Morning guys!
So, I am way behind as has been my usual mode of operation.
I apologize for any confusion that has arisen from my lack of communication here.
Here's where things currently stand in regards to this forum message board.
We (my developer, Jacob, Lisa and I) have been working very hard in the background on this restructure of the online smokerbuilder community.
Here's what we have done:
1- copy and migrate a working version of this forum to a new domain called smokerbuilderforums.com
2- verify it works and updates
3- research the overall traffic that visits this site, who they are, why we think they visit, and how they interact with our online community on other sites.
4- rethink and re-strategize the smokerbuilder.com domain and how it fits in with our customers, community, and search traffic.
5- look at the mission of smokerbuilder as a biz and our goals to serve the community and our customers
6- project the long term growth of smokerbuilder and our online community and where we are going as a company along with where we hope to lead and unify our online community.
Here's a couple things I'm hearing from existing members of this community:
1- some don't like the new platform
2- some like the new platform better
3- all don't want the "encyclopedia" to go away.
Here's our top 3 concerns with keeping this forum message board open and "active":
1- this software is "open source" and MUST be maintained and updated to prevent really bad internet stuff from happening to not only this site but our members, server, and databases
2- this site taking up more and more server space every time we make updates and we will need to greatly increase the size of our server to continue keeping this site up to date.
3- bot traffic is at an all time high and is now consuming a lot of bandwidth on the server causing other sites to be slow when "brute force attempts" happen. "brute force attempts" are when someone or some company decides to try to hack into the wordpress site or this site to gain access to the admin side of the site in an effort to gain control of the databases, email functions, user data, or other sensitive info contained within them.
1000's of bots are constantly filling out every form they can find on the domain running programs to outwit security measures.
We also have a couple facebook groups that are being poorly managed and are nearly impossible to maintain.
Here's a couple things about the Facebook groups we have that are influencing moving to the new site:
1- facebook is a data machine. they only want data and get it from every swipe of the mouse or finger.
2- the groups are full of scammers and hundreds of them try to join daily. There's not enough of us too keep up with them so we don't prioritize approval of members.
3- the group has been over-run with guys that could care less about the building of smokers and only want to use it as a classifieds site to sell their smokers or promote their rub/sauce or other bbq products.
4- when we approve the 100 to 300 new join requests, a large percentage are sleeper accounts that appear to be legit but after a while start posting spam or adding their other spam accounts.
5- we have never found a way to build a legit admin and moderator group and build the necessary operating process to make the facebook group thing actually work.
Because of these points mentioned above we have decided to move the primary community to the new site permanantly.
here's a few benefits to the move:
1- one centrally located place for all of the engaged members of the smokerbuilder community to interact with each other in a modern and safe web environment.
2-the database is on another server which is paid for separately and includes all the most up to date security and privacy measures.
3- maintenance of the software, databases, etc. happens by Mighty Networks staff and requires no interaction by our team allowing us to focus in what matters most.
4- it is built very similar to what most people are used to on any other social networking site, we can post video's and images, we can create articles which are similar to blog posts or threads on this site.
5- there is private messaging allowed for members to communicate with each other and us privately.
6- I can go LIVE in the group just like in a facebook group without paying for another software
7- Events can be created and invitations can be accepted by members
8- LIVE chat is built in and can be accessed at anytime by any member
9- can still categorize content similar to forums but in this case it is called "spaces"
10- the platform supports future growth of smokerbuilder by allowing "online courses" which we have plans to add as soon as possible.
This is a long post and hopefully some of it makes sense and will be found helpful.
I would appreciate your feedback on this information.
Please reply here with any comments or input.
I was originally going to lock posting April 1st but have not done it yet.
Depending on how much feedback I receive here, I will keep it going for a little while longer.
If no feedback I will lock things up on 4/24/23
As I briefly mentioned earlier, this site will be located permanently at smokerbuilderforums.com
All existing member accounts will be accessible there and your username and password will be the same.
If for any reason you find it doesn't work, email our team at:
admin@smokerplans.net
Please check in here if you have accessed your account there.
We will be deleting this content from smokerbuilder.com/forums at the end of april and redirecting all traffic to the new URL.
the new URL is:
https://smokerbuilderforums.com
Thanks so much guys!
I don't take this move lightly.
It has been a very very tough decision that has taken years and years to make.
I apologize if I have upset anyone.
Thanks!
Frank Cox
Let’s smoke. 
