This site is set up for everyone who wants to engage in thoughtful discussions about anything related to food, drinks, and cooking. Its a week-old site, we have quite a lot of users who joined in the last few days. If you like what you see so far, you can help Hungry Onion get to the critical mass needed for lively back-and-forth discussions we all love by:
Start a thread (or a few!) about a topic you are excited about- restaurant you visited where you live or on your trips, cooking techniques, wine, whatever you are passionate about!
Share the site/ threads on social media- ex-CH groups, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc. People may retweet etc.
Spread the word! Email your friends about the site. Let your friends know on social networks.
Write to your local food writers/ journalists/ bloggers.
Why am I setting up Hungry Onion? Why Now?
It started when the forum that I used regularly to read about other like-minded people’s adventures in food got a face lift and turned into something unrecognizable. There were talks from other folks about migrating elsewhere. One evening, I just decided to give it a try and put a forum together as an alternative. Here are some thoughts on what I am trying to make Hungry Onion to be:
User friendly
A site that is easy to use and uncluttered so it lets participants to share their thoughts very easily and encourages free-flowing in-depth discussion. In addition, it will also be user-friendly in the sense that it will be sensitive to the needs of the users.
Not-for-profit.
For-profit companies put the interest of shareholders (profits) first since the shareholders are the owners. The model is geared towards reaching out to a bigger audience and maximizing ad and partner revenue. Eventually, the model over-commercializes the forum content and alienates the core user base. This site will put the interest of the users first.
A knowledge depository for the knowledge contributors, not in a corporate setting
When companies need to maximize profit and reach, they may change the UI, dumb down the site, or do something that makes the access to the knowledge base much more difficult than before. Users may have little say in decisions. On top of that, the knowledge is owned by the companies (even though its contributed by everyone!).
The knowledge on this site will remain out of corporations. I expect that if the site gets enough traction, the core group of users will be highly knowledgeable and passionate about food. I am trying to bring control of the knowledge base back to the knowledge contributors with this site so that down the road, there is less risk to the collective accumulated knowledge.
Thank you for taking the time to create this site. I hope we can capture some of what it was to be a customer/reader/content creator/captive of that other site !
I am thrilled that there is a new kennel for the pups! Many thanks for setting it up, and to Foodiex2 for posting the East Bay news article link at the old dog park. Without it I would not yet have found my way here.
I got fed up with being swatted with a rolled-up newspaper, so I ran away from my old home in May and have been scavenging from trashbags ever since. A bath and a brushing, and I’ll soon curl up on the hearth rug you’ve so generously provided!
Thanks so much for taking the initiative and creating such an appealing and easy to use alternative, plus delving into our postings and tracking us down. I will be sure to alert my friends and fambly (who had trustingly taken my recommendations over the years and followed me to That Other Site) that they don’t have to stay chained up in that yard any more…
What a generous gift! Many thanks to Kaleokahu for suggesting me to our host, and to our generous host (whom I suspect is trying for some sort of fleeting “semi-anonymity”) for the kind invitation. It’s FUN to read the “Quick Tips” and find our host making puns in Latin! Or at least that’s what my on-line Latin translator suggests. After many cries of “Fiat lux!” on Chowhound, now we have “respondit orationibus.” GOOD SHOW!!!
Absolutely thrilled to be here - thank you for setting this up. It’s great to see so many familiar faces (er, screennames). Now to get more SoCal Hounds posting here!
Let me share my thanks as well to both Kaleo for suggesting me and especially to ckshen for taking this effort on. I’ve only been here about 20 minutes, bit I can format text and mute users (not that I’ve come across any likely candidates so far
It’s nice to see so many familiar faces/names. I hope this site really gains traction.
