Hey all the politicians are doing it, so why don't I? And like the politicians, this will be a LONG speech, even for me.

Well congrats to everyone on the 5th anniversary of this version of the forum. For those of us around that far back, the previous version about probably 2 more years.

If I don't say it enough, thanks to EACH and EVERY one of you for making the forum what it is. Congrats to ALL OF YOU.

And a special thanks to CS for creating the forum and supporting it throughout the years. Says a lot about the company and the people behind the company, to put their information on the web for all to see.

The view to the past

Check out the first forum at:
Original CS Forum

Thanks to Steve Falco for all the work making that happen. Brings back some good memories, and gets me thinking about all the characters we HAVE on the forum as well as HAD on the forum and they don't visit anymore.

So, as of today, the forum has 5628 members, so #6000 isn't far off.

Posts are now over 50,000

I hope everyone realizes how much information and value we have in the archives. I spend a LOT of time moving all 50,000 of those posts so that we can archive the wonderful information.

The Owners Archives has 4223 posts, so there is a wealth of information there.

Another great Archive is the "best of" Archive with 3545 posts. As I moved posts from the Open Forums into the Archive, I make a subjective decision to move the "interesting" ones into the Best Of forum.

For meat topics, in order:

• Pork Butt/Shoulder archive 3751
  
• Ribs 2416
  
• Brisket 2331
  
• Poultry 1935
  
• Seafood 1076
  

As you can see we talk a LOT about Butts, over 1300 more posts on that topic than brisket.

And let's not forget these two forums:

Forum Archive 11730 and Professional 3706

Anything that doesn't fit in one of the main topics above, gets put in the "forum" archive

Pros forum. Wow, lots of useful information there.

And last, but certainly not least, the FE Forums

• Owners 2659
  
• Contest 1943
  
• Open 1787
  

We started the FE forums on 12/29/04, so just a little over a year and a few months, but lots of activity.

So I would say the State of the forum is great. WHY you ask. No, I won't take the credit, I'm just the moderator. What makes this forum special is each and every one of you that contributes something. The new guys/gals for just asking the basic (even without searching first) The old hats who put a lot of time and energy into the posts.

Hope everyone takes time to read the "Introduct yourself" thread and see that we all love BBQ. There some good stories in there:

Introduce yourself

Who dat?

• SO 5638 posts
  
• Tom 4260
  
• PrisonChef 1234
  
• i2BBQ 981
  
• TJF 942
  
• Two Greyhounds 745
  
• Donna 719
  
• Wheelz 684
  
• Woodburner 626
  
• KathyE 496
  

So what does that tell me. That a few of us respond to everything, right Tom? You 'da Man, and with all your help, you've made the forum what it is today. And Tom was around on the original forum.

What you may not realize, is that I don't do this for pay, neither does Tom. We do it because we love BBQ and sharing out knowledge about it.

If you're on the list above, you deserve a special pat on the back for being a MAJOR part of the forum.

But it also tells me we have a lot of people come and go. At least that's what the stats tell me. Wish they would stay around more. They come in, get the basics down and don't come back.

Come back...shane, come back If you haven't posted in a while let us know and come on back.

The view to the future

So were do we head from here? Donna is working on an announcement soon of a new forum. No details yet, but it will cover a subject we get asked about a lot

More 101's. Looking at the 101s, they're all probably 4 or more years old. They need to be updated, so that's on my list this year. I got good feedback about PB 101 so I hope to have that out soon. The ribs and then brisket will get updated. And also working on some of the new 101s for Q University(R)

I'm also building a Forum 101. Plan on showing the basics of how the forum is set up, how to use the tools, like search. I have some screen capture software that I can use to create good "how to's"

Lessons Learned needs an overhaul, so it's next on the list.

So that's it. We all love the forum because of the friendliness and genuine love of BBQ we all have.

And thanks to all, I don't answer as many posts as I did in the past, because all of you have become experts at sharing your knowledge of the smoker we all have and love.

Best to each of you, hope to see us all here in 5 more years.

Russ

I agree. The state of this forum is fabulous!

Detailed instructions on how to use the search would be most welcome, and might stop many duplicate questions/threads.

Keep up the good work.

Three cheers to the forum and all of the great participants. It has given me untold amounts of help and lots of interesting, creative ideas.

1 word......GROOVY!!!

I must agree! This forum has more knowledge then a harvard MBA. I do a lot of reading and not a lot of posting. I dont feel like I have that much knowledge to share. I have been smoking for 5 years. Less then 2 with my CS. I will make the effort to contribute more in the future.
I'm with Hippie....GROOVY!!!!
Smoke N Italy

I've said it, and many others have earlier, that this forum sold me on CS.

Thanks to EVERYONE who actively participates.

Two months ago I was a frantic newbie, posting a "help, my first brisket" cry for help. Tom posted a clear, concise, but complete reply to get me through it. Smokin, Wheelz, and others helped me nail it. Since them I've spent hours in the archives, learning before asking.

Say it with me, "Love the CS Forum"

I too am like some of the others.The CS forum is the reason I bought a CS,(well I must admit 2 CS's now).This forum is top's on my list.Thanks CS for an excellent product,& thanks forum members for making the forum the greatest forum family that it was,Is,& always will be A big family of smokers & friends.

Richard

On behalf of Cookshack, I would like to offer a big fat thank you to everyone involved in the forum. Smokin' does an amazing job of keeping everything organized, and the rest of us benefit. And everyone who contributes plays a part in making the forum an excellent resource and a fun place to visit. And those people who just read the posts, well, we are glad you are out there reading because we know that you will become more skilled bbq'ers and spread the word.

Thanks to each and every one of you for doing your part to make the forum a success. We all win!

Donna

PS I will be posting the name of the winner of the Smokette shortly. Watch for it in the Open Forum winners announcement thread near the top of the list of posts (now I can't remember what I called it -- I am getting so I can hide my own Easter eggs.)

Without this Forum I would not be serving the Quality of BBQ in our restaurant and have such great customers from all over the USA as we have. Thanks to all the gang at Cookshack, Smokinokie, and all the members.

I must admit OSU did something right, so us OU graduates are able to eat great BBQ.

David

quote:

Originally posted by davidsbest:]I must admit OSU did something right, so us OU graduates are able to eat great BBQ. David

OSU????
I know you're not referring to me <br />OU class of '77 and USC class of '88

LOL DavidsBest, I am surprised Smokin didn't ban you forever for identifying him as a Cowboy! Watch your backside as Smoking has a way of getting even

Yes, the State of the Forum is great and getting better all the time. It has helped many a newbie and has honed many an oldtimer!

It "is" kind of like a college or university except the tuition is not quite as high. Figure $350-$500 for an entry-level smoker; the books (Forum) is free and the meal plan is whatever your little ole heart desires. Shoot! Can't beat that with a stick!!! GO CS University !

Well done Smokin & Cookshack!!! Thanks a bunch!

These forums are fantastic. When I was trying to decide what smoker I wanted, I saw a post by S.O. on another well-known 'Q forum, giving a link to this one. After reading virtually every post here, I KNEW that I needed a CS - bought a 55 and never looked back. I don't have time for my stickburner any more, too many things on my 'bucket list' that I want to get done - but I still love good Q. CS is making that happen.
Thanks to Cookshack for keeping this site going, thanks to S.O. for a great job of moderating, and thanks to all who post here, I have learned a lot from all of you.

Don't know where you saw me Gil, but glad you joined!

Yeah, this "state of the forum" thread is actually about 3 or 4 years old. ONLY 5638 posts for me (I'm somewhere around 7900 now)

I saw you over on the Smoke Ring, I used to hang out there a lot when I used my old smoker. This site is a whole lot friendlier. Seems like a few arrogant jerks over there ran a lot of good people off. A lot of good knowledge there if you can stand the bs, though. BTW if it's not appropriate to mention other sites by name, feel free to delete this.