It is great to see all the new members here!! It is better to build slowly with quality members than to recruit quickly just to obtain numbers.
The thing I really love about this site is the fact that it is so versatile. It is not stuck or geared to just one type of cooking or cooker. I happen to do many types of cooking besides just standard BBQ. I like to experiment and try new things. Sous Vide for example is one. And having one forum to share all my cooking adventures is perfect!
And even though there are sponsors and we appreciate them members are not banned from posting about other products not affiliated with the sponsors. The only thing they ask is that you don't post about other or competing products in the sponsor sections. I was at a forum before that would edit out pictures of my posts because the rub I was using was from a company they did not like. I was even posting in the general section where you can talk about anything. So I complied and left in the name of the rub(not the manufacturer name) and they seemed ok with that. Well about a week or two later I got a personal message from another member asking me about the rub so I gave him the info and told him why it was edited. Then a few hours later I get admonished by the admin for the name of the rub and he was about to ban me. He was very unprofessional and threatening. He was really angry. He was reading the private messages and got mad at what I said to the other member in private message IMHO. He denied it but I believe he reads all the PM's. The timing of the PM and his response to a over week old post that he had edited himself was more than coincidence. So I left the forum and have not posted since.
I was contacted by the owner of that forum. He is a really nice guy. He asked me not to leave but I told him what happened. He did not defend what the admin did but tried to explain the reason he acted that way. I told the owner that the only way I would return is that the admin would no longer be an admin. Well the admin is still there and I have not returned. That admin is rude and talks down to people. He disciplines members in the public areas and instead of handling issues privately he posts right in the thread directly. Well you won't find that here. The administrators here are very professional and that makes a difference.
If you start with a strong foundation the structure will be solid and that is what we have here... A very strong foundation.
So welcome to all the new members here and hope to see us continue to grow at a nice steady pace with quality and friendly members like we currently have
