CFUK

dfk41

I regularly peruse the above, both as a member and an onlooker. It really is a changed place! It is advert after advert but we all knew that this would happen. It is such a shame that what used to be the best coffee forum in the UK has gone downhill in such a way. Very reminiscent of the film, One flew over the cuckoo’s nest

MediumRoastSteam

It’s a real shame, I agree. I also do check that forum now and again, but the adverts all over the place are infuriating. I suppose they need to make money somehow.

The dynamics of the place have changed too, IMO. There are very few knowledge threads. It’s most people asking for help and not to be seen again. I suppose it is still a good place to buy and sell coffee gear though.

LMSC

It is 100% commercial model. The owners know it is or used to be (based on how we look at it) a popular forum in the UK. I do think the threads have probably gone down. I can’t be asked to literally count the new threads or posts. It’s a shame it has come to this pass.

Agree with MediumRoastSteam that it is still a good place to buy / sell gears.

DavecUK

LMSC It’s a shame it has come to this pass.

Owners Glenn, then Tait and finally Vertical scope simply used and profited from the community with private under the radar deals and finally selling what the members created and the community.

Perhaps it’s good this has happened as forums are being gobbled up from owners. You can’t sell a community and have no right to. It’s not something that should belong to anyone. We showed how a whole community can up sticks and move. We’re the busiest UK forum now and if we can do it for completely free, so can other types of forum. If we let the corporates take them all, they will become advertising billboards, internet spam outposts. We are far better off here, no adverts no hidden financial agendas. A site run just for the members, that will never be sold.

LMSC

DavecUK profited from the community with private

There is a saying in the financial community!

fatcat managers : the employees do all the work, but the managers get promoted regularly and get fat bonus payments.

We are also a rip-off Britain, aren’t we? 😊

DavecUK

LMSC We are also a rip-off Britain, aren’t we?

It’s a tricky one, we are certainly a very lucrative market. I do wonder if it’s partythe fault of the British mindset and throw away mentality, coupled with FOMO. “I like it, I want it, I’m going to have it”. The problem is we don’t save for it, we just use cheap credit. As everyone can “afford” it, high prices don’t matter so much. The saving process made you think about whether you really need it, and you can shop around, instead of impulse buy.

It’s the main reason houses cost so much.

LMSC

DavecUK The problem is we don’t save for it, we just use cheap credit. As everyone can “afford” it, high prices don’t matter so much.

Can’t disagree. Our mindset even in our family has changed, although we are very careful with our spending.

We as a community go to shops, which tempt us with easy finance purchase and 0% credit in most of the places. Since it is 0%, the overall acquisition costs do not matter anymore.

We spend weeks thinking over coffee machines, because it is expensive. Properties - we don’t even think. If we do, some one is there to pay over the asking price. The so-called crazy bid system to buy properties, especially in London. Crazy.

dfk41

CFUK is the classic case of what was a reasoably healthy environment being gobbled up by a corporate who simply looks at traffic and data. CFUK because of its age and activity levels, always attracted good flow through and this made it attractive to Vertical Scrote…..Google Ads came in and as long as the forum stays up in the Google rankings, it will remain a lunar landscape. If we were Vets, then simply it would be put down. Still, it does give a stage for certain people to strut their stuff whilst hugging thorny bushes

MediumRoastSteam

LMSC spend weeks thinking over coffee machines, because it is expensive. Properties - we don’t even think. If we do, some one is there to pay over the asking price

Property is technically an investment. You pay over the odds because you think it has potential to be sold for even more. Besides, you live in it, and therefore don’t pay rent. and when you sell it, you are likely to sell it for a lot more than what you paid for.

With a coffee machine…. Errr… you’d be luckily to get 50% of the value you paid for after 5 years.

In summary, with property you are likely to get a decent return of investment. Not quite with a coffee machine.

CoyoteOldMan

LMSC Since it is 0%, the overall acquisition costs do not matter anymore.

They still do - even at 0%, unless one has unlimited funds, there is a limit to how much one can buy. It’s the timing of the purchase that may be affected more with 0% interest (which, in many cases, only means ‘everybody pays upfront for interest’, but that’s another story)

LMSC

Property is an investment - yeah for buy to let, super rich haves. For an ordinary soul like me, it is a roof under my head (home) based on the affordability to repay under any circumstances. Having spent 2 decades as an investment management specialist, this is probably one of the very investment vehicles where no risk - investment analysis is done. The market is skewed by a lop-sided demand - supply and various other bottlenecks like supply side .

The acquisition cost is all relative. Examples of where it may not matter are : buying a top of line iPhone when one needs just an entry level phone; a dish washer costing £600 will do a good job, but one ends up paying £1800 for a Miele…The bottom line is easy finance and 0% make purchasing decisions easier.

I will stop here as these are not the intents of this thread! 😊