Wow, you guys made it tough, Thanks Todd (see this post for details)
Smokin' told me he foils everything
Guess you might think it's a lot, to post 10,000 replies about BBQ (or maybe a little crazy) but when you're doing something this much fun, you don't notice.
As of today, the forum has 10799 topics and 82547 replies. That's a lot of BBQ knowledge.
It's been a lot of fun talking BBQ. I started, actually just like a lot of you. My Wife, Mrs. Smokin (aka Twila) bought a Smokette for me at the Oklahoma Fair. She did it because she didn't want me standing outside doing all that hard work smoking (she never understood the fun I got from doing that). From those beginnings, I went to the CS site and was looking for information.
Have a read here, if you want some fun. You'll see a really ugly forum.
First CS Forum 1999 -- 2001
Seems CS did have staff answering the messages, but all too often they didn't have the exact knowledge to answer. So, I volunteered to answer questions. When we created this version of the forum in 2001 I was fully engaged as the moderator, a non-paid, volunteer only position.
The one constant from that original forum through today are the great people who come and go to the forum.
I actually go diving in the archives frequently and remember a lot of people who've come and gone. It's too bad some of them don't come back, I'm tempted to send an email to "reply all" to the almost 10,000 members and say HEY, where are you?
But it's more fun seeing new owners and new people come in and give their spin on BBQ. Let's just say we have some interesting people and we have a large number of regulars and we have a lot of fun with BBQ.
This forum is about BBQ and we haven't set it up for "off topics" and things that aren't Q because there are plenty of those types of forums to meet at, I certainly have more forums I visit. I would be remiss for not mentioning Tom. Tom goes back to the original forum also. And while he'll never be accused of writing "smokin' " posts (inside joke) he is absolutely one of the jewels of this forum. That man knows his BBQ. Tom, thanks for making the journey fun my friend.
"Someone" else to mention is CS. I got involved with CS because of the company they are and the people that they are. As many good reports you hear about the Customer Service, I personally know the people behind the phone calls. ALL of them are exceptional, just great people living in Ponca City, OK who love their work and their company. Maybe someday you'll meet one of them. CS has been great to me over the years (although I did miss one Christmas Mail, something about a jacket and a weather station, eh Stuart) and it's all for a love of BBQ.
We do keep it friendly and on topic and one of the jobs I hate is having to moderate. You may not realize, but every topic in the archives and other forums was pretty much manually moved there. So, besides 10,000 posts, I've probably touched each of the 10799 topics.
So, it's been another fun year, I've hit 10,000 posts. Check out this link to see who won the contest (time of 10,000th post was 12/16 4:05am, I was online during my REAL job)
10,000 Posts Thread
Looking forward to 2010 and seeing what comes. I too have new BBQ things to try. I'm GOT to get the 101's updated, this time I'll probably do photos and videos. Many you don't know how hard those are to update. I have over 21.5GB (yes Gigabyte) of BBQ data on my computer. Stuff I've collected from the Internet and written. Anyone wanna help me build a website?
Best to all, each of those 10,000 posts were fun, all because on the other end of the posts were some great people. Those who've joined and the thousands of lurkers that come by and don't join, just read. Why not JOIN?
And Photos. Guys, Gals, we need MORE PHOTOS. I need to see that good stuff you're cooking. I'll resurrect the thread about posting photos, but it's not that hard, really, trust me...
I started the post some of my favorite topics, but when the list grew to more than about 30 or 40, well... I didn't.
My favorite would have to be the top ten rules, part of the "lessons learned" thread. Look for my post (where I copied from another member) listing the TEN CoMMANDMENTS for new smokers. I love Rule #10. I still remember reading it the first time.
We've definitely had some laughs around here.
Here's to the next 10,000...
Russ
a.k.a. Smokin Okie
Dec 2009
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