A Moment Of Reflection: SMF Is The Best Forum On the 'Net

[tx smoker]

As I was sitting there Saturday (two days ago) watching the smoker run and sipping a cold home brew several realizations suddenlly hit home. The first one was that is was a year ago excatly that I smoked meat for the first time, which was a rack of baby back ribs. To say it was a disaster would be a monumental understatement. I did pretty much everything wrong that I could have possibly done wrong. Too much smoke, smoked for far too long, and used the wrong charcoal. I used Match Lite for heating and kept adding it as needed to maintain temperature. Little did I know what the results would be. The ribs tasted like I had marinated them in diesel fuel overnight. YUCK!! I was then directed to this site by a friend of mine and that's when things started to improve....dramatically. I spent a lot of time lurking and reading before ever making my first post to the group. Since then I have come a LONG way with my smoking endeavors and have seemingly made some pretty good "internet friends" along the way. With the help of this forum and input from friends I am turning out the best Q I have ever had...as well as having a great time doing it.

The second realization came from a dialog I had for several hours that afternoon with another SMF member via text messaging. We swapped input, ideas, pictures, and commentary all afternoon Saturday and I realized that I have advanced from asking questions to asnwering them...at least the ones I am comfortable with. I won't say that I am a "master of the pit" by any means but I'm leaps and bounds ahead of where I was a year ago. I have this forum to thank for that.

The final realization was that this is the best forum on the 'net, period. I had been involved with several forums in the past and gave up on all of them. Most of the people were good folks but you could always count on some inflamatory idiot to start (and perpetuate) trouble. That took all of the fun out of the sharing of ideas and opinions. I don't know if it's the moderators here doing a great job stopping inflamatory posts before they go out, if there are filters in place that pick certain keywords and stop the bad posts, or if it's just great people all around that are part of this forum. I'd like to think it's just great people here. No offense to the moderators intended so please don't take that the wrong way :-) It's just that the environment of this forum is so positive and upbeat that I'd like to think it's because of the great people as opposed to the disciplinarians. Everybody here is so polite, so helpful, and most importantly everybopdy is very respectful. You just don't see that in the majority of forums, expecially one with this many members.

I wanted to take a minute and let each and every one of you who has been part of my "growth" know that I recognize and appreciate your time and efforts. You'vew mad a big difference in my life and the lives of friends and family. They get to enjoy the Q also and know how mimprtant this forum has been on the improvements they have expereinced. A huge thanks to all and have a great holiday!!

Awed in Cedar Park,
Robert

 

[smoking b]

Glad you like it here Robert 

  I agree that this is the best BBQ forum - it's the only one I am a member of 

 

[webowabo]

My first smoke ever was almost three years ago.. and I was having temp problems. I signed up here on SMF... asked what the problem could be. With in mins I was told the stock gauges are usually junk, so I scrapped it. I have been around ever since.. and I to sit back and reflect ALL that I have learned. Its starts here, and a few books or other off site reads.... but it all started here..  It is the best I beleive as well on the net. I have been on other forums.. and I just dont like them... Rock on SMF! ":))) 

Just adding my story with Robert's, hope you dont mind :) :) 

 

[daveomak]

Robert, morning......  I 110% agree this is the best forum on the web......  I agree about the other forums having disparaging members that take the fun out of "trying to be helpful" and even "trying to ask a question" without being harassed and put down.....   

There are many members here that are helpful in curtailing that type of behavior..... By clicking on the "red flag" so "they" can be handled appropriately and timely, by the staff....

Thank you for your comments...... 

Dave

 

[kathrynn]

Totally Agree!!!!  SMF is the Only place to be.

Kat

 

[tucson bbq fan]

I agree with Robert.  I've been browsing web sites on BBQ for many years.  I have found a few with good recipes and advice, but mainly in newsletters.  There are some other forums out there, but the response is not fast, and often you never get an answer.  This forum has lots on it at all hours of the day or night, so you can almost always get a quick answer to a question, the discussions are useful and helpful, and people are pretty civil to each other.

There is no one right way to make BBQ - everyone has their opinions - and that's fine.  I've been happy to see that even when those opinions conflict, people maintain their cool almost all the time.

Great forum, great job by the moderators, and lots of good folks!

 

[palladini]

Yep. I also have belonged to more than a couple forums, non as good as this one is.  We have one great group a same minded individuals on here that all have one goal in mind, great smoked foods of all sorts. If I haven't done it, someone else has, I think we all have the mentality.  Keep up the good work folks!

            

           

 

[dburne]

I agree as well, what an awesome forum!

A little over two months ago, the wife and I went to Lowes with intention of getting a charcoal grill to replace our gas grill that had crapped out.

We came out of there, with an OKJ Longhorn Offset.

Now, I knew not the first thing about smoking meat. However, I was wise enough to google it, and quickly found this site. And I started asking questions - lots of them.

Everyone is so friendly and eager to help a new guy asking some stupid questions. I learned how to do spare ribs using 3-2-1 method. Spritzing with apple juice/apple cider vinegar hourly. I learned how to look for and recognize flaws in my OKJ Longhorn, and mods I could get to fix them, which I got all done last week. I learned about the minion method for charcoal, yesterday in my new charcoal basket, I got little about  5 hour burn without having to add more coals. Next time I will get longer.

So far all my smokes since then have turned out pretty dang good, they get better each time ( just spare ribs so far).  Had my daughter and her family up for Labor Day Weekend, and I smoked three racks of spares. Used Jeff's rub recipe. My son in law has been smoking and grilling food for several years, and he was blown away - said my ribs yesterday were the best he has ever had and he needs to regroup on how he does is. That was a huge compliment! And I owe it to this forum!

Thanks to this incredible forum and it's great members, I have come a really, really long way in the past couple of months. And loving this new hobby of mine!

 

[eman]

Tx Smoker,

 Thanks for the flowers!

As a mod. and fairly long time member we depend on the new folks enjoying them selves ,learning a lot and if they are comfortable doing so, stepping up to help answer questions.

 I have never in my time here tried to answer a question i wasn't reasonably sure about and when i was wrong i was corrected in a good way by those that know more than i. If anyone post something that is incorrect or out of line and it gets deleted or you get a pm asking you to change something. Please do it and don't get mad. Jeff asks that this be a site that all of us can open and read at any time w/ our children in our lap. not R rated not pg 13 but family rated.

 Even if folks are not comfortable answering questions , they can still be a great help by just welcoming new folks to the SMF forum.

Jeff , the admins and the mods all hope that if you see something wrong or an unfriendly post / reply that you will take the time to flag it so that one of us can check it out

   We as admins / mods really want this remain the #1 smoking site on the web and we will work hard (w/ yall's help) to keep it that way.

 

[webowabo]

Amen.. to everything so far!

 

[smokingma]

I totally agree with everyone's comment about the site.  I knew of smoked meats from buying them from street vendors and BBQ joints.  So I decided that I wanted to do my own for the family and when we have cookouts.  I purchased and ECB and had no idea what to do with it so being a geek I googled smoking meats and after looking at several sites decided to settle down with SMF.  I've learned so much and have gotten lots of compliments on my smoking endeavors.  Thank you Jeff and everyone on SMF

 

[disco]

I am very obsessive about researching stuff. When I bought my smoker last year, I thought I had done all my research. Wrong. I had limited success until I found SMF. Not only did I find the information I needed, when I posted my efforts, I got great advice. SMF has:

1. Great members.
2. Great volunteers who moderate and make the experience so great.
3. Tons of information.
4. Great ideas for new projects.
5. The best source of smoking information bar none.

Other than that, it has very little going for it.

Disco

 

[daveomak]

I am very obsessive about researching stuff. When I bought my smoker last year, I thought I had done all my research. Wrong. I had limited success until I found SMF. Not only did I find the information I needed, when I posted my efforts, I got great advice. SMF has:

1. Great members.
2. Great volunteers who moderate and make the experience so great.
3. Tons of information.
4. Great ideas for new projects.
5. The best source of smoking information bar none.

Other than that, it has very little going for it.

Disco

.......Ditto......   to that Disco......

 

[foamheart]

I would love to thank everyone here for such an outstanding site. Good info, politely given in a timely manner. The q-views are outstanding, and the tutorials are spot on every time. The search engine is full of something on nearly everything. If you are dense (yes I can be sometimes), you can just come out and ask for help. Its one of the best info sites on the web. Well this and Victoria's Secrets, but who wants to see Jeff in a garter, (please don't answer that)?

Thanks to all the OTBS and the Mods, Super Mods, and Super Duper Mods for all the work they do. I, we, appreciate it tremendously. Thanks.

 

[bvbull200]

You know...I had a similar experience on Saturday, only it was my first smoke ever.  I had done plenty of research and found this forum to be extremely helpful.  The thread I started leading up to the smoke was simply fantastic.  Plenty of very constructive criticism about my original plans and I adjusted my strategy accordingly.  Come Saturday, [color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]I had a dialog for several hours that afternoon with another SMF member via text messaging. We swapped input, ideas, pictures, and commentary all afternoon Saturday, though I was asking more questions than I was answering ;).[/color]

[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]Looking forward to building a year's worth of experiences on this site myself.[/color]