They banned many of us - put us in a ātime outā. I chose NOT to return, and others just left. But prior to the 2015 kerfuffle, I believe they had perma-banned a few members.
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Thanks for replying, thatās what I recalled.
Not everyone. Iām not on IG - I keep to HO and a private FB group.
But yes - some people create IG/Pinterest/FB accounts strictly for the click-throughs to generate ad revenue and become āinfluencersā. Itās just a part of the online world. But no - I would have to say theyāre NOT all originally marketing people - perhaps they just posted a funny video of their dog or kids, and it blew up virally, and they realized they could generate some income from it.
My Instagram account is how I share pictures with my friends. it has nothing to do with marketing, and most of my friends use their accounts for the same purpose. Not all - thereās some overlap between the personal and the professional, so friends of mine with bands or gallery shows or benefits to promote certainly do that, too. I think the difference between the way I use the site and the way (I presume) you did, is that I only interact with people I know in real life. I occasionally pick up ālikesā or get followed by people I donāt know, but I see no need to reciprocate.
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This is really cringe-worthy, but I just followed the template that other āinfluencersā in my community used (that I know irl, btw). I knew most of them through Yelp and friends of Yelp friends or through this bakery I worked at whose owner was a major influencer, like over 100K followers iirc. I had NO idea at the time that Instagram was a way for them to market and generate income, I just thought this is what you did if you opened an Instagram account.
Then Iād get DMs like, āI liked your post, why didnāt you like mine?ā And Iād be, wtf? I was suppose to like yours? I didnāt like it because it looks like crap?
Then I got almost-famous cookbook authors and bloggers following me then unfollowing me. That was the biggest blow. These were people I looked up to and respected. The fact that theyād take my admiration to get one extra follower then unfollow me? Uh-uh, that is just parasite scum behavior. And yes, they were people that regularly get mentioned on CH.
That, and the overall, the more popular I became, the more political it became, especially with my job at the time. So I just dropped it, it didnāt really matter to me.
I guess you came full circle on swearing off CH and the mods and deletion.
Lol.
(J/k - some version this discussion happens every few months, I think 
)
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I forgot all about that, so it isnāt my imagination, Chowhound does delete posts at will, sometimes I feel like Iām losing my mind talking to people on forums. Their reality is so different from mine. Thereās always that split second I ask myself, āam I crazy?ā
And lets be honest, some of the posters there are employees, I canāt believe theyāre real, and I miss RainyRamone the most. BTW: whoever is modding the homecooking forum is doing a great job.
Forums, are what participants make of them.
While I donāt think most people come with the goal of making friends, it is perfectly possible to interact in a friendly manner and have a pleasant and cordial discussion about food and related topics. Thatās why we come here - otherwise one can read an article, look up a recipe, publish information to a blog, or do other non-interactive internet things, no forum required.
Some people enjoy drama and provocation and trolling more than discussion - this overlaps across venues. Over time one can recognize these users / words / threads and not rise to the bait (ignore them, if you will, whether thereās a button for that or not). Occasionally itās too hard, as in real life, as some buttons are easy to find and push. This can also be where the mods make a difference.
For me.
IG food pages arenāt really meant for a discussion, though you can get a response back from someone - high profile if thatās your thing - you wouldnāt otherwise interact with.
Yelp isnāt for discussion either - and I donāt trust most yelp reviews. Great source of information, though - I use it for pictures of food and menus when Iām researching places to eat.
TripAdvisor I rarely use anymore - their ātopā lists arenāt real, and Iād rather have local info than tourist info for restaurants. If I was going to a small place with little other information, though, Iād still take a lookā¦
Life is too short. Enjoy the discussion, or start one you enjoy, or use other sites you prefer.
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I didnāt even know it was possible to DM via Instagram. I would like to be able to do this! Not to harass people, just to make private comments.
Oh yes, you can DM famous people and sometimes they DM back to you, itās one of the great things about Insta. Like if you have questions with one of their recipes, you can try DMing them, sometimes they reply, I know Stella from Bravetart does.
I think you have to follow them first, I donāt remember, thereās a button on their profile page that says āMessageā. Click on it for a private message.
A-HA! Many thanks.
I think most people who are on forum boards are not digital marketing people. I am not digital marketing people. My daughter works in digital marketing, but she is not on forum boards. She does āanalyzeā or āhghlightā what people who ARE on forums, especially Facebook do, but mostly with regard to the connection between ads and sales. Did this ad āworkā? Is what her company is doing, helping their clients meet their goals. At least thats the way I understand it.
I have also started to pay attention to how stuff like this works on YouTube, which I have come to respect more than I could have imagined even a few years ago. I find myself going back to some folks in food and gardening over and over, and then I subscribe. Sometimes Iāll even click on an ad because I want to financially support them.
I used to belong to a group that required professional credential documentation to participate. It was āmad crayā (as my daughter would say; she writes āafā but not to me) at imes, but it carried on as a great place to socialize with a niche group of folks for more than a decade. People complained about various things at times, including about any hint of moderation, or money to be made, and then āpoofā, one day it was gone. We got what we paid for.
I think the reason daughter thinks I should have Instagram is my new DIL in Turkey does some cooking stuff ( and has followers!) on Instagram that she thinks I would like to see outside of our usual WhatsApp group chats.
Also, I like to collect internet ideas on pinterest and houzz, and share pictures and reviews on Google maps and Opentable.
Thatās how Iāve always seen forum boards too, I tend to overthink things. Iām trying to be more zen about my social media presence, Iāll enjoy it for the moment knowing that at any minute it can change or I can be banned.
Thanks for replying.
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Iām sort of blind to the money making aspect of social media.
I have the advantage of living across the street from a mountain so my IG feed is almost entirely an evolving pic of said mountain and shared with friends that mostly donāt live in the mountains.
And I only post food pics on FB or here.
Interesting how we get such diverse experiences from the same medium.
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I think the relationship between fora/blogs/websites and marketing/advertising falls along a spectrum. I have a little pop-up blocker that shows the number of ads on a page. Hungry Onion shows two; if all such websites had so few I wouldnāt bother with the blocker. Serious Eats on the other hand on one page I recall had 92 ads PLUS the āproduct placementā in content. There is quite a space between taking advertising to operate and being an advertising mill.
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I donāt think there is any embedded ads in HO, maybe some tools for general statistics. To be sure, itās better to ask @sck.
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Could be - I just look at the little icon in the corner. grin If not ads they are externally served and there may be a security item.
My daughter-in-law is a lifestyle blogger with around 175,000 IG followers. I can tell you that, although itās not easy, she makes much more money with this venture than she did in her previous job, works from home, and gets tons of free stuff on top of it all.
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Fwiw, I have my adblocker turned off completely here and I donāt see any adsā¦
cc: @Auspicious
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Just my observation here, a thread on a food forum asking if food forums of this nature are dead? One full year after the original post the conversation continues with the thread generating approximately one new post every 3 days on an admittedly small audience site. I think we have answered our own question and the results speak for themselves folks!
(Bonus points the thread also required moderation as well!!)
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