I crunched some numbers on Chowhound participation since the revamp, and also looked at broader trends going back a few years.
Feel free to continue the discussion here or send me a PM.
1 Like
I didn’t leave Chowhound. My account was suspended without notice by a CBS employee in violation of their stated policies.
Great read. Nicely written and nice analysis.
You should post that on CH 
1 Like
Posting anything that doesn’t tow the line on Chowhound results in “sit in the corner until you are ready to behave” time. So glad to leave that Orwellian nonsense behind.
2 Likes
I was looking up some old stuff on Chowhound and got a pop-up that said, “We’ve moved things around a bit. Now all the Chowhound community goodness is in one easy place.”
Anybody have a clue what that’s supposed to mean?
Yes. Rather than treating Locations as a separate category from other discussions (which was idiotic), now everything is grouped together under the “Community” menu.
I looked for something the other day that I’ve easily found in the past. Never did find it.
Tell me what it is and I’ll look for you. I’m pretty good at searching.
I like Melanie so much. She’s matter of fact and to the point. No emotion or drama. “Just the facts, ma’am.”
4 Likes
Melanie Wong??? You LIKE her. You’ve obviously never crossed her. She can be meaner than mean. A real “my way or the highway” kinda person. Like she owned the site. Sheesh. To each his/her own.
Yes. She’s not a ninny. And on Site Talk, that stands out, 'cause Site Talk is chock full of ninnies.
3 Likes
I can find anything that’s on chowhound.com using Google advanced search, but some of the stuff that used to be there is gone. If they did another makeover it’s quite possible they lost more.
Melanie Wong often came off like a CBS employee, but I believe she does something with medical imaging technology.
Melanie didn’t trash talk Chowhound, and she tried to help people navigate it after the redesign, which I suppose made some think she must be one of “them.”
I’ve never searched for anything on Chowhound that I couldn’t ultimately find, using Google, as you do, since Chowhound’s search function is only slightly more useful than pounding the keyboard at random or shouting at the screen. I think the recipe database might have gone bye bye, but that was never something I had any interest in.
4 Likes
Not I. I just wondered how she got away with some of the shit she’d say to people. And, boy, you better not cross horns with her bud, rworange. I did once over something minor and that was that.
Lots of things made me think Melanie was an employee, long before they ran the site through the wood chipper, maybe even back before CBS bought CNET.
I regularly use Google to search Chowhound for my own old posts regarding what to order at places that are still around and things like that. Some of them were lost in the wood chipper.
Someone told me Melanie Wong and rworange were / are close friends in real life.
Well, I was friends with a number of CHs IRL but we didn’t act like that. Well, maybe Sam and Veggo if they were drinking rum late at night 
1 Like
Like what? I don’t think I’ve ever read a comment of hers that raised my eyebrow at all.
3 Likes
I’m pretty sure every single thing I’ve ever posted on Chowhound is still there (minus the posts that got disappeared), for better or for worse.
rworange left Chowhound in a huff some years back (no idea why), and Melanie’s still there. For what that’s worth.
1 Like
Some of my old posts I know were there because I’d been referring to them semi-regularly over the years became unfindable by Google.
That happened with at least one previous makeover, though not on the same scale.
I’ll make you the same offer I made cath oliver - tell me what you’re looking for and let me search for it. Maybe it’s just playing hard to find.