A little bit of history

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
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expatgirl

Master Chef
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
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Texas girl living in Kazakhstan
Hi, GB!!

I really would be interested in knowing how this site got started------after being on this forum for a few months it's obvious that there are some real tight social networks out there and it would be interesting to know how you all got started. I mean there are posters with 1000+postings I don't think that there are any other cooking forums out there at the present that are as active and as well-managed as this one. And furthermore how did you, MG, and others get to be site administrators and how long have you been doing it??:) Inquiring minds want to know.:ROFLMAO:
 
Hi there!. Holy macaroni, it says that I have 4,076 posts!:shock: What a blabber mouth! I joined in 7-05-2004. All the old timers know I'm not really into cooking but I'm really into eating.:-p I first came on with a question about my George Forman Grill, and the members here were so warm and nice, I decided to stay. I've learned alot from my fellow DCers and I now have a pretty good collection of recipes and wonderful friends. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.:LOL:
 
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A lot of us came to DC from the Food Network forums when they closed down almost two years ago. As a result, we have known each other for several years.

The same thing is happening here now with an influx of folks from another forum who are new to DC members who have been here longer but know each other quite well.

I was invited to be a site helper after being around for a while on a regular basis.

Someone else can chime in with the 'ancient' history.
 
Wow, I can't believe it's been two years since I have joined DC! I used to go to the foodnetwork chatroom, back in the day :LOL: They have since removed that part of their website, so I sought other food related sites based on friends I knew from there, and so I ended up here, and love it!
 
Wow, Wasabi,

I just love your postings-----you're incredible and the wonderful artworks that go wih your postings are fantastic. If I knew how to post an avatar and a quote i would but I don't know how. To go from George Foreman to 4 thousand posts says a lot--thanks for your "historical footnote"!

Any more out there???
 
I can best sum it up to, someone had a vision, a grass-roots effort, to start a new site and see what happens. Much of this happened as a result, IMO, because of the failure of foodnetwork and other food forums failures. This site has been very successful for the years it has been up and running, and continues to gain new members everyday at record rates

What I notice on this site is that everyone treats each other with respect. The admin and mods do the best to keep things under control in terms of bashing, trolls, etc. It's the best food forum I have seen. So glad to see many new members too!
 
Andy M. said:
A lot of us came to DC from the Food Network forums when they closed down almost two years ago. As a result, we have known each other for several years.

The same thing is happening here now with an influx of folks from another forum who are new to DC members who have been here longer but know each other quite well.

I was invited to be a site helper after being around for a while on a regular basis.

Someone else can chime in with the 'ancient' history.

Hi, Andy,

Thanks for posting--not to be nosy but how did you get to be asked???Was an ad posted or what??? Because for the few months that I've been monitoring this site I can really see why you fit the job. But is there a formal poll, induction, application, etc. or did you just get the job by default?? Or did a former site helper just asked you to take over? How long have you been doing it and what are the pros and cons of the job? How much time do you find yourself devoting to this job??? Of course these questions are for anyone else out there as well.:LOL:
 
amber said:
I can best sum it up to, someone had a vision, a grass-roots effort, to start a new site and see what happens. Much of this happened as a result, IMO, because of the failure of foodnetwork and other food forums failures. This site has been very successful for the years it has been up and running, and continues to gain new members everyday at record rates

What I notice on this site is that everyone treats each other with respect. The admin and mods do the best to keep things under control in terms of bashing, trolls, etc. It's the best food forum I have seen. So glad to see many new members too!


Dear Amber,

YOu are ever so right on this score--thanks for your answer:chef:
 
A guy named Goeff from the UK grabbed a bunch of good domain names, and started this site.

This is how DC looked back in the day

Back then, Kitchenelf was the only site helper here. Kitchenelf is the one who set the friendly tone here a long time ago, and is soley responsible for the great community that thrives here today, IMHO.:)

She asked me and Barbara L to help out, and from there I dragged GB and Alix and a few others up the ranks with me. Kitchenelf got to busy with her "real life" and moved along, but she is still one of my best friends that I have met here.

I have met SOO many cool people here - to many to list. I am just happy to help out around here.:cool:
 
Gee, thanks, MJ for all the history, I hope that the rest of you don't mind going down memory lane but I think that it's important for the rest of the newcomers to know what's involved in maintaining a site like this and its history---this is a very unique site that should be known about--maybe on a separate thread. I 've been on other sites where people were rude and insulting to each other and no one cared much less monitored it. I think that DC is a very special place because of its moderators and site administrators and I think that it's nice to give you a lot of kudos here and to know how you came about. Also recongnition should be given to the long time posters as well because they are the ones who have kept the site going, too. Thanks to all of you.
 
expat

I don't know about the behind the scenes process for selecting site helpers. One day, GB PM'd me and asked if I'd like to help out.

It's not difficult. You just keep your eyes peeled for the stuff the site does not allow and blow it to smithereens using the highly secret and powerful laser guns provided by Admin.
 
It's not difficult. You just keep your eyes peeled for the stuff the site does not allow and blow it to smithereens using the highly secret and powerful laser guns provided by Admin.
_______

Or Dove will take you to the woodshed.:LOL:
 
Hi expatgirl. The history of the site has been summed up well by the others so no need for me to add anything to that.

As for how people become helpers, from time to time MJ, Alix, and myself will see a need to add another person. We will have conversation to decide what we need and who would be a good fit for that role. We try to pick members who have shown their love for the site and who are well respected here. We pick people who have already positively contributed and who want to contribute more than they already have. We try to get people from all over the world so that we have opinions for not just the US and also so that while people in the US are asleep we still have staff members who are awake and online. The administrators will them ask that person if they would like to join the team. If they say yes then we wave our magic wand and give them their powers right away :)

The staff here spend a good amount of time working on the site, even when you do not see us on the boards. We are often doing research or writing things such as policies or articles for the newsletter or doing other site related things in which we were offline sometimes.

There are a ton of positives to being a staff member and only a few small negatives. The positives, in my opinion, are being able to help this site live up to its full potential. We have been able to watch DC go from a small well run site to a much larger site that just keeps getting better and better. The staff members are the type of people who love to help others in general so there is a satisfaction that comes from that as well.

As for the negatives, well from time to time we do need to make difficult decisions which can be hard. We try our hardest to make sure we always think of what is best for the site when doing this. It can be hard at times though. Another hard thing is occasionally we get people who sign up just to cause trouble. They post horrible things including pictures that no one should ever have to see. Thanks to the swift and diligent work of the helpers, most members never see these things. Our staff is so quick that as soon as these things are posted they have them removed. They work so well that for the most part you never even know they have done their job.

I want to echo what MJ said earlier about Kitchenelf. She is the person who made this site what it is. She had a love for this place that is like a mothers love for her child. She nurtured it, but was also firm in a loving way making sure that this place grew up to be what she had envisioned. If not for kitchenelf DC would be a much different place today. I am honored to know her and have been able to see how she worked and to have learned from the master!
 
I wondered why I recognized some names. I, too, used to belong to food network forums. In fact, one of my old culinary instructors at Johnson & Wales, herself a CIA grad, was an original forum meister after she left JWU for Food Network.

Ciao,
 
Waaaaaaaaaaay back in the day it was fairly easy for one person to manage - but then the flood gates broke :wacko: I'm sure I made my enemies but I just wanted to keep this place a friendly place. That's sort of an oxymoron i.e., in order to keep it friendly I had to be firm and stand my ground and I'd say that was the hardest part about being administrator. I had many sleepless nights over this place. I needed someone else to take the blame so I "hired" MJ :LOL: :ROFLMAO: :-p All kidding aside MJ was my hero. We became fast friends. All the original site helpers became fast friends. It's funny how you can bond with people over the internet. We've been through births and deaths together and everything in between. Some of us have met in person (My husband and I met Dove and her husband in Napa Valley a few years back - they are incredible people).

A link was posted to DC on another site and I took a peek - I answered a couple questions and participated in a few threads and I got a PM that told me to look under my name - well, it said Site Helper and that's how I started LOL.

Life still happens while you're sitting at your computer, dust bunnies multiply, work doesn't get done. I needed to jump back in the game. And besides, I think there was a dead or alive reward fon me :ohmy: LOL

I miss this place terribly. All those "in control" now have done a great job. There's a lot of "behind the scenes" work to do, a lot of discussions about how to proceed with the site, etc. Those that do it do a great job.

The members here are incredible. They give support when it's needed, kindness when it's needed, and a kick in the rear if that's what's needed :cool: I've never seen another site on the net like this one.

If we never learn anything else ever we've learned that Sushi likes redheads! :in_love:

Oh, and I only received one death threat, which I guess is pretty good over a 3-4 year period :angel:
 
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Kitchenelf, I must say, you all have done a masterful job. I too came from another food site that had begun to deteriorate with backbiting, etc. I am very grateful y'all are here for me to interact with.

We do tend to get very close to people on these sites. In December I am going to New Zealand to stay with friends for 6 weeks I've gotten to know via the other site. They are also members of DC now. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you, cooking with you and exchanging info.

Excellent site y'all, great people!
 
bjcotton said:
Kitchenelf, I must say, you all have done a masterful job. I too came from another food site that had begun to deteriorate with backbiting, etc. I am very grateful y'all are here for me to interact with.

We do tend to get very close to people on these sites. In December I am going to New Zealand to stay with friends for 6 weeks I've gotten to know via the other site. They are also members of DC now. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you, cooking with you and exchanging info.

Excellent site y'all, great people!

And I'll echo Billy's kind words, because I was in that "other place" too.
I venture into cyberspace to relax, to learn, to share with other food addicts and to have fun. I do not want "aggro", as it's called in England. Hey! This is a virtual world.
However, virtual places have way of getting people together, which is splendid. I've made friends in the USA, in Canada, in Australia, in New Zealand.
When one enters a community, one must also learn the ropes. This has been very, very easy here - I've personally felt very much at home, even though I don't know you all.
Congratulations are in order for a wonderful place to spend one's spare time!
 
cliveb said:
And I'll echo Billy's kind words, because I was in that "other place" too.
I venture into cyberspace to relax, to learn, to share with other food addicts and to have fun. I do not want "aggro", as it's called in England. Hey! This is a virtual world.
However, virtual places have way of getting people together, which is splendid. I've made friends in the USA, in Canada, in Australia, in New Zealand.
When one enters a community, one must also learn the ropes. This has been very, very easy here - I've personally felt very much at home, even though I don't know you all.
Congratulations are in order for a wonderful place to spend one's spare time!

I echo billy and Clive. its funny how attached you get to places and people and its nice to be able to virtually make friends.

Some of the people ive met in real life and theyve turned out to become some of my best friends. and others that i havent met yet... like ol clive.. well im able to bounce ideas off him and pick his brain which is great!!
 
I also came in from the Food Network when it shut down a couple of years ago. I've spent most of my life cooking, and my entire adult life I've found myself answering questions in grocery stores. I love this forum (and much more than the TV one, I hated watching those fashion-model-diet ads) and some questions have lead to some very interesting conversations.
 
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