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Sorry I've been MIA
NicoleSTGLaneLtd
admin
in General
Hey all- I'm sure it feels like I've been gone for a while, and yeah, I have. I realized I hadn't received any notifications in a while, so when I went in to check my settings, all my notifications alerts were turned off!!
Now don't worry, I was the only person this happened to. One of the developers was using my account to test a feature and modified my settings.
I'm still here if ya need me, but it looks like y'all didn't get into too much trouble while I was away
Now don't worry, I was the only person this happened to. One of the developers was using my account to test a feature and modified my settings.
I'm still here if ya need me, but it looks like y'all didn't get into too much trouble while I was away
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I worry about the ones with known health problems who just disappear like @Wolf41035 who has known health problems and @xDutchx who just disappear.
Pipe forums aren't for everyone. I think the most important part in having a pipe forum is having a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, so newbies don't feel intimidated by the old guard. I think with being a newer forum, TPL hasn't run into that issue, and members are quick to say hi to new posters.
One issue might be that new pipers fear that they don't have as much pipe knowledge to share with the other members. This was the main reason I stopped posting on the first pipe forum I joined.
The other issue I can see being a factor is the overall decline in forum communities. With places like Reddit, Instagram, and twitter, younger users gravitate more towards these online communities. However, I believe forums still have an important part to play with the pipe community, even in the age of social media.
When I first started visiting pipe forums, I used them as resources to find out about pipes and tobacco. Even though I had been a pipe smoker since 1972, I wasn't satisfied with what I knew about the pipe smoking and I was mainly smoking low end drugstore pipes and OTC tobacco. I still use forums for that purpose.
The drawback has always been the holier-than-thou, if you don't like my tobacco or pipes you're an idiot crowd. The can get very condescending and become verbal bullies. Then you have administrators like the one at a pipe smokers forum dot com who has no life except for reading every single post made and suspending the accounts of those he don't like. He banned me from that forum because I disagreed with him and called him out on it.
That is what makes This Pipe Life such a good forum, our lovely administrator takes a very light hand on running the forum and has allowed us to police ourselves.