Rob, if someone offers up 3+ million for SR, I’ll gladly sit chain smoke swishers and white owls as penance for totally taking the money and running. LOL (Don’t worry, it isn’t gonna happen. And with each day that passes our sweat equity pushes that figure ever higher!)

I just listened to your piece on the cigar forums being rolled into one and do have to agree with Brian that if this had been someone, say a FOG, who bought the forums it’d probably go over better. Granted, from a business point of view it looks good but the reality is that if the number of eyeballs looking at ads drops, then it’s a failure. And when we’re talking about community-based forums where there is a kinship created, as is evident on pretty much all these forums, an outsider buying it, one that hasn’t even participated on any other forum, tends not to go over well.

I’ve gone through this similar kind of activity elsewhere and the end result was a loss of about 60-80% of the membership, especially when mods left. There is no fault at lie at the feet of the original owners. Sometimes, when you’ve run a site for an extended period of time it may be time to move on. And certainly you can be a new owner who’s never been part of a community but if this is to be done for business reasons, then be professional about it. And I think that’s what’s going to cause the biggest problem for the new site. My IT background has taught me the importance of “full disclosure” and how that is often far better an attitude to take than trying to hide something, especially when you’re an unknown. People better appreciate it. I have noticed a sense of “don’t ask me questions as I won’t answer anything that might challenge me”. No matter how challenging or abrasive a question may be, IMO, I think it’s better to answer it (granted, take a breath first) than to brush people off.

As for the small manufacturers, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them populate on what were the smaller forums and utilize that as a way to advertise their products. This will, in turn, be a boon for the smaller forums as they will grow with that and the cycle will continue. I suspect that the new conglomarate that will be under Puff.com will become rather stagnate in regards to membership and will see smaller growth than previous cycles for at least 2-03 years.

As for the name, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of other forums — cigarettes, pipes, etc. — being purchased and put under the one name. It’s interesting that he didn’t buy smoke.com, which is available for sale. For the cigar community as a whole, I think there will be a benefit. It’s not because everyone will visit the new site but rather will go to the smaller sites, almost like the small, local B&M cigar store that many of us support near us.

Anyways, that’s my take. Not much can be done at this point since they are done deals.

Cheers,
Alex

As for the off topic banter about the buyout… I pretty much have the same opinion as the both of you. Although my main pet peeve is “Puff.com.” I mean, C’mon! Puff.com?! That’s a horrible name in my opinion.

Thanks again for YQMA #39!