Cookaholics Bulletin Board

An idea? How about tying your recipes/cookbook to oh, say, Nintendo. I'm sure they (CK & Co.) didn't get any $$ for that......did they? No royalties,either.

The last online issue has ten recipes. Two are repeats. That's it. This will be my last subscription. I agree with Kathy; I'm a much better cook for CI, but like Kenny Rogers says, 'you gotta know...'

I do however, still like CC. LOTS of recipes in there, and some I've been cooking all my life, but are greatly improved.

Having been a subscriber since the early days of Cooks Illustrated, I finally allowed my subscription to elapse. I, too, became bored with the magazine. I used to hover at the mailbox and salivate when a new edition arrived. Now it doesn't seem as though there is anything new to get excited about.
It seems to me that they lost their direction and concentrated on the new magazine and books and ignored the original publication that made them so popular. Not a very good strategic business plan if you want to keep your base happy.
ilene

I quit the paper chase a few years ago but I do feel it is worth $.10/day to maintain the online subscription. The T-Fal 12" pan beating All-Clad and at 1/4 the price is worth it alone. Also, when it works, I like using the recipe index because often there is an update attached or some related suggestion. The BB is virtually useless; I generally check in to it once a month for a speed scan of topics and drill down into one or two. I have followed that strategy for about 13.275 months and haven't found it wanting
Oh yeah, you can also speed read the latest issue (for free, sort of).

I just got this email from Mari. So yes, it is official:

Hi all --

Unfortunately, we've made the tough decision to shut down the bulletin board system. As you all know, the boards have been inundated with spam and other technical issues, and the company that supported the software for the boards has gone out of business, leaving us with no way to make necessary repairs or improvements.

Next week, I'll be posting an official letter explaining this to the bulletin board community, and providing everyone with links to our other social media forums. But we wanted to send you all a personal note since you have been so active and helpful in maintaining the boards in recent months and, in some cases, years. As a thank you, we'll be mailing each of you a token of our appreciation.

Thanks for all your help. And if you're ever in the Boston area, please don't hesitate to get in touch. We'd be happy to show you around the test kitchen.

All the best,

Mari, Jacqui, and the BB team
------------------------------
Mari Levine
Online Assistant Editor
America's Test Kitchen
17 Station Street
Brookline, MA 02445
http://www.CooksIllustrated.com
http://www.AmericasTestKitchen.com
http://www.CooksCountry.com

Yup,

I got the notice too, clearly she has me mixed up with a guy who left TOBB a couple of years ago...

I haven't been on TOBB for a few years, but it still strikes me as sad an inevitable. It seems as though the emphasis has been on marketing and making money (and I have no problem with this) and not on taking care of the community that helped to build the company.
I am thankful that Josh developed this special spot and that Amy thought to invite me to join in.
Ilene

Not surprised...

CI will continue to "thrive" despite the fact they've forgotten one of the most basic tenets of marketing...it costs twice as much to acquire a new customer as it costs to retain a current one.

I hope SOME of our old friends find us over here...

Amy

very sad. Yes, hope that people find us here.
I didn't get an email...so please share what the token is!

I did mention it a few weeks or so, back, when another board I was on announced they were closing, and the symptoms were similar to CI. I felt smacked around for bringing it up, so I didn't say anything else. It cost $$ to operate the boards, and FB is free, although I think I'm going over to Google+. Sounds better to me than fb.

Well it's to bad. I only went there occationally, but will miss some of the familiar faces. Hope they find there way here.