As I recall, Candle power forums bans you if you complain about how dysfunctional the site is. It refuses to load, saying server busy, and this has been going on for 2 or 3 years, at least, since her son took it over to run on his laptop, apparently.
Am I right in remembering they censor you for trying to lobby for server improvements? I am afraid to ask there.
My only complaint here, is that the forum is flashlight focused, and lacks useful categories for specific component parts, both for flashlights and fixed lighting (not to mention transporation lighting, etc.)—as well as dealing with indirectly relevant topics needed to optimize use of your lighting. Energy topics, in all its forms, goes hand in hand with lighting, since my interest in lighting stems first from energy. There is also a biological element to understanding how we use and respond to light. Flashlights have been a great place to pioneer battery and emitters from 1993 to 2014. But this is very limiting.
Maybe, this forum categories have expanded in last year. Maybe, I will warm up to the organization…… Well, at least your cpf competition has arrogantly strangled itself.
Many of us have been banned from CPF, their intolerance in certain aspects speaks for itself. We all fit where our frequency fits right and don't where it doesn't, nothing to really worry in any case. In my opinion CPF isn't a “competing” forum, but just another community.
Your “complaint” has some sense, more than once I have found myself unable to find a really matching forum category for certain threads. Maybe we can come up with a small list of additional forum categories so the forum gets some improvement and maybe expands its user base with the changes. Forwarding a list of improvement suggestions to our moderator sb56637 or drawing his attention here is pretty easy task.
Database Error, over there, for the past seven hours. I could guess that I missed an announcement that they would be down for maintenance, but I would probably be incorrect. Who knows.
I am a complainoholic; recovery necessitates complete abstinence, so I just share my unwanted thoughts and feelings with God, myself and one other human being.
For me, societal preference is a matter of personality, so that's why I like several.
When I have input or questions about a forum community, I private message a moderator or admin.
Variety is the spice of life. Right brain or left brain? I like both.
This is my choice of forum and I dislike it over there. That is all I’m gonna say in the matter to keep things civil and not look like I’m trying to start some forum war.
Kinda funny, but someone mentioned a light I wasn’t familiar with, wanted to goggle it just to see some pix as far as its size, and one of the images was on cee-pee-eff. Click the link, get a page with ads, but only “server error, try again later” where the text of the review, etc., would be. :person_facepalming:
Fellows please avoid turning this thread into another CPF bashing encounter, we know how that ends courtesy of sb56637. Instead, as I suggested above maybe we could work out a new forum section, gathering some related sub-sections.
For example, the new main forum category could be named Technical: Lighting and Electronics. In there we could devise some related categories like Optics: Reflectors and Lenses, Led drivers and/or power supplies, Tools, etc. The sub-forum Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts could be moved or relocated there.
Candlepowerforums still serves a purpose. I don’t dislike it. I just prefer BLF.
As for membership, let’s not disparage anyone or groups. Many of the veterans from early 2000’s have bailed or gone inert. Real hard core incandescent following there. Plus very high end flashlight buyers. Tritium still rules with over $100 in one flashlight. I admire the beauty but not the price paid! The forum software is primitive. It’s unfortunate that it limps along as it does. But I’m glad it’s still there. Some terrific long term members have posted highly detailed & thoughtful reviews over the years. Self-built is my favorite. Lots of useful content still exists.
Just see the bright side, if the site would not been that non-responsive I would not have changed so soon to BLF,
things might have been different and I would have never gone to the step designing driver PCBs and following projects like tail and Aux boards
I simply refuse to support that site or offer my products there,
even if I simply could add a surplus price adjustment there possibly getting out of the non-profitable zone in my summary calculations the last 2 years
I didn't fit into the income category over there. When I saw that one guy spent 30 grand on lights and $1000 EDC's that get outstripped by my fav China specials, my character defect, jealousy, took over and I got permabanned when I made one too many snide remarks about the rich.
Now it's read-only for information. And all of the great modders from the early 2000's (good days!) are gone now, so it's just not the same.
Though BLF may lack some of the categories you are interested in, it doesn’t mean that threads don’t exist for them. Using the search function in the upper left part of the first page has almost always netted me the information I was looking for. I can tell a lot of people never use it by the same questions being asked about the same subjects back to back, week to week.
I’ve seen CPF members and moderators cut down folks looking for vehicle headlamp help. I mean brutally cutting them to pieces.
I believe BLF was originally intended to be a place for people who wanted a place to discuss decent affordable lights without keyboard warlords laying down the law on everyone. Simple rules and respect seem to reign supreme here.
The more niche your interest in a certain category is, the fewer people you will find to share your interest. Don’t let that deter you. Start a thread and I’m sure you will find others who are either into it or at least interested in learning more about it. Seems we all share a certain amount of OCD when it comes to having information about our lights and accessories. So if a thread starts on a new subject we don’t know much about, we will jump in head first to learn as much as we can about it.
It comes back to… why is a guy who is so wealthy, bragging about his insanely expensive flashlight purchases? Confident wealthy people don’t brag. They’ve got no need to. It reveals a weak, needy ego that is seeking to be stroked, if they’re bragging to an audience of much lower financial stature (on average). It’s different from simply sharing a curiosity, like a very unusual or rare design for art’s sake. Contrasted to when a presentation is more akin to bragging. And yeah, it helps trigger jealousy or negativity.
BLF is such a wonderful community overall. When I first started here, my impression was that it was mostly about the brightest flashlight for the lowest dollar. The FastTech, DealExtreme, BangGood, or GearBest deal of the week. And some pretty crazy modification jobs. It sure has evolved a lot from those days! So many folks have gained such tremendous insight & posted very useful info & responses in their LED flashlight exploration journey. And that helped attract some of the great people from the CPF realm. I feel that this is the best place to be where all things LED is concerned. :+1:
Got banned within a couple of days after joining for suggesting cheaper alternatives on eBay for some of the expensive lights touted on Candlepower. They said I was an eBay shill. So be it. I admit to being frugal, maybe even cheap. Haven’t been back to the site in a couple of years now so it is interesting to see how many end up banned. I like this site better anyway.
Thanks to everyone for their complements, and I’m thrilled that you enjoy it here.
With that being said, as others warned, please don’t let this turn into a CPF bashing thread.
As for forum categories, I’m always willing to add more if it’s reasonably certain that they’ll be widely used and will help to organize the threads better and not just add complication/clutter. Feel free to suggest them here or PM me.
I haven’t been registered here long, but BLF has the kind of flashlight community that I prefer and where value is king. The only thing that I miss is that CPF supports Tapatalk, and it’s somewhat difficult browsing BLF on a phone.
