Hi Folks..I have been gone for a long time. Disappointed in the forum setup, but I am certain there is a reason. Can’t find any posts or search function, I will probably search for a more user friendly site.
I purchased a new SM025 on Amazon for $650 today. I am jazzed beyond words. I had been searching for a new smoker, my ST died awhile back. I saw these on Amazon marked down and pulled the trigger. Anyone know why they are marked down?
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Amazon runs sales all the time. No rhyme or reason for why they mark items down. Woot does the same thing via Amazon. Sometimes the discount is really steep; so steep one has to wonder if something is wrong.
As for the forum, the old one was powered by Social Strata. A link to an archived page showing this is below. But if you look at the top of the page, you see /eve. As you can see at the bottom of this page, the new forum is powered by Hoopla. There is a very huge difference and not a lot of folks liked it. There are 82 comments on the new format. In the second link, it is about social strata. And it takes you to their explanation that hoopla is their flagship. How a company could change formats so drastically is beyond me. But it is what it is. The third link takes you to the 82 comments. The last link was about voting for the new format.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140914233549/http://forum.cookshack.com/eve/forums/
https://www.socialstrata.com/pages/aboutus
Thanks Sarge. I am reall6 happy with the deal I got, free shipping on it also, smokin deal. Need to get back to smokin!
Would have been easy to find a similar format to the old one, lots of them out there. I will limp through this one. I assume Smokin is gone, long 5ime since I have been around.
I would say you got a "smoking good deal".
Smokin' retired quite a while back. He checked in a couple of times letting us know he was enjoying life.
I also think something more familiar for a format would have been preferable. But like others, after venting, I had to accept the new format. That or quit. I decided to stay.
CS has no identified moderators and I have no idea who the administrator is. It is almost certain they don't check the forum. I have alerted CS to a couple of equipment problems that were posted and they were very quick to post replies/comments. So the caring factor and pride in product is still there.
They may have undersold the value of the forum. The forum and folks here helped their brand. I found this forum before I found Cookshack Smokers. I sense a lot of people have left. Oh well, no use beating a dead horse. I will stick around. Smokin-it has a forum as well..
Most of the information categories from the old forum are present in the new, just disorganized in my opinion. I am on several forums including the one you mentioned and finding info or posting to a specific topic is far more convenient. I am even on a couple forums dedicated to pellet and don't have a pellet grill. Yet! I would really like a PG500 or 1000 but that is just on my dream list.
