We have a travel trailer that we enjoy, so for me it's rv.net.

No place, really. This place takes up too much of my time as it is (lol). But, since I love to cook, I do check out recipes on TheKitchen.com (I think that's the name of the site ), Allrecipes.com and a couple others. When I'm looking for inspiration, I check out Pinterest. DD got me started on it last year and I already have about 20 folders. Other than that, just Facebook to keep up daily with my out of state kids, sisters, sisters-in-law, nieces, cousins and friends.

Only other site I spend any amount of time on is NYTimes.com.

I do like Hot Topics here - feisty, can really let loose over there.

And I love the folks in the Laundry forum here. A really fun, funny, nice group of laundry geeks.

Not a chat forum in any way, but I do enjoy reading seriouseats.com particularly kenji alt Lopez and Daniel gritzer.

I read slickdeals every day but don't contribute. That's the only other forum I use. I also have multiple blogs and news sites I visit every day.

Davidson Gifted Issues. Another group, like GW, who are so much more knowledgable than I am and generous with experiences and ideas and suggestions.

Thanks for the reminder about Hot Topics! With the changeover to Houzz, it moved and I forgot about it.

i also like Reader's Paradise. Don't post much there, but I love to hear what folks are reading.i

I read the QVC forums.

I also love the city data forums... (lvarious state location but also the books, retirement, health, tv you name it. I can get lost there). I am going to check out some of the other ones posted here that I have never heard of.... (great now more ways to get lost on the internet)

chowhound (cooking, dining, food travel, equipment) and the forums at tripadvisor (when travel planning)

There's a forum for everything, isn't there? I tend to follow/join based on current interests as noted above. Cooking or traveling or some other niche interest. Love tripadvisor and contribute to it regularly. I follow a few blogs too based on what I find relevant in their content.

I think GW is the only site I've followed consistently for a long time. Something about the balance between rug colors and holiday centerpieces, along with world issues and relationship advice... It's really interesting when you consider the quantitative number of contributors (low) vs the qualitative amount of advice on a broad range of issues.

I post on a chat forum that I have been on for about 15 years. The posters are mostly from around the U.S. and Canada, and although our forum has moved around some due to various sites going out of business, a core group of us has been together for years. We know each other pretty well by now online, but many of us have also met in person, getting together if we visit each other's areas. There have also been occasions over the years when a member has fallen on hard times, and we have taken up collections amongst ourselves to help out. I'm not sure if this is unusual or not out there in the internet world.

As for other sites, they tend to come and go for me. Chowhound was great until a big corporation bought it and ruined it. Tripadvisor is still helpful, but less so these days since there are so many phony shill reviews on it. I mostly just follow news sites on a regular basis.

OT: I wish people would start seeing the (very blatant) correlation between big companies buying out their competition and making one huge company to cover that industry and the degrading of quality, as SAS points out re: Chowhound. How many times do we need to see what happens when this goes on before we put a stop to it? No competition and too big to fail and too big to care are all dangerous.

Here and Facebook. Tripadvisor for travel. Not much else on a regular basis.

I think it's not so much that people haven't noticed Tib, it's just that in the big scheme of things, there really isn't much that can be done to change it. Or if there is, maybe the majority just doesn't realize it.

Chowhound was not a case of a big company buying its competition, Tib. It was founded by an individual, who built it up and later was able to sell it and make some money for himself. Disappointing for long time users (I was one since the site began, but I no longer post there), but nothing wrong with that business model. The founder ran it as a free site, and he has to eat, too. It's just unfortunate that once the site started looking more "corporate," many of the long time posters lost interest and left. Some went to other food web sites. That's just the way these things go.

What I find more upsetting is the sites like Tripadvisor that used to have integrity and standards that discouraged phony reviews by people affiliated with the hotels. And now Tripadvisor actually sells hotels tools to reach out to people to pressure them into posting reviews. While there are still plenty of legitimate reviews on that site, you have to really scrutinize to separate the real from the phony. Which defeats the stated purpose of the site, of course. But I'm sure the Tripadvisor folks had figured out that they needed to make money, too. Readers don't pay, but hotel partners are probably a great revenue source.

People want quality sites but they don't want to pay for them. The thought of people effectively rising up and making demands about how things we do not pay for should be run is not realistic.

Sas, in some regards I think you have a valid point, until it comes to the free part. Compensation comes in many forms. People using free sites pay for the "privilege" of using a "free" site first by having to sign up and surrender some of our personal information ie email address and some demographics in the process. Then we have to agree to let them track us so they can sell the data we provide. They have thousands of businesses buying our emails and that data which is why we are all to often bombarded with unwanted spam. If they made more money by simply charging a user, believe me, they would. And if I could just pay a fee for the promise that I was not going to be tracked in any way shape or form, I'd much rather pay that fee. But I would never pay a fee just so I could be tracked and someone else can make a buck at my expense. There is a trade off.

I forgot when I mentioned Chowhound that there has been a large dropoff since the last corporate sale. It was sold in 2006 to CNET and merged with Chow, and then they merged into CBSInteractive. However, the last straw was when the latest owners changed the forums and introduced new software. People left in droves and some started their own communities, or relocated to places like eGullet and others. I've seen a large decline in traffic, even more so than what Gardenweb went through with the integration into Houzz.

I see the integration of GardenWed to Houzz more like a conversion of a single family home into a duplex.

We're under the same roof yet there are two different groups occupying .

I hang out on a garden website called Dave's Garden which has a paid subscription. There are several forums for various garden interest groups (perennials, tomatoes, roses, you name it), and one group is mostly a chat group of local mid-south residents. We have met at a plant show and now get together at least once a year for plant swaps and keep up with each other and our families.

I used to participate regularly in a private forum set up by a group of close-knit friends. I believe there were around 10 of us, and we went back years - I think I've known them for at least 15 years. There started to be issues with the site hosting, however, so the group moved to Facebook where it still exists. Because I'm not on Facebook anymore, however, I can't participate. I miss them. But I'm not willing to get back on Facebook.

I still post at Tripadvisor and on Instagram occasionally. Mostly my online activity takes place here though!

I can barely keep up with this one! I occasionally frequent other forums (outside of Houzz) when I'm searching for something specific. I read Hot Topics regularly and have posted a handful of times but I'm just not tenacious enough to post regularly.

I wandered back over to Laundry yesterday and am newly charmed. Instead of "what tile for my laundry room" there's a laundry product obsession support group going on, and I just love it.

I had to go see what all the fuss is about. Love the title of this thread: "I have crossed the line! Detergent videos on Youtube!"

LOL!

The Laundry forum was my first GardenWeb forum. I found it back in 2003 when shopping for a front loader. Then I migrated to Building then to Selling then to Decorating. A pretty logical progression I must say!

Gotta love someone posting a photo of their laundry hanging on a clothesline and everyone oohing and aahing. I find the Laundry Room to be the DisneyLand of GW: the happiest place on (GW). Just a totally cool, kind, fun, welcoming group of people who know they're dorks and are proud of their laundry obsessions! I just love that forum.

Who knew laundry 1) could be so interesting; 2) would attract such neat-o people!

This is the only forum I frequent. Very rarely, I will take a look at the gardening forum or the building a house forum. I have certain blogs I read, facebook and instagram.

So many of you have mentioned hot topics- well can someone post a link? I cant find anything on houzz except for the home forums. please and thank you

Sheilaaus, go to the front page, on the left, select Garden Web Topics (or go to the top of this page and do so), then select Garden Forum. Under "H" you will see "Hot Topics".

It's not for the feint of heart!

Tibb.....I wandered over to the Laundry forum last night and was thoroughly entertained. They send detergent to one another! All I could think of was an SNL skit.....but in a good way with some of the old stellar cast.

Tibb also......I read Hot Topics nearly everyday to learn differing opinions but I don't feel knowledgeable enough to post....I'd get my clock cleaned! I do want to say though that I appreciate your posts so much Tibb.....ever the voice of intelligence and reason.

Based on this thread I Googled some topics to see if they had forums....I found a MIL forum! Hmmmm....I could really do a lot of venting!

I am a regular at the Kitchen Table here at GW and some other GW forums, I like Name that plant and Garden Junk. I work on several computer help forums and tech related forums. We travel a lot in our RV so I frequent some RV related forums. I have cut way back on how much time I dedicate to this hobby. I have never gone the Facebook route have no interest.

Here on the GW site I look at Kitchens, Furnuture, Buying and Selling Homes, and Holiday Forums. Also like the Texas Garden Forum and Landscape Design. I used to get on Hot Topics, but some of the members like to 'let off steam', a little too frequently for me. They get on a topic such as politics, and before you know it, it's like a war zone.

I should be working on things for my space at the antique mall, especially with Christmas sneaking up so quickly! Like Scarlet O'hara said, "oh fiddledeedee" "tomorrow is another day".

This is what I mean. Theyre off and running.........

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3510178/paris-worshiping-satan?n=25

joaniepoanie, isn't that Laundry Room precious? It's an enigma. But they're just a seemingly great bunch of laundry peeps over there.

As for Hot Topics, yes, it is not for the thin skinned! Lol. Still, I think it's great that GW offers a place to go for those of us with strong opinions and personalities and who know everything there is to know, and certainly more than anyone else, and are always right...;-)

Do join in, though. Your clock might get cleaned, but then you can clean someone else's, or at least you'l have a nice clean clock!

Lol.

Hot Topics is one I stay clear from; it's too mean spirited for me, but I do enjoy reading the political opinions of many I respect here when a political thread is posted. I'm going to have to take a few and go visit the Laundry room...who would have thunk that would be popular! LOL I love the kitchen table forum, very nice folks there too.

I don't know how anyone can stand Hot Topics! I think I may have spent some time there waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day, but must've lost the inclination to go searching for heated exchange with a bunch of people online who appear to be gathered for this sole purpose. Gosh, it gets bad enough here at times! LOL!

Yes, I checked out hot topics and it is most definitely not for me..... I like sharing info, advice, all sorts of random stuff but the arguing and political stuff is not my thing. oh well.

Exactly Sheilaaus! I love love love when a thread turns into more of a conversation whether it's fun bantering or some serious conversation. I always learn something when the topic is about a serious event taking place.

In HT I will just skip over the folks who say the same thing over and over and if the thread doesn't appear to be going anywhere but in circles, I stop reading. I don't have what it takes to be a contributor, but I try to keep an open mind with the opposing viewpoints. I see it as another outlet to learn about politics, current events.

@auntjen, well that meme pretty much summarizes Hot Topics. Whew. And yet, here I am draw again, by the spectacle, only to be repulsed in 30 seconds

Most of the Hot Topics participants don't argue intelligently, they just rant. As a group they are not well informed and their comments not well thought out. It's actually pretty boring and predictable, the same players espousing their same points of view on almost every topic.

"lukkiirish

Hot Topics is one I stay clear from; it's too mean spirited for me"

"kswl2

Most of the Hot Topics participants don't argue intelligently, they just rant. As a group they are not well informed and their comments not well thought out. It's actually pretty boring and predictable..."

Interesting, huh?

I have personally found (and been subjected to) HD Conversations to often devolve into attacks WAY meaner and spiteful than anything I've seen on HT.

I'm not at all defending HT. I agree it's not a forum for everyone, which is WHY it's Hot Topics and GW graciously affords the site one forum for that kind of thing. But at least it's the appropriate place for it.

There is also more to it than just back and forth lobbing points at people. Some people are natural debaters, like to confront things they perceive as being misguided or whatever. These people are often, also, the same people who take personal risk to stand up to wrongdoing precisely because of the personality that is drawn to a forum like Hot Topics.

No one is forced to go to that thread, but I think to put down people who do as a group or individually is misguided and ironically not well thought out. People who care deeply about the issues of the day are engaged, and that is not a bad thing. How it is expressed can be off, but the underlying motive is not.

Tib, your response to my comment that the HT forum is mean spirited just goes to show how different perceptions can be. While it doesn't change my opinion, I think it's great that you can go there, mingle and still manage to keep your wits about you. :c)

Every forum seems to have it's own flavor or personality and none are without the occasional tif or debate; I think that's to be expected; but to say folks have been spiteful is surprising to me. When there's a thread that's turned into a debate or even a heated conversation in HD, IMO it typically stays civil (and I actually enjoy reading through it), in HT, not so much. I know a lot of HD people go into HT and enjoy it and please understand, I'm not saying specific people are mean spirited, but that that forum as a whole comes across that way. It's certainly the only way I know how to describe it. Obviously, it's not for me.

There are a few people on HT whose only purpose seems to be to stir the pot. They are all on the far right and often out in left field with their posts. Too bad they aren't ignored rather than given fuel.

I appreciate your comment, Lukki. I guess the difference for me is that the nature of Hot Topics is going to draw spice, feisty, opinionated people who can sometimes go a bit far and become mean spirited, and I think that is why GW keeps HT pretty separate from all of the other threads, i.e.: it doesn't show recent comments made to that thread on the front page, that sort of thing. It's really hidden, so I don't think anyone really has much of a right to complain or be critical because it's not in anyone's face at all. One has to deliberately go there. If it's not one's cup of tea, they don't have to even know it exists.

But again, it IS "Hot Topics", after all. I think it's the one place where people can and should be allowed to express a little more "heat", so to speak. GW has very professional moderators, as well, and I think gets that about HT.

But HD Conversations, for example, is out front and it is not inherently meant to be heated, and I've seen some shocking and vicious attacks on people, serious ganging up, much worse than anything I've seen on HT, where, again, it's to be expected to a certain degree.

I can keep my wits there, and elsewhere (thank you for that, btw), because I try to keep my eye on the ball and not get or make things personal, which is a big mistake a lot of people make (and don't get me going on passive/aggressive behavior. Ugh. I loathe it). If I really have a personal animus for someone here or there, I simply ignore them and don't engage because my personal feelings about another are completely irrelevant and certainly of no interest to anyone else.

So no, it's not for the thin skinned, but I think that is okay to say about a forum called "Hot Topics". I don't think, though, that such a thing should have to be said about a forum called "Home Decorating Conversations"!

CindyMac, have to disagree. I think most on HT are pot stirrers to a certain extent, and IMO, the biggest pot stirrer over there is a left-winger. It's also very outnumbered, left to right, so gotta give the RWs some kudos for holding their ground.

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