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Yes

16 (24.2%)

No

20 (30.3%)

I am not sure/ don't know

15 (22.7%)

Have not given it any thought

15 (22.7%)

Total Members Voted: 60

[Kristin Meredith]

Yesterday, I wrote a post about how manufacturers don't seem inclined to send pits for testing -- and that I can understand why.  When PH was founded in 2007, very few people knew what a pellet pit was.  It took 3 years for that forum to grow to what our site was in 3 months.  The first pit testing on PH was 2010 and generated a lot of interest because folks wanted to see what these new pits were about.  Each new manufacturer to enter the market was glad for a PH test because of the exposure and also a place to refer people to look at stuff before purchase.

But we are more than 8 years on from that first review done by Bent.  The pellet pit market has exploded, thousand own grills, thousand have lots of experiences and knowledge to share. And that got me to thinking, just like the testing of pellet pits, have the heyday of the pellet forum come and is now declining?

This is not about people praising this site or fearing that we are going to shut it down based on this poll.  I am just genuinely curious about all of your thoughts.  I vote yes -- forums such as this are in decline.  And not because of the membership, but more because expertise is growing and so a place like this is not as needed. There will always be questions and folks new to the pellet pit and folks who like to share experiences, etc, but I wonder if the "wave" and crested and it is just gentle rolling surf from here on in?

[Canadian John]

Kristin-I would say you nailed it.. W/ the problems the original pits had, people were desperate to find solutions to the problems. Sharing information was a big help in pit development.   

[ylr]

It seems that PF continues to grow(correct me if I'm wrong), but on the whole, in the era of Facebook, aren't most forums like this fading away? Whenever I have to look up some info at a forum(like car repair of a certain model), it seems most of the posts are at least 5 years old.

[Kristin Meredith]

PH continues to attract new members as do we.  I believe their post count and page views may be down.  I really have not focused too much on stats as much as the type of content seen on these sites and people participating, asking questions, etc.

[ylr]

Oops, I meant to say PF, not PH. Getting ready to crash after 12 hrs. at work last night!

[sleebus.jones]

I think as the market has evolved, so have the manufacturers.  Sending out a grill for review to a site that has lots of pageviews was relatively cheap advertising.  Many of them didn't have very good marketing departments, but now look at what the commercials for Woodwind look like...professionally produced, entertaining and factual.  Sure, lots of money spent there, but I bet the returns are significant.  There's less need for a grassroots approach, because the demand is there and now they're crawling over each other to proclaim themselves "the best" which is not necessarily what a webforum (or facebook group for that matter) will give them.  They actually have more to lose if they send out a review unit.  "Fair reviews" generally benefit the consumer, not the company.

[BigDave83]

I didn't vote because I am not sure this is the only forum I really frequent other than the pellet stove one, which is dead through the summer. But the whole social media Facebook mostly has a lot to do with it. Facebook is kind of like the internet on the internet, no matter what you are involved in there is a page or ten on FB. I belong to at least  FB pellet groups, some are maker specific and each brand may have multiple pages put up by different folks. There are people that don't do FB and they may continue to seek out this type of forum. I know I see several PF members on the FB pages, so I know I am not the only one.

[W6YJ]

Kristin,

With the wider acceptance and exposure to pellet grills, the manufacturer's need for low cost (to them) advertising through forum based reviews is quickly going away.

What will never go away is the need for forums where noobies like me can go to gain knowledge on how to effectively use pellet grills, as well as find great ideas and recipes.

It was also important to me to see what others' experiences were with their grills (highs and lows) prior to purchasing a grill. 

[Bentley]

About all I can add is I am pretty much burnt out with forums in general!  As BB King would have sung...

It is not a good thing when you could careless whether your forum makes it or not!

[Peterwoody]

I joined PF to get background on various pellet smokers and stay on because I find content provided by other contributors helpful. I think all forums go through multiple stages of growth and soul searching. I belong to another smoking forum which I do not frequent as often as I once did due to the content. How many times can you read about a newbie who wants to know if you can smoke water/mushrooms/iced tea or has just used ten times the amount of cure than he should have because Alton Brown/Youtube said so. PF, to my mind, provides a good balance of equipment/recipes/offtopic bitchin' and other comment. I am inclined to think that single topic forums are a dying breed.

[pmillen]

The first pit testing on PH was 2010 and generated a lot of interest because folks wanted to see what these new pits were about.  Each new manufacturer to enter the market was glad for a PH test because of the exposure and also a place to refer people to look at stuff before purchase.

But we are more than 8 years on from that first review done by Bent.  The pellet pit market has exploded, thousand own grills, thousand have lots of experiences and knowledge to share. And that got me to thinking, just like the testing of pellet pits, have the heyday of the pellet forum come and is now declining?

Am I to read into this that–

• Manufacturers are no longer eager for their units to be impartially tested?
• The manufacturers you contacted for test units have declined the opportunity?

Which manufacturers have declined?

I think that would be telling information.

[Bentley]

I will let Kristin answer your questions, but who is to say it is maybe site related and not just the Manufactures not wanting it done?  I guess that is the Alcoholic mind at work!

[Kristin Meredith]

The first pit testing on PH was 2010 and generated a lot of interest because folks wanted to see what these new pits were about.  Each new manufacturer to enter the market was glad for a PH test because of the exposure and also a place to refer people to look at stuff before purchase.

But we are more than 8 years on from that first review done by Bent.  The pellet pit market has exploded, thousand own grills, thousand have lots of experiences and knowledge to share. And that got me to thinking, just like the testing of pellet pits, have the heyday of the pellet forum come and is now declining?

Am I to read into this that–

• Manufacturers are no longer eager for their units to be impartially tested?
• The manufacturers you contacted for test units have declined the opportunity?

Which manufacturers have declined?

I think that would be telling information.

I guess you would need to determine if the following is a decline or not:

1.  I contact the manufacturer and let them know that we are interested in doing a product test
2.  I tell them they can select the pit or pits to be tested, they can monitor the thread and respond to questions or comments by members, they can determine what to do with the pit after the test is complete
3.  They have all said that sounds good, can we get back to you.
4.  A few months go by and I contact again.
5.  Again told sounds good, they will get back to me.

Several months have gone by and I am still waiting. When Bent was testing on PH, he and Larry had a waitlist of pits to be tested and some manufacturers contacted them.  Different time, different situation, different consumer knowledge base?

I really don't want to say what companies have been involved because I don't think something should be read into not participating since there could be many reasons not to participate.  And I really don't want manufacturers to think I am somehow blackmailing them into participating or otherwise I will tell the membership they did not want to. They are all well known and well established and have sent pits in the past.  Perhaps their business models have grown beyond this type of testing.  Or, as mentioned in the other thread, their products are changing and improving so rapidly that they see no benefit in a test which will be outdated in 2 years.

[Bobitis]

Some years ago, we gave away a Traeger Jr. at werk. At that time, I had never heard of a pellet cooker. A couple years later, I blindly bought the same from amazon.

It was then that I searched the www for info and stumbled upon PH. It 'was' a vast wealth of info for me. After the crash, it has become irrelevant in my opinion. I get more posts here in 1 day than they get in a weekend.

I guess it all comes down to content and member interactivity. If your site sluffs into the 'read only' category, it's doomed. This appears to be the case with PH. The ruby slippers won't get you back to Kansas if all ya do is read about them.

That said, I don't now of many pellet smoker sites. Half a dozen maybe? Sure, there's a lot of places that make mention of pellet pits; but what is the content? Seems like passing questions/comments at best. Some 'pellet' sites are even ugly due to their 'brand' support. 

I like it here (there's no place like home - there's no place like home).

[urnmor]

I believe in today day and age the forums compete with facebook as there are a number of pellet groups on them.  That said IMO this Forum outshines them all