Getting A Little Boring Around Here....

Lounge By Jinkies Updated 16 Apr 2017 , 9:32pm by SandraSmiley

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Jinkies Posted 13 Jun 2016 , 8:46pm
post #1 of 147

CC should send out some emails telling everyone that most of the kinks have been worked out.  Maybe people would come back and post again. No one seems to come here anymore.  It's the same old threads day after day...

146 replies
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jgifford Posted 13 Jun 2016 , 9:23pm
post #2 of 147

Because this has become the training ground for newbies. I miss the old timers too. I'm hoping they have just become more successful and don't have the time.

I try not to post too much anymore because appparently my attitude is wrong and I was told to give it a rest. I can do that. : )

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Jinkies Posted 13 Jun 2016 , 9:42pm
post #3 of 147

Awww, don't let anyone tell you that.  Post away.  I like helping newbies, when I can, but there's not much else goin' on here anymore.  I can go days in between visits and it's the same threads on the first page.

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Gingerlocks Posted 13 Jun 2016 , 10:38pm
post #4 of 147

I 100% agree things are getting a bit stale on this forum; but honestly its been going that way ever since they reformatted. There was so many bugs, and then spam attacks; plus the forum lost some great features (like where you could subscribe to a thread without having to leave a comment) then you could jump in when you had something useful to add to the conversation. In my opinion things started to go downhill once the forum was "upgraded"..

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carolinecakes Posted 13 Jun 2016 , 10:59pm
post #5 of 147

Yup.......you read my mind........its kinda sloooow around here. I use to lurk in the background trying to absorb all the info, enjoyed how helpful most folks were and still are.  I don't have a business buy I enjoyed following those threads also. Then the upgrade ...........and a lot of folks dissappeared.


So what can we do to boost some life back into CC !!!!!!

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costumeczar Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 12:04pm
post #6 of 147


Quote by @jgifford on 14 hours ago

Because this has become the training ground for newbies. I miss the old timers too. I'm hoping they have just become more successful and don't have the time.

I try not to post too much anymore because appparently my attitude is wrong and I was told to give it a rest. I can do that. : )

What if we tell you to stop resting your attitude and bring it back, hahaha! ;)  

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costumeczar Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 12:06pm
post #7 of 147

Apparently a lot of the "old timers" have moved on to styrofoam cakes and gone over to Cakes Decor to argue about it, bwuahahaha! They can keep that drama.

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cakebaby2 Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 12:07pm
post #8 of 147

I'm still in touch with some "old timers" and I think they got chased away, not only by the bugs and spam but the general "feel" of the board where their professional  advice was rubbished by folk who don't run businesses. Bear in mind their advice was free and was rejected as dream crushing unless it was accompanied by screeds of praise and gushing.

I only use CC for the old threads and don't bother posting much, most of the oldies have formed new groups where they can talk about cake without being chastised like children.

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costumeczar Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 3:41pm
post #9 of 147


Quote by @cakebaby2 on 3 hours ago

I'm still in touch with some "old timers" and I think they got chased away, not only by the bugs and spam but the general "feel" of the board where their professional  advice was rubbished by folk who don't run businesses. Bear in mind their advice was free and was rejected as dream crushing unless it was accompanied by screeds of praise and gushing.

I only use CC for the old threads and don't bother posting much, most of the oldies have formed new groups where they can talk about cake without being chastised like children.

Yeah, being called a dream crusher gets old...I'm in a group with a bunch of what used to be CC regulars, and only one of them is still doing cakes. I'm still here crushing dreams as needed, haha :)

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Gingerlocks Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 4:58pm
post #10 of 147


Quote by @costumeczar on 1 hour ago

Yeah, being called a dream crusher gets old...I'm in a group with a bunch of what used to be CC regulars, and only one of them is still doing cakes. I'm still here crushing dreams as needed, haha :)

I think that would be the perfect Beer-League softball team name.."The Dream Squashers"

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Apti Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 5:26pm
post #11 of 147

Ah...the woes of being addicted to cake forums....   When they go bad, we go into withdrawal.  Guess we're closer to the kids with their eyes locked onto a phone screen and their ears plugged with ear buds than we think.

I still grieve (and yes, that is the correct word), for the former Wilton forum.  I made friends there, was able to share a lot of hard-learned knowledge (learned here on CC and by trial & error), and now that perfectly good forum was eliminated by the Wilton people.    All those educational threads and recipes and photos are now gone forever. 

The CakeCentral forum was/is very different ( better in many ways) than the Wilton forum, and then the forum owners nearly destroyed their own business with the re-formatting.  Another thing that left a bad taste was the horrendous failure of the print version of the CC magazine and the lack of response to questions from disappointed and then increasingly angry consumers.

I wish I had sufficient computer skills to offer specific, positive suggestions for improvement here, but, alas, no such skills.  I hope both Jackie and Heath are successful in making this forum profitable (for themselves) AND easy to navigate.  It would be an awful thing if CC wasn't available internationally.

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Singerssoul Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 6:18pm
post #12 of 147

We so need a "Like" button here!

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hippiecac Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 7:19pm
post #13 of 147

I've been a member since "back in the day" before I even took my first Wilton class or went to pastry school. 2005? 2006? Haven't been too vocal through the years, and had definitely taken a hiatus from even lurking for a while, but decided to come back because I wanted to talk to other like-minded professionals. Things are REALLY different.

I have to admit, I've been googling, looking for other cake decorating forums trying to find more people doing the kinds of things I'm doing. Haven't found much else out there, though.  


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Jinkies Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 7:59pm
post #14 of 147

I think @hippiecac ‍ hit the nail on the head.  The majority of the "like-minded professionals" have left the building.  How do we get em back??

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Heath Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 8:09pm
post #15 of 147

Great discussion topic and we would love to hear your ideas!


Jackie has been hard at work bringing back some needed features, unfortunately we cannot email past users who have unsubscribed, they would have to resubscribe for us to send them info.


We have a couple really important feature updates coming out shortly which I think everyone will be excited about.

Recipe ratings are coming back probably next week and then the return of GALLERY CONTESTS !  The contests were one of the most popular features on the original version of Cake Central. We should have contests back by the end of summer!

After those come out, what do you think would be the most important things that would spice up CC for you ?

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Webake2gether Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 8:52pm
post #16 of 147

I would just love for cake central to be a buzzing forum again and I think that's  just a matter of things remaining consistent as far as login, no spam and no more wonky glitches happening. I've really enjoyed coming back to cake central but the forums have certainly changed and I'm not sure that there is any added feature that can change it other than people just logging back in and participating in the threads again. I think if we contribute to the threads and build the cc community back up maybe others who've left will come back :) 

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costumeczar Posted 14 Jun 2016 , 10:09pm
post #17 of 147

I think that people are using facebook groups more now, but I try to avoid those. I personally prefer the forum structure of a topic and the responses, not having to g through a bunch of posts.

For a feature that I'd like to see on here, there was a way to see new responses on the posts that you'd commented on before so that you didn't have to go through everything. I don't know if there's a way to do that now or not.

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kristykgs Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 1:33am
post #18 of 147

Well, y'all can "crush my dreams" anytime. I actually prefer the honest opinions and advice of seasonal bakers. Please don't tell me what you "think" I want to hear. I want to know the truth. At least then I will have more confidence diving into whatever project I have going. This false sense of "great job" won't be so great when the customer complains or the business fails.

So for all you "DREAM CRUSHERS"...thank you and keep being honest

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kristykgs Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 1:37am
post #19 of 147

I must add... Although I don't post much, I do come here often looking at everyone's advice and I use the search engine weekly. I love to find new techniques or old techniques that work. With that said, I am really tired of the "how much should I charge" threads. There are thousands upon thousands of those threads if people would just search. The same answers are on all of them....1) check your market 2) so much per slice, add more for fondant 3) add up ingredients, time, materials..etc and pay your self. Please for the love of all things living, check the search for ideas on pricing

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Apti Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 2:29am
post #20 of 147

@kristykgs -- You are singing to the choir on the topic of pricing.....  I think the main reason is that many of these people are not business-oriented folks and they hope that there may be a "one size fits all" answer.    Uh.... no.....

I always strive to be polite and gentle and explanatory to the newbies who apparently can't read or use a search engine (my bad), but I found an old thread from 2014 the other day where I'd apparently reached my limit and got snarky. 

My response to the "how much should I charge for this?" question was:  "$20   Because $20 is the going rate all over the world in every currency for every baked good." 

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cazza1 Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 11:58am
post #21 of 147

I have not been here for forever and a day but thought I would add my two cents worth, after being directed here by a friend on another private discussion site.  The new software killed the site for a lot of us, but the truth was that it was in steady decline well before that.  When honesty was accused of being bullying and, as an example, we were supposed to be sickly sweet and say that beginners cakes were "fantastic and that they were so good they should go into business" life went out of the site.  I remember a thread where we posted our cakes to get honest critiques so that we could improve.  Then people starting jumping on and would start their comment on their cake with "Be nice"  and get all upset if you said anything useful to them on how to improve.  It got to the point, in all threads, where anytime anyone said anything in the slightest bit contentious, or just plain honest in a lot of cases,  all the thin skinned, easily offended, over sensitive individuals would start crying foul and then people would get banned for having said very little.  ....and there went the lively discussions as we could no longer say what we wanted without being accused of being offensive or bullies ( I can honestly say that I never really saw anything that was overly offensive but I saw many people accused of it and I saw threads banned to pacify the above mentioned people).  The life went out of CC and it became boring.



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costumeczar Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 12:08pm
post #22 of 147

That sickly sweet "great job on that crooked piece of melting flotsam you made" still exists on facebook, which is why I don't do the groups over there. It's very annoying.

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littlejewel Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 2:09pm
post #23 of 147

I miss the wilton forum to. I have never experienced anyone getting nasty with me, but I have seen arguments (years ago). You all appear pretty helpful .. I like and appreciate the site








































































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Gingerlocks Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 3:39pm
post #24 of 147


Quote by @cazza1 on 3 hours ago

  When honesty was accused of being bullying ...

You hit the nail on the head; its the exact same thing with the millions of "How much should I charge for this cake" threads that I see every day..and a lot of the time the photo's attached are the kind of cakes you'd do that the end of a Wilton Course 1 kind of cakes; and heaven forbid you give even the slightest dose of reality about the fact that 1) that is not a professional level cake that should be sold. 2) you don't have a commercial kitchen, insurance, an actual business etc.. 3) if you have to ask in the first place about pricing you shouldn't be selling it. I guess its not really an issue that can be solved; but the sheer number of those threads I see daily is indicative of the fact that the crowd on this page has changed.

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carolinecakes Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 3:49pm
post #25 of 147

OK Heath, here's my suggestion.......

Questions about pricing have always been a hot button topic. This is a public Cake Forum, and people will always come here with questions about pricing. How about a permanent fixture, right UP there in the menu, "Everything you need to know about Pricing" or How to Price your Cakes" SOME SUCH TITLE and with the help of some of the professionals on CC, create an article detailing all the things that need to be considered, that affect pricing. Include links to articles/web sites that also have relevant information. I know there are CC members, that have written about pricing on their blogs/websites, have it all in one place.

Yes ......people will still post pricing questions on the forum, but then we can politely direct these folks "who can't read or use a search engine" (sarcasam) to the "pricing button".

Lets talk about the "search feature", yes there are a lot of threads about pricing, and when you do a search a lot of irrelevant threads come up like this...

http://www.cakecentral.com/forum/query/how-to-price-cakes

Also the pricing threads contain a lot of " I am so sick of these pricing questions" while I understand the feeling, its not helpful. If someone posts a question you find annoying/ redundant/stupid.......just ignore it, move on, someone else will be happy to answer.

This is an international forum, and I have learned a lot from very helpful strangers, what my dad said to us as kids........" IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY IT'S HOW YOU SAY IT THAT MATTERS" is something we all need to remember when we respond to posts.  You can tell me my cake sucks, I missed the mark......I can take. But some folks have their value, their worth wrapped up in their work, their cakes, so negative comments can be a sever blow. I'm not saying to sugar coat anything,  deliver truth, critique by all means but be helpful, use it as a teaching moment. I have not seen the ugliness since the upgrade, nor do I miss it. The older heads who knew how to tell it as it is without being offensive are the ones I miss.




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Webake2gether Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 3:52pm
post #26 of 147

@Gingerlocks ‍ can that be the automatic response that we all just copy and paste?!?!? That's what I want to say but I guess I lack the guts to actually say it :(

1) that is not a professional level cake that should be sold. 2) you don't have a commercial kitchen, insurance, an actual business etc.. 3) if you have to ask in the first place about pricing you shouldn't be selling it. 

i can overlook the pricing threads most of the time but when there isn't much else to look at it does kind of kill the joy of coming on here. 


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hippiecac Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 3:55pm
post #27 of 147


Quote by @Gingerlocks on 10 minutes ago


Quote by @cazza1 on 3 hours ago

  When honesty was accused of being bullying ...

 I see daily is indicative of the fact that the crowd on this page has changed.


I also think, on a larger scale, that the entire industry has changed. Just as food and cooking has become an armchair sport where everyone is an expert, so has cake decorating. I think it's wonderful that tools and techniques once only available to professionals have become accessible to the general public, BUT along with it comes an influx of people who decorate 3 cakes and all of a sudden want to sell them. 

Sorry for going a little off subject, this really burns me up! 

/endrant/

xxx

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carolinecakes Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 4:04pm
post #28 of 147


Quote by @hippiecac on 5 minutes ago


Quote by @Gingerlocks on 10 minutes ago


Quote by @cazza1 on 3 hours ago

  When honesty was accused of being bullying ...

 I see daily is indicative of the fact that the crowd on this page has changed.


I also think, on a larger scale, that the entire industry has changed. Just as food and cooking has become an armchair sport where everyone is an expert, so has cake decorating. I think it's wonderful that tools and techniques once only available to professionals have become accessible to the general public, BUT along with it comes an influx of people who decorate 3 cakes and all of a sudden want to sell them

Sorry for going a little off subject, this really burns me up! 

/endrant/

xxx

YES..... and this is where Joe Public needs an education........and this forum  and the PRICING BUTTON, is where we send them.

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cakebaby2 Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 4:42pm
post #29 of 147

I'd like to see NO PRICING questions allowed at all. There are stickies on the subject in the archives.

If someone in Timbuctu wants to know the price of their cake from a bunch of strangers from Scotland to Texas to Queensland NSW, they not only shouldn't be selling cakes they should be wearing  anti dribble clothing.

I feel the missing members got fed up being pumped for FREE advice by every starry eyed newbie who couldn't be bothered googling or you tubing first... or Heaven forbid pay for a book or a class to invest in their own knowledge.

I've had a look at some of the more bizarre questions one would expect from a child and that is the only post the querant makes, they don't interact, they don't give anything back but if they aren't spoon fed there was hell to pay.

Rant over, I promise. The site wont be the same until hopefully some of the zippy mouthy knowledgeable ones have a rethink.

This is the longest thread I've seen in a while. 

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Jinkies Posted 15 Jun 2016 , 5:31pm
post #30 of 147

Ok, since we're all venting now, I have a pet peeve and it goes like this:

"Hi, I have an order for a 5 tiered wedding cake and I need some help.  I need a good vanilla cake recipe and what kind of buttercream should I use?  I've never done a tiered cake before so can someone tell me how to do that?  The client wants to pick up the cake two weeks before the wedding, do you think the cake will still taste good? Will the cream cheese filling be ok  because the cake won't fit in my fridge.  Here's a pic of the cake they want, how much should I charge her for it?  Any advice/help you can give is appreciated. I'm just a hobby baker and I have no clue what I'm doing, lol! TIA!!"


There, I said it, I feel better :)



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