BLF has much better oriented forum system. At the opening page you can see every recent topics that have new posts. So much easier to find what’s interested and new.
CPF has a few fun activities (for example, the weekly challenges have been brought back) and I noticed people tend to talk more about their use of lights than their actual specs and technical terms and the whole torch development system that we have here on BLF.
Aside from its historical archive, these are some of very few things that keep my attention in CPF.
I initially signed up on CPF years ago, and the reason was a friend referred me to that place. What initially was a good place to hang out, it became so political (forum politics, not actual politics) and they started to ban so many people
then I google flashlight forum and found BLF. The users on BLF are much friendlier.
reddit has grown so much in recent years and they are now the biggest forum in my other hobbies. they have the ability to win over people.
I haven’t stopped by there for years. Can’t even remember my password.
I can get my full ration of aggravation just watching TV.
Reddit is alright in some respects, but it’s predominantly kids who follow fads. One kid buys an Olight, and there’s a mad rush for Olights. Another kid buys a light from Intl-Outdoors, and all you see over there is “Hank lights”.
I guess I’m not enough of a tribal ‘follower’ to get much out of Reddit. BLF feels better, at least folks here seem to form their own considered opinions and express them respectfully and intelligently.
I noticed the moderators at CPF had stopped posting so much
they stopped enforcing some of the rules, such as posting links, mentioning blf, talking about where to buy…
here is an example of the top 5 threads a few moments ago… maybe that will give some perspective on the different personalities of each board
CPF, imo most hostile moderation, the main reason I left for BLF:
BLF, imo very flashlight modding friendly, very little moderation, lots of leeway about posting links and info that CPF forbids:
Reddit, I know little, have not gotten comfortable enough w the UI to participate
The problem with CPF is it was bought by someone who wanted to use it to earn profits from advertisers, so after that it was never a real forum and was geared towards giving positive testimonials for certain companies.
BLF has been an oasis of minimal moderation although I notice that seems to have changed since the lockdowns began.