I think I am done....
Well as I told PappyJoe just a minute ago, I think I am about done with this Site! I busted my ass trying to strike up interesting conversations, I tried to better the site by making suggestions and having everyone add their input for the admins to make this a better site and what do I get? Disrespected! Not that I really cared about the Rankings but when someone tries to help the site and make it fun and they screw with them and take away all their rankings it kind of sends a message or to me it does. I made posts, I added threads, I made many comments and tried to have lots of topics for everyone to have fun on and learn on. What does TLP do to me? Drop my rank lower than anyone was dropped, never thanked me for caring enough to get everyone together to better their site and not answer any of my questions to them. I wasn't looking for a that a boy but I also didn't want the disrespect I feel they gave me.
On top of all that they announced a few of us won the last drawing yet I personally never got a request for my address and have never heard nor seen anything from them or received anything in the mail from them.....What about the others? Have you heard or received your prize for the drawings?
I feel this site is prejudice against me now and I feel a few members don't like me either so I think I will just leave the page and find another pipe place or just stay away from all pipe related sites. I can say one thing, Cigar sites are much nicer and respectful to their members!
Maybe you should learn from this or not.....I guess one last thing I am doing for this page is teaching them they need to show more respect to ALL members Especially ones that want to make their site better.....
For those who did like chatting with me, I am on Instagram and will be starting a YouTube Page soon, follow me if you want or not, that is up to you.
Or send me a message here, I will still get alerts and might check in for the rest of this month off and on but don't expect to see me make posts or make comments on here.
Later, Smokinwolf41035@instagram
On top of all that they announced a few of us won the last drawing yet I personally never got a request for my address and have never heard nor seen anything from them or received anything in the mail from them.....What about the others? Have you heard or received your prize for the drawings?
I feel this site is prejudice against me now and I feel a few members don't like me either so I think I will just leave the page and find another pipe place or just stay away from all pipe related sites. I can say one thing, Cigar sites are much nicer and respectful to their members!
Maybe you should learn from this or not.....I guess one last thing I am doing for this page is teaching them they need to show more respect to ALL members Especially ones that want to make their site better.....
For those who did like chatting with me, I am on Instagram and will be starting a YouTube Page soon, follow me if you want or not, that is up to you.
Or send me a message here, I will still get alerts and might check in for the rest of this month off and on but don't expect to see me make posts or make comments on here.
Later, Smokinwolf41035@instagram
Comments
@Wolf410335
I wish you'd reconsider. I too lost points and went from something like 13 badges to 4, and have yet to get my points restored to what they were before the switch. And like you I was supposedly announced as one of the winner, but have yet to receive my prize ... but it won't keep me from contributing on a daily basis. I understand your frustration but nothing you mentioned is worth quitting over. You've remained one of the active members who contributes on a daily basis - and as such I've always felt you were a respected member of the Community. For the life of me I can't recall a post where you were ostracized by a fellow member. I've never been on a Cigar site so I can't speak for them but I've always felt this was a very respectful Community and don't recall (since I've been here) any flame wars or disrespectful comments made against a fellow member.
I've enjoyed your posts and try to respond as often as possible. I've created a few posts that went nowhere - but I've also had some with very good results. It all depends on the topic. I think the amount of responses has everything to do with the topic and level of interest someone has in that particular topic more so than their personal feeling towards me or the person posting the message. So since the problem seems to be affecting all of us in some way or another don't assume they're singling you out. After all it makes no sense for the Moderators to infuriate the handful of daily contributors because they are the engine that drives this little machine. And since you're one of the spark plugs that helps keep this engine running smoothly it would be a shame for you to leave because of a few glitches still in the system.
I've never responded to messages based solely on the member's status. Whether someone is a Newcomer, Apprentice, Enthusiast, Professor, Connoisseur, or what-ever comes next, that's never been my criterion for responding to a post. And I imagine others feel the same way. There are Newcomers here who have been smoking as long or longer than myself, with much more knowledge than I have about the hobby. The only difference is they are new to the site. Your particular status in no way reflects your knowledge or experience. So I wouldn't be too concerned about your current status mix-up. I know that you know what you're talking about. You've proven your expertise time-and-again. But I completely understand your frustration. Have patients, I'm sure things will get back to normal. In one respect the site is actually more user friendly for some who use devices other than a home computer, like I use. So rather than do something drastic like abandoning the group altogether consider a brief vacation of a week or so. Maybe by then you'll see your status, points, and badges restored.
One important thing we all need to remember is this is a free site - we are not charged a fee for being a member. Were that the case we'd have a better leg to stand on when the services provided don't meet our expectations.
And to the Moderators - as you can see, to some of us this is a big issue. Especially those who are regular contributors. I'm not asking for special privileges ... but it seems like those who contribute on a daily basis to keep the place active and relevant should have been among the first you restored to their original status after the changes. It's easy enough to see who is contributing regularly, so whoever is assigned the task of restoring a members status to their original position should make it a priority. Or at least put some underling on the case while you focus your attention on the major bugs.
A bunch of us got knocked back, and I don't think anyone thought less of anyone else because of it. I mean, I got teased, but others found company in their grievances.
Talk about discrimination: I have not heard of anyone complaining about being locked out of TPL. I've been locked out of the site twice: once from the old site, and again immediately following the change over. That second time was for less than a week, but the first time I had to re-register and post under an new name for a couple of weeks until Lady Nicole got it straightened out. (They never explained what happened/what caused the snafu...). So, this time, Lady Nicole gets me back in (fortunately I kept her email address from the first lock out), but once in I found myself bumped up to Commonsewer for no stated reason, while at the same time losing more than half my badges. Go figure. Like with aging, many of us seem to have been affected in various ways by the change over.
I know I received more blessing than curse, but honestly, I've noticed that being bumped up in rank has had remarkably little impact on my life. I think the whole ranking thing is silly anyway: it's simply a marketing tool to foster the competitive spirit in a bunch of pipe smoking individualists, and keep us coming back. Anyone who frequents the folders very quickly learns who is knowledgeable, who is clever, who is creative, and who is a curmudgeon. Interestingly, I have not found any of our members to be mean folk. And some of y'all have become almost like friends.
But I digress: Wolf, please don't go.
Don't leave just yet.
You're a valued, generous member.
Woodsman
I do however hope to be "made" again as I was appreciating getting salutes everywhere I went, being called "sir" by store clerks, and I think my town was going to finally honor me with a parade. I had been online looking for a sash and a top hat....now all of that is on hold. This morning the gas station attendant pointed at me and laughed, the coffee lady said "oh, you're just a newcomer again", and I now understand a petition has been started to run me out of town because of my fall from grace.
I am going to write letters to my Senators and House Representative who usually are no help, but this is something I think they would agree is without a doubt "unconstitutional", probably discriminatory just because of my German- Irish roots, with ancestors being here ONLY since the 1700-1800's. The Veterans Administration probably won't help (surprise). I am considering contacting the SPLC, and I am looking for some march or demonstration somewhere.
Points being, I am not judged by my rank here (this is his alter ego typing here: he really DOES care) but by my everyday life and how I treat all people. I am proud to be associated here with all of you fine fellow pipe smokers to share information and have conversations that enrich us all. Wolf, hang in there buddy, we would ALL miss you and your input.
(Alter Ego, I told you about that crap when I am tying, knock it off)
So you see it wasn't just this site I was talking about when I said what I said, it is a lot of sites turning on members.
As I said it is not so much the rankings that bothered me, it was the disrespect they are giving us. The rankings were OK the way they were, we asked to increase the points to get more rankings not screw them up and demote all of us...lol Again I really don't care, personally I think they should just take away the system all together that way we are all equals and some people won't get a big head.
So thanks for the concern guys, thanks for caring and thanks for liking my posts and comments, I just think the site and admins should show us more respect.
Also they should give us credit when they use our posts and comments on Instagram or to make a hot topic tagged to the top. Many of us have had our posts and comments used by them without a mention that we came up with it, they claim it like they are gods and never thank us or credit us in their posts, this also happens on Twitter and Facebook, they read our posts and our comments and then they use them and a lot of times it is to get new members, I don't mind them using something I have typed on here but for gods sake don't claim it as yours, give a little credit to us members for our posts and comments, might just get more people to want to join when they see it is coming from active members!
I have issues, anyone that pays attention to what I post has figured that one out.
This post reminds me about an episode that happened years ago. I was hanging out on a bowhunting forum that was extremely popular, and had lots of traffic. I can't remember who the guy was that got under my skin, or why he got under my skin. All I remember, was during dinner, my girlfriend looked at me and asked if I was OK. It was at that moment I realized that I had been spending way too much time on that forum. Specifically, I came to the conclusion that I had been spending too much time on the internet, and needed to balance my activities.
Even folks who had personal computers in the early 90's, learned who the trolls were straight out of the gate. Let a psychologist analyze troll activity, and they will most likely tell you that the trolls have more deep seated issues than anyone on the forums.
@Wolf41035 Glad to see you've peeked in on us for a visit. Maybe our positive thought waves and genuine concern for you worked their way to you. It apparently worked well enough for you to reconsider and join us again. We'll wait out the current glitch in the system together. The entire world is currently going through a massive 'hyper-kinetic clusterf*ck', - hurricanes, wild fires, floods, droughts, earthquakes, and a massive solar flare headed our way - so why should we expect this place to be exempt. I'll take a temporary loss of status and a few badges over trying to smoke my pipe in 185 mph winds any day.
And lets not forget - I sent my recently injured pipe, which was perfectly safe in Indiana - down to Florida - right into the path of a Cat 5 Hurricane. Not very smart. Poor little guy is probably scared to death, trapped all alone in a cardboard box as gale force winds split the seams, creating a swirling vortex of bubble wrap and parts of his tattered body. I can almost hear that horrible high pitch whistling sound as the wind travels down the bowl and through the airway and mortise of the shank. Calling out to me in fear .. "Joe ... oh Joe ... why hast thou forsaken me?" (My pipe is Catholic). What kind of pipe owner would put his pipe through that kind of torment after snapping it in half just days before? I'm so ashamed.
See, this is the kind of nonsense you might have missed if you left us permanently.
A conversion like this one is a complicated and time-consuming process, even on a single platform. When you have multiple platforms,that makes it even more complicated. Some folks converted cleanly on launch - some did not. Some have been converted since. The thing that immediately comes to mind is "What are the commonalities and differences in the data - why did Pappyjoe convert cleanly (although, come to think of it, he might have been fixed later), and Wolf and I did not? What is going on?"
I used to refer to these sorts of errors as "The dreaded 'Perform Sometimes". This is the sort of thing that has programmers tearing their hair out.
Should this have been caught in testing? You betcha. Seems to me that there was a flaw in the test plan - something that should have been tested wasn't. Not a good thing - but stuff happens, ya know?
Nobody lied - that would mean this was deliberate. It's not - it's just a screwup.It's always possible to manually tweak the data, of course - and that may be what happens - but that's a fix, not a solution. This error may be part of a bigger oops. We don't know.
My suggestion is to step away from the forum, smoke a bowl or two, enjoy the other parts of your day, and have a rueful chuckle at the foibles of technology.