Has the absence of food writers from this board helped stimulate discussion?

[bam bam]

Let's face facts, we were pretty stagnant in the six months or so before the changeover at TOB. It seemed to coincide with the arrival of some minor league food writers who were a very disagreeable sort. Clearly, we are back to posting about our experiences good and bad and having a much better discussion without the cacophony of agenda driven opinion.

[jeff h]

i gotta google 'cacophony' before i can comment.

[bam bam]

I am not surprised.

[café au lait]

dictionary.com for any vocabulary challenged posters

[jeff h]

ok, got it....so whats the question again?

[Alex]

I do not miss the food writers. I think that the people that post in this forum serve my purpose of keeping me informed as to the local food scene. I do not dine out often, but when I do I tend to keep the recommendations of the posters here in mind. That is all I really need.

I also like the cooking tips in this forum as well. I am more interested in hearing what other regular people have to say, than in what a paid writer/critic has to say.

[Jesse]

I think it has, and if this board aint evidence I don't know what is. Their agendas were clear and always seemed to poke into a good thread, ruining it usually.

[Isabella Maja]

Let's face facts, we were pretty stagnant in the six months or so before the changeover at TOB.

I concur. In fact, I acknowledge I've been in a food funk.
A few days ago after participating on this board I could feel some of that lifting. I began to think about what restaurants that I haven't been to yet that I might like to try. Excitement about the prospects started to surface.
This hasn't happened in quite some time.

It seemed to coincide with the arrival of some minor league food writers who were a very disagreeable sort.

I'm going to leave them out of it.

But I will say I was pretty tired of all the disagreeableness on TOB. I'm not saying you have to agree with my opinions to make me happy or vice versa. Just tired of the "Mama, he touched me, Mama, she said this or Mama, she said that" mentality.

So much defensiveness that too up so much space . . . puts a bad taste in
one's mouth. Hard to enjoy food that way!

Clearly, we are back to posting about our experiences good and bad and having a much better discussion.

Clearly! I do hope the tone of this board stays light & fun.
It gets to be really tedious & boring when it gets heavy & significant.

I did try a new place yesterday that I learned of on one of the food boards. Not remembering which one, but it was mentioned here. I want to give it another shot, then I'll write a report on my experiences.

Thanks Bam for starting this thread, good observations!

[JudiB]

I guess that's true. I know that I for one always hesitated to discuss a restaurant, because the 'experts' usually told me why my opinion was wrong.

I mean c'mon.... why is one person an "expert".

Heck, I've been eating my whole life, that makes ME the expert on what I like!

hahahaha... I crack myself UP

Like Isa said, it was a general air of unpleasantness over there since the beginning of time. I've always believed that the forum folks reflect the administrators, though. It just got worse with every format change, and the lack of help and the escalation of the frustration of the moderators got too much for me.

[GuySajerForgottenSoldier]

Let the experts continue their plodding and piddling ways on that inferior board. NO restaurants are well served by word of keyboard, much better than one pinhead's opinion.