Puff Migrants

[ZippoGeek]

It sounds to me like someone forgot to pay the bills, my money is on gone for good also.

I was in on a PIF, but was 10th or so on the list. I think Dennis had thrown 40 sticks into the pass too, I really hope he's able to get them back.

Whatever the reason, leaving everyone hanging like that is an act of supreme douchery! Sorry for your loss...

 

[Mr. McSquirelly]

It's not the first time Caputo's social media conglomerate forced a mass exodus: http://moz.com/blog/changes-to-seochat
Who does this clown think he is? The frickin' Gordon Gekko of cigar forum media? LOL!!!
Caputo has a social media marketing company that he and his wife started ten years ago. It looks like he started with technology development forums, where geeks came to talk shop. His first attempt at forming a tech forum conglomerate failed and his company went bankrupt. In 2008, he saw the potential value in cigar social media forums and bought up an entire block of the most popular ones on the internet at the time, forcing loyal members of each site to join the new super forum, Puff.com. Caputo realized he couldn't fleece a group of tech-savvy geeks with standard marketing gimmicks. So he turned his attention to cigar smokers. There's an estimated 13.4 million cigars smokers in the country, so obviously his marketing bean-counters saw an opportunity. His company proceeded to buy up all the most popular cigar forums on the web and then re-brand them under the website Puff.com. Well, it appears his mega cigar-forum has suffered the same fate as its tech-forum predecessor.

 

[THEMISCHMAN]

never understood this. Does your neighborhood market email you when they run out of milk or eggs? No, right? You find out when you go to buy some, so why do you guys expect an email from a forum site?

I don't mean to be a D-bag and mean no disrespect but whoopee another site came and went. Wont be the last time.
And what makes you think this site will email all of its 1000+ member to advise of whatever issue they are having?

i skimmed that other site on occasion and will i miss it if it is gone forever? no not really but thats pretty much every other hobby forum that i belong too.

You're absolutely right, they wouldn't email all the members of BOTL. @Eric posted a thread informing everyone of the upcoming changes to BOTL.
http://www.botl.org/threads/updated-notice-of-downtime-1-15.77950/

There is a lot of passion and love that has been invested in this site, or should I say, community.
http://www.botl.org/threads/history-of-botl™.31620/

It's unfortunate that Puff went down for whatever reason. The reason that BOTL has been going strong for the last 10 years is because of the members. I'm not saying one is better than the other because I don't care to call any other place besides BOTL home. Like @mistaforty said, some will stay and some will go. I hope the ones who stay enjoy BOTL as much as the rest of us.

When I joined here it was simply to learn about cigars. I had no idea that there was such a thing as a Bomb, PIF, MAW, box pass, NHIE, or anything. I didn't even know people gave away cigars (see @ItsBarbarino signature line). But I sure learned real quick what BOTL was all about just by being myself and being active. To be honest even if those things didn't exist, I would still be here.

Anyways, welcome to all the new members and I hope you find this place and the people here as great as I do.

Cheers,

SGT Hulka

 

[BourbonBinder]

I don't know anything about Puff and have never checked out the forum. Did you guys have to pay a membership fee to use it or was it voluntary donations? Just curious, what did that get you, no ads?

I was just using that as an example to attempt to make a point. What I meant was that certain members have cash or merchandise on the line and are basically in limbo till Puff returns, if they do in fact return.

 

[BourbonBinder]

I wasn't a big poster at Puff at all, nor am I a big poster here. I go to forums to learn and talk shop with fellow cigar smokers. If you search here you will find a thread that exposes Jon Caputo for what he is and was. He bought up a bunch forums four or five years ago and tried to consolidate all the users into one massive cigar forum. He obviously wanted to cash in on lucrative advertising dollars, but apparently his idiotic, greedy, stupid, scumbag scam has failed. Obviously advertising dollars dried up and he's broke. Or maybe he got whacked out over gambling debts. Who knows? When you try to exploit something as simple and basic as human goodwill, camaraderie, fraternity, brotherhood, and solidarity, then you shall reap what you sow. I should've just staid here to begin with; but like I said, I went to learn and talk shop. I just figured one forum was as good as another. Obviously, I was mistaken. I didn't get as deeply involved as some others, it looks like. I can only hope that Puff comes back and you are refunded your commitments, etc... Hopefully Caputo does the right thing. But don't expect it. There was always something a little shady about Puff. I can't explain it. The moderators seemed like a tight-knit group that had no real interest in including others. They also seemed to hover around like the frickin' NSA, because they were so worried about losing their precious advertising profitability from vendors. Now it looks like the site is bankrupt. That's why Caputo is so hush-hush. But, then again, I could be wrong--I hope I'm wrong. But I can be really cynical at times. LOL!!!

This wouldn't happen to be God talking or at least Buddha....Gotta say that is a very wise theory you have. I agree about those moderators. Also it was pretty weird that Caputo's latest post was back in October 2013. You would think an owner would be more involved personally.

 

[BourbonBinder]

You're absolutely right, they wouldn't email all the members of BOTL. @Eric posted a thread informing everyone of the upcoming changes to BOTL.
http://www.botl.org/threads/updated-notice-of-downtime-1-15.77950/

There is a lot of passion and love that has been invested in this site, or should I say, community.
http://www.botl.org/threads/history-of-botl™.31620/

It's unfortunate that Puff went down for whatever reason. The reason that BOTL has been going strong for the last 10 years is because of the members. I'm not saying one is better than the other because I don't care to call any other place besides BOTL home. Like @mistaforty said, some will stay and some will go. I hope the ones who stay enjoy BOTL as much as the rest of us.

When I joined here it was simply to learn about cigars. I had no idea that there was such a thing as a Bomb, PIF, MAW, box pass, NHIE, or anything. I didn't even know people gave away cigars (see @ItsBarbarino signature line). But I sure learned real quick what BOTL was all about just by being myself and being active. To be honest even if those things didn't exist, I would still be here.

Anyways, welcome to all the new members and I hope you find this place and the people here as great as I do.

Cheers,

SGT Hulka

I agree but they do have a Facebook page, if they can't figure out how to send a group email, then the next best thing is to use other medians like LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter. Word will then spread like wildfire. That is if Puff wants to make it public, the clear fact that it isn't, is pretty shady. Just my 2 cents, spend it wisely or toss it into a fountain; as my twin brother says.

 

[Mr. McSquirelly]

This wouldn't happen to be God talking or at least Buddha....Gotta say that is a very wise theory you have. I agree about those moderators. Also it was pretty weird that Caputo's latest post was back in October 2013. You would think an owner would be more involved personally.

Lol!!! Not God, not Buddah. Just an embittered former newspaper hack who got fired because of media marketing executives--oh, yeah, and who has a ferocious penchant for exposing corruption and stupidity.

 

[BourbonBinder]

Lol!!! Not God, not Buddah. Just an embittered former newspaper hack who got fired because of media marketing executives--oh, yeah, and who has ferocious penchant for exposing corruption and stupidity.

Well said lol

 

[sofc]

This is not a "get off my lawn" comment because I have no problem anyone coming to this site. I came here many years ago and was welcomed as I'm sure all the new people will be. I do not understand however the need for everyone to announce "former puff.com member" and the like.

It's kinda like saying to a girl "my girlfriend broke up with me so I'll settle and date you now."

 

[Trackmyer]

This is not a "get off my lawn" comment because I have no problem anyone coming to this site. I came here many years ago and was welcomed as I'm sure all the new people will be. I do not understand however the need for everyone to announce "former puff.com member" and the like.

It's kinda like saying to a girl "my girlfriend broke up with me so I'll settle and date you now."

I think it's more of a "Im not a cigar forum Noob" type comment. As well as a statement to let all other multi forum posters know they have found this great place as well.

I know many folks on this forum from multiple forums I belong to. My brotherhood is with the people I meet at each of them, and not to put down any of the other forums I do not partake in. Cause if you have a big enough passion about cigars to join a forum, we will most likely get along just fine.

 

[JustTroItIn]

Some of you may recognize me from the fish site, though I posted mostly in the pipe section. I found this site during the last outage, which was the second since I had joined. I'm happy to see many of you finding your way over here and genuinely hope you stick around as this site has impressed me like no other. The camaraderie and generosity that BOTL veterans have been talking about in this thread is not them just tooting their own horn. From my very first post I have felt extremely welcome and consider many on this site friends and not just avatars.

As you can see from my trader rating, I don't participate much in that aspect. I like to BS, share info, and learn. This didn't stop the people here from wanting to share their passion with me. I actually had to remove my address from puff because people from this site were tracking me down and getting a kick out of sharing something they knew I would enjoy.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to abandon puff, I never did, but BOTL really is just that. Brothers!

Now take off your shoes, hang up your hat, light up a smoke and BS a bit about what we all enjoy. Cheers!

 

[tedp]

This wouldn't happen to be God talking or at least Buddha....Gotta say that is a very wise theory you have. I agree about those moderators. Also it was pretty weird that Caputo's latest post was back in October 2013. You would think an owner would be more involved personally.

I thought I read that Caputo died?!? Or did I just dream that? That would cut down on your posting!

 

[Mr. McSquirelly]

Here's a story about the Caputo merger. He is the CEO of Puff Enterprises! What a joke! There's a contact number at the bottom. It appears that Puff Enterprises has gone belly-up! LOL! Before he bought everyone out, there were a lot of little strong cigar communities on the web. His decision to consolidate and acquire all those websites angered, infuriated, and alienated a lot of forum members at the time.
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/04/20/4142044.htm

 

[Sp@rky426]

I would love to know if anyone has joshlucky13 contact info. As well as seantheevans. This would be greatly appreciated. Post here or hit me up in a pm, thanks.

 

[Whtwtrman79]

Seems to me that the "ex-puffers" aren't abandoning anyone. Seems like they're bringing their closest along with them. As far as being filler ehhhh some will stick some will not. The ones that feel it here will stay. The ones that don't won't. That's the way It will all shake out. I welcome any and all and after that nature will do what it do.

If this place is special to you, you will stay no matter where you are from, and those are the people that make this place special.

Well said

 

[Horseshoe]

I would love to know if anyone has joshlucky13 contact info. As well as seantheevans. This would be greatly appreciated. Post here or hit me up in a pm, thanks.

Sent you a message for STE.

 

[TreySC]

I would love to know if anyone has joshlucky13 contact info. As well as seantheevans. This would be greatly appreciated. Post here or hit me up in a pm, thanks.

I was wondering about the status of Sean's pass myself, hopefully he finds his way over here

 

[c.ortiz108]

I was wondering about the status of Sean's pass myself, hopefully he finds his way over here

I was wondering about that, too. He stocked that pass with so much stuff it would suck if went astray.

 

[TreySC]

I was wondering about that, too. He stocked that pass with so much stuff it would suck if went astray.

I know hopefully he put a list in the box and it's still moving, or at least has his contact info and it's home

 

[Billb1960]

I know hopefully he put a list in the box and it's still moving, or at least has his contact info and it's home

I met up with him Wed here in Portland. He's on top of it.