I found an old thread from 2017 ( https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=538.0) about what happened to the PH website and I think I may know what happened.
PH is is still an active name.
For those of of you with computers, you can do an nslookup of it and it will give you the IP address, and you can ping the address.
So the name is still in DNS and it is live.

I'm thinking the Burk123 is the owner (or works for) Earth Sense Energy Systems, Inc and just wanted the name.
If you try to go the PH now, you end up at PH (without the S on the end), Earth Sense Energy Systems.
They sell Pellet Stoves and Grills.

 

I do not think so.  Earth Sense Energy Systems was around long before Pelletheads.com.  When Pelletheads.com was sold it was getting close to 200k page views a day.  Who would not want that traffic, specially a business.  Their web address was pellethead.com before Larry ever established Pelletheads.  What probably happened is they either bought the domain pelletheads.com from ? or they were able to obtain it after the shame of the "sale" of Pelletheads to whomever.  I still think my theory holds true on who really bought it, but those days are long past!

Earth Sense Energy Systems was just smart enough to acquire it as soon as they could and I hope they are benefiting from someones hard work & making good use of it!

Do you know when Larry started the forum?
From what I can find (and if I'm  reading it correctly), the Domain was created Mar 10, 2007.
I don't know how often renewals are for the PelletHeads Registrar (GODADDY.COM) but appears it can be every 5 years  as it has an expiration date of Mar 10, 2022.
Apparently change of ownership is not recorded for public viewing, as it shows Earth Sense is the owner now with no transitions listed.
I guess my curiosity has hit a brick wall unless I contact GODADDY and see if they could provide a list of ownership changes.
It's a shame all that information is lost.
The fact that BURK123 didn't seem to have any BBQ interests, and with very few posts is what made me think he just wanted the name and didn't care about the forum.

No he wanted the forum, just wanted it to shut it down not continue with it.

I joined pelletheads.com end of March 2007, so I am sure Larry acquired it sometime in March of 2007.   Whoever BURK123 was, I do not believe he was the true "purchaser" of Pelletheads.  He was more the "Philip Green" type of person from the movie Casino!

No he wanted the forum, just wanted it to shut it down not continue with it.

I never understood that, why would you want to shut something down that was that popular and had the potential, if you chose to to go that route, to not only make money but draw people to what you wanted to market.

Perhaps he operated a competing web site and eliminated the competition.  Or perhaps he had a personal quarrel with the PH management.

I have a tendency to think more like you, pmillen

I would think if a competing forum bought it, they would want to merge the databases and let the members know to keep them as members.
Just shutting it down, drove everyone away.

If it was some personal quarrel, then that would be an expensive way to say "So there!"

I can't say for certain that Burk123 was not a puppet for someone else, but I can say with near certainty that he is an individual that worked in a completely different space than anything pellet related.

I respect all the theories and can't really say that it did or did not go down the way some think, however, the connection between Burk123 and the suspected true purchaser would be a somewhat strange circumstance if that relationship did exist.

I can't say for certain that Burk123 was not a puppet for someone else, but I can say with near certainty that he is an individual that worked in a completely different space than anything pellet related.

I respect all the theories and can't really say that it did or did not go down the way some think, however, the connection between Burk123 and the suspected true purchaser would be a somewhat strange circumstance if that relationship did exist.

Do we actually know who Burk123is or the true buyer was? Who is the suspected buyer? I remember reading about another site, we'll just call it BPS and there seeming to be some not so great feelings from the PH camp.

No matter who owns it,there was a wealth of information there, far more than just the product reviews. One would think that just the user data alone would be worth some money.

the performance reviews on the other site were great at the time but almost all of those grills have been upgraded by the manufacturer since then so I don't feel they have a ton of value anymore.

I also think there is enough content on this site to be able to cook just about anything you would want to cook.  I can't think of anything on the other site that I wish was still available.

the performance reviews on the other site were great at the time but almost all of those grills have been upgraded by the manufacturer since then so I don't feel they have a ton of value anymore.

I also think there is enough content on this site to be able to cook just about anything you would want to cook.  I can't think of anything on the other site that I wish was still available.

oh come on, you know you miss jmoney's posts  .  There were some characters on the old site (here too).  There were recipes and cooks lost.  It was a good run.  I do agree however that this site is now home and full of great content.

oh come on, you know you miss jmoney's posts  .  There were some characters on the old site (here too).  There were recipes and cooks lost.  It was a good run.  I do agree however that this site is now home and full of great content.

Also tips, tricks, and modifications.
I had made a few mods the the Blazin' Grid Iron I had, and several people liked them, and asked for drawings.

You can always go to http://web.archive.org/ and do some searching of what they have.  You sometime can bring up a thread that is what you are looking for.