HUH? Is TPL Dying or is it just Summer time get away?

Wolf41035

I was gone a little with health issues but this is not the first time I have been away, back for a little but not long and it is almost dead in here! I remember just over a month ago we had so many posts it took me a good while to look them all over! Past couple days I have stopped in all I am seeing as far as new comments on posts is two or three and on two or three posts.....
I am sure this is just because Summer is finally here and people are spending more time outside but then again I know a lot of older folks don't like this heat and stay in the AC during the hot time of Summer.  Kind of makes me wonder if this site is getting old for some people. 
I like it here but I am a rare one that feels better outside when it is HOT out! Yesterday and today we are under a heat advisory, as soon as I get done here I am heading outside to spend most of the day out in the sun doing what ever my body lets me do, if I can walk a while I will be walking, if I can go somewhere I will go, what ever I do I will be outside enjoying this before Winter creeps its way back here!
So who is just out enjoying Summer and Who is thinking this site is losing people? 
Why do you think it is so quiet lately?
What can we do to get things going again?
I try to post interesting things on here to keep people chatting but I can only talk about and post so much, some things are meant to keep comments going everyday, others are just when it sparks someones interest, what topics can we add? Aromatic Smokers only was for semi daily posts about what Aromatics you were smoking each day.  What are you drinking was a daily comment section as well as what are you smoking today from another member but you can only comment so much especially if you smoke the same thing everyday.  lol
What would be a good topic? 
What has not already been posted?
 
Admins will still need an edit button for our commenting so if we have a typo or other mistake we can edit it and make it right. 
I read where a few people think they should update the points system, I agree, once you get so high in rank it would take a long time to advance but also what is Ranking?  Experience is better than just posting and commenting.  I was thinking they could do a class and have a test after it and each test you get so many points and that could be another way to move up in Rank.  If you didn't want to move up you don't take tests or you don't score high so you can test again later.
Who knows but the system they have in place now has flooded us with a lot of posts that are almost the same or exactly the same with the title just changed a little.  Example: We have two Aromatic only posts.  We have multiple new member welcomes type posts, we have a couple where are you at type posts and so on.
Admins, think about the testing idea for moving up in Rank, I could show some examples on how to do it.
 
OK I have rambled enough, going outside to enjoy the weather.  I have one project that I have been working on for a member here, got to get it done today!! Sending PM to him before I log off.

Woodsman

There is usually a Summer slowdown in most things.

mseddon

I just got back from a three-day conference that didn't give me much time for TPL.

mfresa

I just got back from vacation, and it was tough to post out there on my iPhone, as sometimes there was no cellular service available.  Damn it was good to be disconnected, but I did miss you guys.  Wolf, don't worry, we are here.  I have a whole list of subjects to kick start people thinking, but didn't think anyone else cared.  I will post one for you now in General...

PhilosoPiper

I've been away for a while myself, the summer time is very busy for my wife and I (full of travel, etc.) I try not to let it keep me away for too long however, but alas time gets away from me. I think most pipers are the types of people who like to experience life and not be bogged down in front of a screen if we can help it. At least that is my experience.

rustedrailpipes

I've been busy at work, so I'm just commenting at night and on the weekend.  I think a lot of folks smoke less pipes during the summer.  As hot as it is here, I'm only smoking inside instead of on my porch.

The good insights and suggestions I get from some of the sages here make it worth checking back everyday whenever I can.

Philip

Summer time! When not at work it's a time for going outside, lunting and sitting by the grill. Only come in to get away from the bugs.

Wolf41035

I love Summer, I wish I could be outside all day and night but this year it has been chilly at night, not in the 70's or 80's like it was the past few years, I hate when it drops in the low 60's at night.  I could start a fire but I still don't like the chill in the air, that is how I would end up with pneumonia!
Most days I am outside enjoying the weather or trying to do things around the farm, I love sitting on back deck or front porch smoking my Pipes or Cigars with a nice drink and some music.
Nice hot days I can get in the pool with my cigar or pipe on the side ready for a puff or two every so often.  Rainy days I have to sit inside either working on a project or two or watching TV when I am not checking on messages and other internet stuff.
Even with that said I find the conversations on here are kind of fading in different ways, almost like people are running out of things to say or talk about.... There are enough Tobacco blends out there we could all keep going for a couple years talking about them, same with Pipes, there are so many pipes out there and more being designed every day.   Personally I hate typing so that is why I don't chat as much as I could on here and those who have seen my messages know I do chat a bit.....Sometime I even ramble about random crap.  lol 
Being disabled gives me a lot of time to think and B.S. with people sometimes to the point of driving people crazy I guess. 
I figure it this way....you don't have to read what I write!  LMAO
 
OK Eyes are sore, hands are sore, vision is blurry, time to finish this and go do something else away from the Computer!

ghostsofpompeii

I'm been pre-occupied with archiving my Ghosts Of Pompeii music for posterity which has limited my free time to visit my normal haunts. But my work is done and I should be back up to snuff and participating with more regularity. I'm planning on a series of tobacco reviews very soon now - just getting all my thoughts together. I was hoping The Daily Briar Photoshoot might attract a few fellow pipers to follow suit and post a few staged pictures of their pipe collections - but so far I haven't had many takers. I had such a blast doing it I'm surprised others haven' joined in the fray. It's gets your creative juices flowing. I'll probably do more groupings like I did with my Calabash collection. 

motie2

I dunno. Three new members declared in the newcomer folder recently.

PappyJoe

Things are pretty stale and boring on the other pipe forums also.

Bonanzadriver

Don't know how many of you are on TheBriarPatchForum.com, but the place is hoppin.

JimInks went on a bit of a recruiting campaign and seems to have really grown the member base.

Nice site, nice folks.

Although I thoroughly enjoy this site, TBP is definitely easier to navigate and is a much quicker site (no latency issues that we've experienced here)

pipeman83

I'm only on at night because I work 3rd. shift and I don't have a PC, just a laptop and don't take out during the day and I can't get on TPL on my iPhone so I am on my laptop all night at work and that's when I am active.

thebadgerpiper

I'd suspect that the lull in posts has been summertime activities. For me, I've been gone with vacation, basement floods, and other fun stuff. I'm here, though, and try to post a few times a week.

judandhispipe

It's July. People are out and about. I went up to my sister-in-law's over the weekend and deliberately did not go online - I wanted to visit with family, and smoke a bowl or three while sitting on her deck looking at Lake Huron.
All of this stuff is cyclical.

PappyJoe

@bonanzadriver - I'm a member of The Briar Patch. It is almost a year older than TPL and was set up by people who were well familiar with pipemagazine.com and pipesmokersforum.com. In fact, about 90% of the members on The Briar Patch are/were active members on those two forums. I wouldn't exactly call TBP "hopping" though as most of the posts are made in the "What are you smoking July 2017" thread.

I will agree that it is easier to navigate but it could still use some tweaking. I've been on TPL since right after it launched and I don't have a problem navigating (except for latency problems). 

Could there be some improvements? Yes and hopefully they are working on them. 

As for the other two forums, I find fewer and fewer conversations I am interested in joining in on. What makes those old forums hard to navigate is that they have so many categories and subcategories to filter though and the search function isn't any better than the one here. 

What I like about TPL:

I think we have a higher percentage of newer pipe smokers among our members who are looking for information. 

I think we have a lower percentage of flaming arseholes putting pipe smokers down who don't smoke the same pipes, tobaccos that they do.

I think we have done a better job of policing ourselves and keeping political rhetoric off TPL. (For the most part, I did enrage @daveinlax last year talking politics. Something I apologize for.) As least one of the other forums has a moderator who gets his rocks off banning members who don't agree with him, who don't make post exactly where he wants them, etc.

I think we don't have as many categories as the other forums because TPL is smaller, newer and still growing. 

I think we have a higher percentage of Country Squire Radio listeners than the other forums even if Jon David and Beau don't participate on TPL.

Bottomline: The other older, more established forums are like large on-line corporations. This Pipe Life is more like a good size pipe club.

Bonanzadriver

Well written commentary and thought provoking Pappy.

Although I agree that a good number of posts over there are indeed Jim's "what r ya smokin now" type of entries, there have been a flood of new members, mostly from the site you mentioned with the napoleonic potentate.

(as an aside, this other forum (who's name must not be mentioned for fear of conjuring up the "dark smoke") was the only one I frequented until the beginning of the year.  Back on Feb 6, in honor of President Reagan's birthday, I changed my avatar to one of him in front of a flag.  The next day it had been taken down and had a one line pm to read the rules.  I deduces that Woody had interpreted my avatar as a political statement.  I pinged him back to clarify, he returned an even shorter reply to the affirmative.  I then came across the avatar I now use on all of the Pipe Forums I belong to, and put it up instead.  The next day I couldn't log onto the site.  After dozens of tries and sending unanswered messages to the site I finally reached out to JimInks, via another site, and asked him to see if he could have someone give me a hand.  It was then that I learned that Woody had banned me from the site...  Permanently.  So, even though I'm not a vindictive person, I am deriving a little bit of joy in learning that folks are leaving his site in search of a less despotic environment in which to enjoy one's smoke free from the tyrannical whims of an obtuse modtator...   This was the first and only time I've been banned from a forum.     Here endeth the preachment)

I too enjoy this site for the reasons you mentioned, and though my comments about the ease of navigating and using the site may seem a little bit coarse, they were based off of my personal experience here in comparison to other sites.  Not intended to be unnecessarily harsh or rude, just honest.  Sorry, but I'm absolutely not a "Politically Correct" individual and refuse to be. 

Manners, Decorum, Civility...?  Absolutely !    But to attempt communication in a censured, nonsensical manner, utilizing the "approved Group Think De Jour" talking points, words and phrases?          Yeah...        NO!

Back to what's right about this site...

The members. 

In the short time I've been here I've yet to experience any sort of snobbery or jealousy from any of the folks here.  Some of the other sites are either D!ck measuring contests of smoking the most expensive blends in the most expensive pipes and smack talking those that don't or can't.  Or their rife with folks that jealously criticize others for a post that mentions an exclusive blend or expensive pipe.

TPL is a nice quiet respite from the rigors of the day.  I quite enjoy perusing the clever photography of Ghost and his pipe collection, or the philosophical ponderings of Motie.

The main negative here is the latency.  It's an absolute a$$whoop at times.  The other is the inability to edit a post once you've made it.  I also enjoy the relative ease by which some of the other sites allow you to easily check threads and posts that you've participated in and the ability to quickly see "what's new".  Here @ TPL, it's not so straight forward.

So Pappy, not tryng to be a contrarian here, but even though I like TPL very much, I do wish the latency and cumbersomeness weren't so.



Just my $.02


Dino

Wolf41035

I like what I am reading here, Yes Summer is here, Yes people visit or just want to relax without getting online and yes we have a good group of people here.
I do see places for improvement but I also see a good place to be and chat with people.  To many rules can kill a place, a lot of Pipe forums would hate that some of us talk about Cigars at times and Smoke Cigars, so far I have never been told not to talk about Cigars, I feel this is a good Smoking Forum!
Improvements? YES  Bad place? NO!  Easier ways to talk to admins? YES Over all? 9 out of 10

randelli

I had a similar experience with "that site" and found that I could no longer log in. I am one of those new members and like it so far. I do recognize some of you from another site I frequent so there are some familiar feces.

ghostsofpompeii

I'm more attracted to the place because of the members and don't mind the fact that The Pipeline doesn't have all the bells and whistles of other sites. Heck, I'm still moderating a number of out dated Yahoo Horror Groups even though the bulk of the members moved on to places like Facebook because it offers more of those bells and whistles. I'm old school and don't need all the eye candy and confusing options. 

It's been about 10 years since I worked in the Steel Mill and miss the camaraderie as we'd sit in the shanty between job and shoot the breeze. The Pipeline has become my alternative to a shanty full of friends. And what makes it even better is no foreman around to interrupt your conversation and give you a job. 

pipeman83

I hope I'm not familiar feces.

thebadgerpiper

Reading all these horror stories about other pipe forums just serves as a reminder to me why I just stick with TPL. I understand why forums shy away from political talk, but banning like that is overboard. What keeps me coming back here is the general laid back attitude most of the members have, and a focus on discussing pipes and tobacco.

jim102864

I second @thebadgerpiper 's comments.  TPL is an exchange of information, ideas, and humor.  It's one of the many reasons why I smoke my pipes 80% of the time now vs cigars.  I like the laid back vibe.  I appreciate everyone who posts, but have gleaned so much from the regulars, ie pipe blends to try, pipe technique and history, where to buy, etc..  I post when I think I can contribute but oftentimes just let the more experienced guys roll so I can learn.

Ok, I know it's off-topic and has probably been covered 50 times before, but can someone remind me how to post photos?  

motie2

@jim102864 -- Click on the little green square (looks like above) and then click on browse.

motie2

I should have said the little green square under the words LEAVE A COMMENT.

jim102864

@motie2  thank you, sir!

motie2

My pleasure. Always glad to help. 

dbh1950

Believe this is the first summer as a member of TPL, if there is a slack off during the summer, as others have commented, that would not be unusual. Anyway, I enjoyed reading the comments made on the issue. By the way, I did receive my recently ordered Peterson Dublin Edition 999 from P&C, which was purchased using the $ 50.00 credit that was issued for those that had made orders late Feb. thru March, as compensation for those that experienced delays or issues with their order (s). I certainty don't recall any delay, but very much appreciate the concern by P&C for their customer's satisfaction with their service. 

paulwansing

I have been gone for a while because I still can't post from my tablet or phone.  The desktop computer went down and so did my ability to post on here.  Hope you are all having a good summer, we are having a weird one here in New England, the other day it was warmer in Alaska than it was in southern N.E.!  The day after that cold snap we went to the beach and enjoyed 80 degrees and warm saltwater. 

jim102864

@paulwansing From your description of the weather and water temperature, you must live in Connecticut like I do. The weather swings really since May have been unusual. One day it's 90 plus and humid, the next it's in the 60's and humid.  The beach visit must've been in the Sound where the water is warmer than a few miles over the border in RI with the open ocean.  Temperatures at the RI beach we went to last week were in the high 60's...cold as hell but so refreshing.

Hiker007

I have learned a lot from TPL. However, I have not been on much during the last month or so. Seems like this has been a nonstop summer. I have been on the go.