I've tried posting more and noticed that others have as well to try and bring back the greatness that was once cc but sadly I think it will never be the same. For the last 2 weeks or so there haven't been many new threads and what new ones there are they maybe have a few responses and then nothing else really is happening. I've ran out of interesting topics to post about and really don't know if there is anything else to add to cc. This makes me sad the days of interesting topics has seemed to vanish and the lively threads are no more. Does anyone else see this too? I would love to see things liven up some so I will try to think of some creative threads to create. What do/did you like most about cc?
I love it as a researching tool. I used to do all buttercream and sometimes fondant, but I hate the taste. It's too sweet and greasy. I love how versatile it is and how much I can beat it up but if I have one more taste I think I'll be green.
So I'm switching to whipped cream frosting and chocolate ganache. I'm planning on opening a storefront in the fall and I don't want to sell what I don't like. I'll deal with custom orders as they happen.
The wealth of knowledge on cc is amazing, I just wish I could search easier :-)
I am relatively new here, and also like it for research, inspirations, and idea sharing. I like seeing and reading from regulars. I prefer forums that are a little more personal in discussions, which this isn't as much. Feels like a lot of people pop in frantically panicking with questions, then forget to even say thanks, or do a hairflip.
I get the "can someone help me?!" situation, and perhaps there should be a place for a cake-911 Q&A in the decorating/baking forums.
I am not sure what @Webake2gether you are referring to as "days of interesting topics and lively threads" - what are the examples of such threads?
The Lounge is definitely a slow place. But I feel that might be true for "talk about anything" threads on most forums, not just here. Because the current trend is to get offended at EVERYTHING, and then start a mud flinging fest with truly supported statements like "I'm right because you are stupid". In my 40s, I don't have the urge to rally for any stuff, like one can have in their late teens and through 20s. I mostly feel like rallying for better driving (use your turn signals, not your phone, people!!!), teaching kids to do things unplugged, and other stupid junk and common sense like that. But people get freaked out at everything these days. Everyone is "tuned in" to anything with a remote possibility of getting offended. I was watching Protocol last night on TV. Remember that old silliness with Goldie Hawn? Here is the line from a party at a club scene, where there is a great mix of characters enjoying a pub brawl: "Oh, this must be one of those "Gay Arab Biker Sushi bars!"" - and my ear immediately registered that, but not as a joke, more like - oh, I wonder who might freak out about this nowadays.
And forget about Blazing Saddles. That movie is really far from being unoffensive or p/c by today's standards.
:-)
@LelekBolek I have a little tv that only picks up the weird rerun stations in my kitchen, and I watch the old shows from the 50's-70's when I'm working. The golden age of tv in the 70's was pure genius, but if they put those shows on now it wouldn't be considered provocative like they were then, they would just be OFFENSIVE. People would start crying and say that they needed a safe space away from controversial topics. And I love Blazing Saddles. :)
CC used to have a lot more active members, so there were far more active topics and new topics all the time. Due to a series of events a lot of people left, so it's just not as active as far as posting and variety of people posting. I don't think there's any way to get it back to where it was because there are too many other options these days for places to post. One good thing is that a lot of the drama seems to have left, too, and migrated to those other forums, so good riddance.
@LelekBolek what I meant by lively topics was just before there used be a lot more activity on threads more shooting the breeze type interactions now it's not really like that. I am glad the drama aspect seems to have went away too!! Now though it's like crickets can be heard when you get on cc. I've learned a lot by reading the posts here and it seems that has also dwindled. I liked the variety of answers and suggestions now it's rare if more than one person answers.
So I'm going to show my age here I have no idea what blazing saddles is. I was born in the 80's lol. However I used to love watching gilligans island, dragnet, bewitched and the dick van dyke show. I may have to google and YouTube that one lol ;)
@Webake2gether Oh Blazing Saddles is a true gem from Mel Brooks (also see: To Be or Not To Be, Spaceballs, Young Frankenstein, History of The World and the like... these are just my favorites). Good old fun from the pre-WWW.anything era. Blazing Saddles is as non-PC as it can get.
Madeline Kahn is in many of his films, and in Blazing Saddles she is a dead-pan "Marlene Dietrich" parody. When I saw the classical films with Dietrich, I cracked up a lot at how perfect the spoof is.
@costumeczar - I love reruns. There are such one-liners in some of them, that just split my belly. I am still laughing every time when I remember the Odd Couple. There is a scene there, where Felix and Oscar are arguing over Felix's obsession with morning rituals, and Oscar says something along the lines that he's never up at that time, and it bugs him that Felix evidently comes to his room to fix it up for the morning - pull curtains open, pick up clothes and socks off the floor, etc. Then he leaves a note on Oscar's pillow, with some kind of complicated neat-freak instructions. And the punch line is from Oscar:
"It took me WEEKS just to figure out that F.U. stood for "Felix Unger"!!"
I think a lot of it is the cake craze that ace of cakes and cake boss brought upon is finally settling down. Which I'm sort of thankful for because there is a lot less drama ensuing. The Friday nighcake clup has been going on for years now and I still every week love to look through and possibly add to it if I can. I've been a grocery store/retail decorated for the past 2 1/2 yrs. But for the most part i go all out for friends and family. I've started with little experience and I have to say you guys here at cc have helped me grow rrwmendously.
After I got fired from my most recent job, I finally got tired of being told how to make cakes. I want to do them my way. and the forums hre have really helped me see what kind cake I want to be.
There's nothing else I want to do in my life but bring joy to people's parties. See their eyes light up and ask "is that really cake?"
I have a feeling cc is going to stay and we are just going to be less of us. Until another cake show airs. But we'll always be creating and sharing. And frankly, I till haven't learned everything I still look at boards for inspiration and ideas.
hey there' s a question about edible gold air brushing on this thread:
http://www.cakecentral.com/forum/t/831809/buttercream-rose-swirls
I don't post much and haven't posted at all in ages. Tonight, I've been trying for 10 minutes to start a new thread and it keeps saying, "Whoops! Something went wrong."
Perhaps others are having the same problem right now and giving up as I am about to do. It's pretty bad when you know before you start to type it in Word first so you can copy and paste if the site loses your post. :(
I'm sorry you're having difficulties cheatize -- I just posted a 'testing123' thread -- I don't know why computers/the internet/the board makes it difficult to operate/post on here sometimes -- but it is muy aggravating whatever the cause --
it is nice to see you and hope you try again and I hope it works if/when you do --
better and best to you
I've been posting on CC for quite a few years. Cake decorating is not my strength, but baking and business are my strong points, so that's what I helped with. Along the way, I enjoyed the camaraderie and joking, and made many friends.
But I found that some people would take offense at things that I didn't recognize as anything other than helpful. The repeated unpleasantness which happens on many forums, began chasing people away. Even before the massive overhaul, I'd begun to cut down on posting.
I think what finally triggered the mass exodus was the site updating. Not only was there a long lapse in operation, but when it did come back we'd lost many great features. And unfortunately there were (and continue to be) erratic technical issues that make it hard to post and navigate. With many online choices, former members have simply moved on. Building the forum site again may take more time than the owners are willing to give.
Mimi, "more time than the owners are willing to give" to fix it you mean? or what do you mean
i think something to keep in mind is illustrated in the following recipe -- it has been favorited 100 times and shared over 150 times -- there's a lot more to cake central than this forum -- I don't see how fondly and repeatedly looking back and bemoaning what ain't no more helps us move forward --
this place is open for business -- idk go for it -- right? there are several posts that need responses right now --
here's that recipe:
http://www.cakecentral.com/recipe/16780/scratch-pink-lemonade-cupcakes
and I think the owners are totally vested in this space with all its facets, forum, gallery, recipes, blog, magazine all of it --
hey things change
i think we are all ok with things changing that's not the problem and not what I posted this for. It's about how do we as a online community bring things back to a vibrant interactive place. I don't think anyone is bemoaning anything it's simply wondering if the interaction on here could ever be the same or maybe even better. I don't come on here for recipes great that people share them and come here for that but many of us come here for the discussion and forums. Awesome they have a blog and magazine but again not what I'm interested in. We can only answer questions we have answers to and I'm not about misguiding people or answering questions for the sake of being heard. I really think it is completely ok for people to say what they loved about cc and what changed it for them without someone else saying they are bemoaning and how looking back won't help. I actually think that maybe some of the regular cc users can help build on what they are saying and we can all be a part of making cc what it is supposed to be. Maybe it won't be like it was but how it is now is kind of a bummer. Looking back to what was loved about something can absolutely help bring it back to life :)
Well said, @Webake2gether Thank you for addressing this. There were some great, lively, informative discussions that made our visits fun. I loved coming to the forum every day and I miss those interactions. Now, I hardly ever see my friends here, so I come sporadically, skim through the questions, and often leave without posting.
I know there are other parts to CakeCentral, but I, too, never look at recipes or the blog. And I'm not interested in a cake magazine or tutorials.
Maybe over time, the forum will change. But I don't know if it can happen on its own, without a guiding hand.
@MimiFix I'm trying to figure out what the guiding hand would be. I seen a few others post threads that in the past would really create a lot of buzz and I posted a few too but after a week or two it died back down. I wonder if there are some technical issues I'm unaware of as I've had no issues posting or anything like that. Bottom line this can't be a one person show cc is supposed to be made up of people from all walks of life and experience levels that's what will make this what it should be. Things flourish when everyone participates. This isn't meant to be moaning and groaning whoa is cc fest it's about hey what's up lets get this place happening again lol :)
My wagon is hitched to cc for better or worse so I'll do what I can to help be a positive addition and I encourage everyone else to as well.
I think it may take a lot of dedication and work. Having access to an email list of members (past and present) would be a plus. @Webake2gether I'll message you.
cheatize no character limit that i know of -- in fact when i did my testing 123 post at first i just did 'test' and it said i had to put more characters/letters so idk
Quote by @cheatize on 19 hours ago
I don't post much and haven't posted at all in ages. Tonight, I've been trying for 10 minutes to start a new thread and it keeps saying, "Whoops! Something went wrong."
Perhaps others are having the same problem right now and giving up as I am about to do. It's pretty bad when you know before you start to type it in Word first so you can copy and paste if the site loses your post. :(
Similar for me when trying to add to others posts. I tried in particular many times to post to the 'cake wrecks' post that was active just a few weeks back and each time the site just froze up 
In the end I just gave up.
I'm very new to this forum and even if I don't have anything to post I do read it every week. In the past I have asked and gotten a lot of different advice on cake decorating which I so appreciated. Even when my cakes didn't come out as I had pictured the support from so many keeps me wanting to continue to improve. So I am hoping everyone keeps sharing ideas, photos, advice.
I think I have self confidence issues, I always think nobody will care what I have to say.
I hope I did my part, just did 2 posts!
Quote by @ElizabethsCakeCreations on 48 seconds ago
I hope I did my part, just did 2 posts!
Twice? That's confidence talking! 
2 different ideas for posts, didn't want to forget lol
Congrats @ElizabethsCakeCreations On the posts. That's exactly what the forum needs!! I often feel the same way before I post something bc "I'm just an ordinary everyday person" and I think who would care about what I say lol but i post anyway :)
@DormCat For me if I don't have a visual of what is in my head to reference to the cake, cupcake or cookies never turn out like I envisioned them to lol. Lack of vision or planned direction kills whatever I'm doing. I'm really new at decorating (within my first solid year still) so I'm still learning how to replicate what's in my head. But I can almost duplicate anything I look at so I guess I'm a good copy cat haha.
@ElizabethsCakeCreations I second the self confidence. I know you can create whoever you want to be on the Internet, but I am reserved around people I don't know and that goes for on here as well. I have learned a lot just reading. I also am good at searching and usually someone has answered the question or I figure it out for myself. (Besides how many times is the advice given did you look it up.)
I I love the FNCC and will post on that and sometimes if I think I can add to something I will. For the most part I read.
If I see a question that I don't think I will come off as a fool I may comment or answer the questions.
I have learned a lot from people like MimiFix, customerczar, K8memphis, catlharper,and LeahS and the list could go on.
I will agree people are to easily offended when advice or opinions are asked for, but the person asking only wants to hear what they want to. I kind of miss some of the more livelier discussions.
I also think if you get help you should go back and thank people for the help. If you ask about help with a particular cake it would be nice to post a picture of it on the thread so those who helped can see the finished work.
Sorry for being long winded. Nor do I submit or delete the post.
I think CC is simply dying a slow death. People used to come here to learn new techniques - but now they go to Craftsy, YouTube, Facebook, etc. There's Facebook for the socializing and photo sharing. CC just isn't as relevant as it once was.
Personally, I stopped posting here at two different points because of just one member (a different member each time) who thought they ran the board. I know other people who left for the same reason.
Now, I go months without dropping by and I pop back every now and then to see if it's still up... and I might see something I can answer. It stopped being fun a long time ago for me though. *sigh*
@BrandisBaked ohhh sorry to hear that people can be such a bummer sometimes but I'm glad you still pop in don't let two bad apples spoil the whole bunch and have run of the forum. Bc that's what happens sadly!! You've touched on some really good points. I don't have a personal fb page so I don't have that as a let's talk cake outlet, I'm not paying to learn something on craftsy bc I'm cheap but I do Google and YouTube a lot so I can totally see how it could lose ground to those other options. But cc is special to me and I'm hopeful that cc can be relevant again to those who've had a bad experience or moved on due to the many issues cc experienced over the last 6 months or so. I am hopeful bc the threads are really buzzing today yay!!! Thanks for being open and honest about that too :)
there's baggage spanning across years that's probably better left not unpacked -- tons of us have the stories and I'm not discounting yours at all brandisbaked -- when it sucks it sucks --
but you always seemed to pop up and chime in at the best times with the perfect comment -- I appreciate you
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