to get you guys to stay on topic.

I'm sorry, but I'm not backing down from this. You guys can stomp all over each others threads at Roy's site. The only thing you're not allowed to say there is FmGrowit and whole leaf tobacco.com.

Personaly i'm a capitalistic pig. I will be be working till the day I die . No unions , no retirements, Get it while you can. I will be more observant in the future before posting on important topics.

Iv'e never seen censorship as being an alternative on FTT , only honest debate.

 

[driftinmark]

first off, this is a great site!!! I first started reading about tobacco from a few roll your own sites ,learned a lot from those, then on to HTGT and read a few of deluxe stogies posts there on turkish and found my way here..........

I have learned the most here about growing your own,it is a wealth of knowledge and would be a major shame if this site went away...I have learned so much here that I now have the confidence to grow my own next year!!
and then Bob comes up with the trash can flue curing chamber....pure genius! I am soo hooked,that I couldnt wait to get home to read more posts about it, lol,I know I should get a life,lol
I dont post much,but I read here everyday,prolly like a lot of visitors here....

Don, maybe a stay on topic part for the reviews of products and whole leaf but leave the grow blogs to wander? just an idea...

I did read the whole thread on the review of the shredder and waited everyday for more pics and how to operate it, the best part was when you took it apart to show how it is made , If I had the extra coin right now to purchase one I would in a heartbeat, as the pasta maker is gettin old,lol....but it works....

Don, you have quite possibly created the best site for tobacco on the net, and maybe these are growing pains?

mark

 

[BarG]

All I can say is you won't be seeing my critique of the shredder here anytime soon. Way to sensitive of an issue. I am pretty sure there are at least a few others that won't be sayign much about it here after this either. I don't really care what other concerns you have are. I also won't tend to trust the evaluations of the machine on this group after all this. it is pretty clear that your right sales pitches for Don or keep your mouth shut.

Daniel, I sincerely doubt that was the intent from a non partisan viewpoint.
My opinion was the thread to a viewpoint or review of a new product without wandering for pros and cons should be kept as such. I simply agree . All view points would be given equal merit. I see no hypocrisy in this .

EDIT: I see no opinion being silenced or censored, only being asked to put in proper place in forum by starting a thread.[ To make life easier for moderaters ] A little effort to find a relative location and if all else fails try General. We would be even more interested to hear your review now? In the review forum.

 

[FmGrowit]

Don, maybe a stay on topic part for the reviews of products and whole leaf but leave the grow blogs to wander? just an idea...

mark

I've already acknowledged "Grow Blogs" are owned by their creator. I really don't want to have any involvement with the content in personal in formation. These blogs are completely voluntary and free form. If anyone is having a problem with members taking over THEIR grow blog, I would hope they would notify a mod or admin.

Anyone can start any type of post (within the law...and even pushing the boundary a little would be fine) anywhere on this site. There is a thread titled "Who the hells them spiders is?", it has three pages and 23 posts...the average number of posts per thread is a little over 13. It is mostly just a nonsense thread, but that's fine. Censoring anyone is the last thing I'd do to anyone here.

Speaking of censoring...if somebody has an issue with their shredder, I'd very much appreciate hearing about it. I really don't want to sell a shredder that doesn't work properly.

 

[BarG]

I understand where you're going with this, it's an admirable goal. The search function works well enough to sort through the chaff to find what I was looking for, or not, in my lurker days. The later into the season it gets, it seems to me, the better the questions get and some of the answers are real jewels. The "old hands" are really stepping up to the plate. As a mine-able data base, this site is becoming better every week. I don't think that can ever replace the value of human interaction.

That was a real Jewel there Steve! But how would I search for it? The Interaction is a major plus but in prospective of how we can get carried away it needs to be a concerted effort to make this site easy to maintain, Think if you were doing it? I totaly suggest using the whats new and active topics with up to 30 days to stay current. Especialy for the funnin and bullshit.You can always try to learn something new.

 

[leverhead]

But how would I search for it?

What do you want to search for?

 

[Chicken]

i just read the '' SHREDDER REVIEW THREAD''...

and i know we here, at the site are doing some '' house cleaning'' , and i agree, with the reason behind it, 100%

but i laughed like a banshee, when i'd seen all the deleting that had been done in there,
i personally dont recall exactlly, what was in there, other than the actual reviews.
i know my post's were of anticipation, because i havent recieved mine yet.{ hopefully this week coming though}

...and to think about it,,,,i see why my post's are gone,,'' no issues here'' i did mention something, i should have proablly not posted<

 

[BarG]

What do you want to search for?

I use the search function for specifics,
[ a real jewel of an insight perhaps]

but there is really no comparison to staying current on all posts regardless of content [Your particular interests].
Oh yea, I remember aunt adele....best shine!
Its been easy to get off track. I may not remember where or when I read something but when that bell goes off I have that search option.

Anyway thanks for everyones responses.

I think I already improved this week.