Hello. I am a new vaper from Alabama. According to the counter on my blog (no URL because I can't post links as a new user), I have been vaping for 105 days now. I love it. I love it so much that I created my blog just 2 weeks into vaping. I have helped 20+ friends, family, and co-workers quit smoking since I found vaping as well, mostly spending my money to do so too. I've dropped over $2500 on vaping to buy as much cool stuff as I can to learn as much as I can quickly. About $400 of that was spent on Vision Spinners, iTaste VVs, and tanks to give to new vapers I was trying to convert.
When I started looking for places to talk and spend time, I started out on Reddit. Then I found Vapers.tv. I talk a lot of Twitter and Facebook too. I found out about a new forum that's name I will not say here and was quite excited to be a part of something new in the vaping community. I had heard about this website and most of it was negative. I decided to stay away. Well, I am here to give it a try now. I am done with the "new" forum I was excited about, more about that later.
Here is my story.
Hello, my name is Chris and I am an EX-SMOKER!
Thats right, 27 years of smoking and I am now done! I have tried to quit dozens of times. I have tried the patch, I have tried gum, dipping, Wellbutrin, and well nothing has worked until e-cigarettes. I posted this story a few weeks ago, but I am adding on and posting it again for a permanent copy!
3-4 years ago, I was attending CES in Las Vegas. I was there covering the mobile tech industry, but I ended up talking with a vendor that was showing an ecig that looked like a real cigarette. He handed me a sample and I took a puff and was like, woah thats bad! I proceeded to tell this guy that I smoked menthol and he gave me a menthol version. It was bad too, but I didnt have the heart to tell him a 2nd time though. Since I was press, he handed me some additional samples to take back with me. I never used them. The experience (taste and feel) was so awful that I swore Id never give them another chance. I dont even remember the name of that company. It was cool how it did look like a real cig and even had an led in the end to look like a real cherry. That same week, I actually picked up a couple other e-cigs at CES, but none of them tasted good enough to use.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago. A friend of mine in Memphis was telling me how he quit smoking using e-cigs. I wasnt interested. He ended getting so excited about e-cigs that he started selling products at a flea market. Eventually he opened one of the best brick and mortar shops in Memphis, Zooks Vapor. I still wasnt ready to try them.
I saw a couple contractors that works in my buildings with some fancy, crack pipe looking e-cigs. They told me how awesome they were, but I wasnt interested. One of their co-workers and I went outside to smoke our REAL CIGS and they followed us out and enjoyed their big old e-cigs!
3 months after that, I ran into the same 3 contractors. All 3 of them were using e-cigs now. Craig, the one that was smoking real cigs with me 3 months earlier had also converted to e-cigs shortly after I saw them last. Ive known him for years and I said to myself, If he can quit, so can I. On that day, I decided I wanted to give them a go.
The 1st thing I did was to call my friend at Zooks Vapor. He told me some things to look for and some to look out for. I was going to order a kit from him, but found that there was a local store where I live that had just opened 3-4 months earlier. The store is Ikonic Vapor in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I decided to check them out in hopes of finding what I need without having to wait a couple of days for a shipment. I headed in and the owner recommended the same device for me that my friend Todd had suggested. I purchased the MVP 2.0 and a Kanger Unitank and a couple of ejuice bottles and headed home to try it out.
Awesome!
I havent craved a real cigarette since that day. Since then, I have accumulated a nice collection of gear and a put together a kick-... Vape Box. I am 105 days into vaping now.
About the path that led me here to ECF
I heard about this new forum a month before it launched and I like I said above, I was excited to be a part of something new. Prior to the actual launch, I offered my assistance as a forum admin. I didn't want to be a moderator or admin, just was excited to help. My offers fell on deaf ears. Up until I sold all my tech related websites 4 years ago, I ran many tech related forum and blog sites. One of my sites peaked at 4.5k Alexa in 2007. In the 1st month of one of my forums, we went from 1 to 20k users. That site ended up, before the new owners killed it, with 300k users and 12 million posts. I had 30+ staff members to run that site at one point. It was good times, but I am happy to not have that responsibility anymore.
Anyhow. This "new" site launched. I offered to assist with adding brick and mortar stores to their database of stores. Since I had done the leg work on Alabama and Florida B&M stores, I offered to add them... no strings attached. Again, I did not and do not want to be a mod or admin anywhere but my own little blog. It was a sincere offer to help make the "new" site a great place. That offer was rejected and I was told that they had all that covered. To this date, that work I offered to do is still not done.
Next, I found a security issue. It took 2 days of contacting mods privately for it to be fixed. I finally found a moderator on that site that actually replied and moved forward to fix the issue.
Now I am starting to get agitated with the "new" site.
Then comes the drama of this site banning words associated with the "new" site. This really ...... me off. Not that this site did what it did, it was the way the "new" site reacted. It was like the other site wanted to revel in the drama... adding to the fire. Stirring the pot. I made a rant about this and vowed to never visit that site again.[
I had a similar thing happen to me, very similar.
In 2006, I launched a gaming website, complete with forums about a subculture within a video game. Similar to how vaping has a subculture of cloud chasing. I soon found out that there was a really good, established forum for this subject. I took my forums down and just blogged about the game. I got into a beta for a new expansion and started sharing videos and images that affected us. I had become a member of the other sites forums and decided to republish one of my stories in their forums since users were asking questions. I put 90% of the articles content in a different format in their forums, complete with my images. There was no reason for the readers of that site to leave that site, but I did include a link to my blog at the bottom of the post. I was banned.
I decided to reopen my forums. Many readers of the other site were already reading my blog posts daily. When I announced that I was opening the forums, quite a few people joined. Everything was cool and we started to coexist just fine. A few weeks later, someone republished a guide they had written for the other site on my forums. He was told to remove it from my site by the owner of the other site. The author complied but publicized this request. Some were outraged and it started a war. The other site ended up banning people for mentioning my site. The site owner also added many words associated with my site, including my name, in their profanity filter so members couldnt say anything about my site. Very similar to whats happening to Vapor Joe right now.
I never posted about this until after the battle was over. I never encouraged members to leave that site. I never asked anyone to post over there. I never asked anyone to complain on my site about the other site. People did though and I wasnt going to delete their posts. I took the high road personally.
Six months later, that site shut the doors. Six months after that, the site went offline. I am not saying that this will happen to ECF though. ECF is much more established than the other site that banned me was. There are way more vapers than there were people in our gaming community also. Well see what happens in the ECF vs .................. drama.
Instead of reveling in the drama, I took the high road. I honestly believe that this decision actually hurt the other site more than engaging in the drama.
Other things?
Some other things that irritated me as a former forum admin... I saw multiple suggestions from members where the staff of the "new" site lied to the members telling them that they needed a plugin, etc to make these suggestions happen. Some of these requests were for features that are built in to the forum software... STOCK. That offended me. Assuming that the readers are too stupid to know... that or the admins don't realize the features in the software they use. Either way, that and other things made me leave that site.
I was then talked back into giving it another go.
This time I was less inclined to dive into threads and offer my suggestions. I didn't really want to waste the hours of reading and posting I had done prior to quitting this time around. It didn't last long before I decided that I didn't want to be a part of that circle jerk anymore.
I tried helping. No replies. I contact the owner, no replies. I watched a ton of favoritism. I'm done over there. I requested to have my accounts deleted, which will probably never be honored.
I am here now.
I am not sure how active I will be though. I am wary to dive in full force again but I did want to become a member of a forum.
So anyhow... here I am. Hello ECF.
When I started looking for places to talk and spend time, I started out on Reddit. Then I found Vapers.tv. I talk a lot of Twitter and Facebook too. I found out about a new forum that's name I will not say here and was quite excited to be a part of something new in the vaping community. I had heard about this website and most of it was negative. I decided to stay away. Well, I am here to give it a try now. I am done with the "new" forum I was excited about, more about that later.
Here is my story.
Hello, my name is Chris and I am an EX-SMOKER!
Thats right, 27 years of smoking and I am now done! I have tried to quit dozens of times. I have tried the patch, I have tried gum, dipping, Wellbutrin, and well nothing has worked until e-cigarettes. I posted this story a few weeks ago, but I am adding on and posting it again for a permanent copy!
3-4 years ago, I was attending CES in Las Vegas. I was there covering the mobile tech industry, but I ended up talking with a vendor that was showing an ecig that looked like a real cigarette. He handed me a sample and I took a puff and was like, woah thats bad! I proceeded to tell this guy that I smoked menthol and he gave me a menthol version. It was bad too, but I didnt have the heart to tell him a 2nd time though. Since I was press, he handed me some additional samples to take back with me. I never used them. The experience (taste and feel) was so awful that I swore Id never give them another chance. I dont even remember the name of that company. It was cool how it did look like a real cig and even had an led in the end to look like a real cherry. That same week, I actually picked up a couple other e-cigs at CES, but none of them tasted good enough to use.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago. A friend of mine in Memphis was telling me how he quit smoking using e-cigs. I wasnt interested. He ended getting so excited about e-cigs that he started selling products at a flea market. Eventually he opened one of the best brick and mortar shops in Memphis, Zooks Vapor. I still wasnt ready to try them.
I saw a couple contractors that works in my buildings with some fancy, crack pipe looking e-cigs. They told me how awesome they were, but I wasnt interested. One of their co-workers and I went outside to smoke our REAL CIGS and they followed us out and enjoyed their big old e-cigs!
3 months after that, I ran into the same 3 contractors. All 3 of them were using e-cigs now. Craig, the one that was smoking real cigs with me 3 months earlier had also converted to e-cigs shortly after I saw them last. Ive known him for years and I said to myself, If he can quit, so can I. On that day, I decided I wanted to give them a go.
The 1st thing I did was to call my friend at Zooks Vapor. He told me some things to look for and some to look out for. I was going to order a kit from him, but found that there was a local store where I live that had just opened 3-4 months earlier. The store is Ikonic Vapor in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I decided to check them out in hopes of finding what I need without having to wait a couple of days for a shipment. I headed in and the owner recommended the same device for me that my friend Todd had suggested. I purchased the MVP 2.0 and a Kanger Unitank and a couple of ejuice bottles and headed home to try it out.
Awesome!
I havent craved a real cigarette since that day. Since then, I have accumulated a nice collection of gear and a put together a kick-... Vape Box. I am 105 days into vaping now.
About the path that led me here to ECF
I heard about this new forum a month before it launched and I like I said above, I was excited to be a part of something new. Prior to the actual launch, I offered my assistance as a forum admin. I didn't want to be a moderator or admin, just was excited to help. My offers fell on deaf ears. Up until I sold all my tech related websites 4 years ago, I ran many tech related forum and blog sites. One of my sites peaked at 4.5k Alexa in 2007. In the 1st month of one of my forums, we went from 1 to 20k users. That site ended up, before the new owners killed it, with 300k users and 12 million posts. I had 30+ staff members to run that site at one point. It was good times, but I am happy to not have that responsibility anymore.
Anyhow. This "new" site launched. I offered to assist with adding brick and mortar stores to their database of stores. Since I had done the leg work on Alabama and Florida B&M stores, I offered to add them... no strings attached. Again, I did not and do not want to be a mod or admin anywhere but my own little blog. It was a sincere offer to help make the "new" site a great place. That offer was rejected and I was told that they had all that covered. To this date, that work I offered to do is still not done.
Next, I found a security issue. It took 2 days of contacting mods privately for it to be fixed. I finally found a moderator on that site that actually replied and moved forward to fix the issue.
Now I am starting to get agitated with the "new" site.
Then comes the drama of this site banning words associated with the "new" site. This really ...... me off. Not that this site did what it did, it was the way the "new" site reacted. It was like the other site wanted to revel in the drama... adding to the fire. Stirring the pot. I made a rant about this and vowed to never visit that site again.[
I had a similar thing happen to me, very similar.
In 2006, I launched a gaming website, complete with forums about a subculture within a video game. Similar to how vaping has a subculture of cloud chasing. I soon found out that there was a really good, established forum for this subject. I took my forums down and just blogged about the game. I got into a beta for a new expansion and started sharing videos and images that affected us. I had become a member of the other sites forums and decided to republish one of my stories in their forums since users were asking questions. I put 90% of the articles content in a different format in their forums, complete with my images. There was no reason for the readers of that site to leave that site, but I did include a link to my blog at the bottom of the post. I was banned.
I decided to reopen my forums. Many readers of the other site were already reading my blog posts daily. When I announced that I was opening the forums, quite a few people joined. Everything was cool and we started to coexist just fine. A few weeks later, someone republished a guide they had written for the other site on my forums. He was told to remove it from my site by the owner of the other site. The author complied but publicized this request. Some were outraged and it started a war. The other site ended up banning people for mentioning my site. The site owner also added many words associated with my site, including my name, in their profanity filter so members couldnt say anything about my site. Very similar to whats happening to Vapor Joe right now.
I never posted about this until after the battle was over. I never encouraged members to leave that site. I never asked anyone to post over there. I never asked anyone to complain on my site about the other site. People did though and I wasnt going to delete their posts. I took the high road personally.
Six months later, that site shut the doors. Six months after that, the site went offline. I am not saying that this will happen to ECF though. ECF is much more established than the other site that banned me was. There are way more vapers than there were people in our gaming community also. Well see what happens in the ECF vs .................. drama.
Instead of reveling in the drama, I took the high road. I honestly believe that this decision actually hurt the other site more than engaging in the drama.
Other things?
Some other things that irritated me as a former forum admin... I saw multiple suggestions from members where the staff of the "new" site lied to the members telling them that they needed a plugin, etc to make these suggestions happen. Some of these requests were for features that are built in to the forum software... STOCK. That offended me. Assuming that the readers are too stupid to know... that or the admins don't realize the features in the software they use. Either way, that and other things made me leave that site.
I was then talked back into giving it another go.
This time I was less inclined to dive into threads and offer my suggestions. I didn't really want to waste the hours of reading and posting I had done prior to quitting this time around. It didn't last long before I decided that I didn't want to be a part of that circle jerk anymore.
I tried helping. No replies. I contact the owner, no replies. I watched a ton of favoritism. I'm done over there. I requested to have my accounts deleted, which will probably never be honored.
I am here now.
I am not sure how active I will be though. I am wary to dive in full force again but I did want to become a member of a forum.
So anyhow... here I am. Hello ECF.
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Quite a story.
