Chowhound's mission statement is gone?!?!?

[Mr Taster]

Engineers: have you removed Chowhound's mission statement (the one written by Jim Leff) which explains what Chowhounds are, why Chowhounds are not foodies, how Chowhounds are non-commercial, etc.

On the original Jim Leff Chowhound, this mission statement used to be a front page spash that you had to click through in order to get to the boards, so *everyone* who was new to the boards saw it. (If you were an old-time user you could bookmark the index page to bypass the mission statement). The splash page clearly defined why Chowhound was different than other food boards.

In CNET's version 2, it was hidden away in some obscure sub-menu ("about chowhound" or something)', so not many people ever knew it existed, but at least it was there.

Now in CNET version 3, it seems that Chowhound's mission statement has been removed entirely. I discovered this because I was going to point the link to a newbie who referred to himself as a 'foodie', and realized the statement was nowhere to be found.

Please tell me it's still here, somewhere........... this mission statement should not be lost. It should be used as a blueprint for all future modifications to this site.

Mr Taster
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[Mr Taster]

I think it's worth noting that as far as I can tell, that in addition to the Chowhound mission statement STILL being MIA, there is now a GIGANTIC "CHOW/yahoo answers" advertisement which proudly proclaims:

"BE A BETTER FOODIE!"

This is so sad, everybody.... I too have noticed that the sense of community and intimacy that we had at the old CH is being rapidly diluted by lots and lots of foodies, and that really saddens me.

I don't know if forcing every now foodie to view the old CH mission statement (as we used to in the old design) will help to scare off those who dilute the formerly high signal:noise, but an up-front reminder of what it is that makes Chowhound so special certainly couldn't hurt.

http://web.archive.org/web/2000052005...

Mr Taster
-----------------------------
Protect Chowhound.
Boycott Avatars.
-----------------------------

[Jacquilynne]

The Manifesto is here: http://www.chowhound.com/manifesto

[davina]

And the link lives at the bottom of the page.

[Engineering]

We just haven't put it up yet. The help and about pages all need a fair amount of love and it's an order of importance thing.

[Jim Leff]

Melanie, et al, I'm really sorry my posting upset you. My point was that I'm thrilled that we've cultivated a community so chowhoundish and huge that we don't need the likes of me beating the credo to death!

But even if Engineering wasn't planning on getting to it, shoot, if users really liked it, we'd have found a way to sneak it in.

Please, less anguish and more deliciousness all around! This site's supposed to be FUN. There's so much angst in the world, please let Chowhound be a fun refuge, and don't sweat the small stuff.

I'm not poo-pooing the level of loyalty and caring. Obviously, I feel the same! But let's keep this a positive fun thing for all of us. There's so much bad stuff going on out there...

Your friend,

JIM

[Melanie Wong]

Thank you, and I'll try to settle down now in the calm of my new oatmeal theme. I'm a willing and able volunteer for the project and would love to help.

[Mr Taster]

I am very, very happy to hear this!

Mr Taster
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Protect Chowhound.
Boycott Avatars.
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Please copy & paste to your posts!

[Melanie Wong]

Mr. Taster, just saw that you started a new thread on this. Honestly, when I saw Jim Leff's post, I burst into tears.

Karl S, I didn't regard the mission statement as a litmus test but as a call to action that was open to anyone who wanted to play. Inclusive, rather than exclusive.

Like every mission statement, it needs to be revisited and revised as we evolve. But not discarded, no, please no.

[Karl S]

Yes, this is fundamental to the Chowhound community. We've had to refer to it time and time again. This is a litmus test.

[LindaWhit]

Thanks to the Wayback Machine, Mr. Peabody can let everyone still see it here:

http://web.archive.org/web/2002112010...

But I agree - this should continue to be part of Chowhound.

[Mr Taster]

Wow, this is fantastic. Thanks Linda!

Mr Taster
-----------------------------
Protect Chowhound.
Boycott Avatars.
-----------------------------
Please copy & paste to your posts!

[Katie Nell]

Oh my... that kind of makes me sad, to see the old boards, I didn't realize I missed them so much! :-(

[krissywats]

That is disturbing.