chow.com vs. chowhound.com

[jan]

Are they one in the same? if so, have they always been? i had never heard of chow.com, and i googled a grocery store and up popped an old post on chowhound but said it was from chow.com......?

[Tatum]

The short version is that they are sister sites. Chowhound is the community site, and CHOW is the editorial site.

The long version is that CHOW will be the brand we focus on from a business standpoint. CHOW will have branding efforts behind it, and will work with marketers on their brand promotions as aggressively as possible. For example, you may have to view ads to see content from CHOW. While Chowhound will continue to have marketing messages on it, we will always do our best to deliver these messages in a lower-profile way so as not to disturb the conversation.

Together, we can allow our marketing partners to reach the most discriminate food enthusiasts in the world, maintain the vibe on Chowhound, and continue to keep the lights on. The name, URL, and credo of Chowhound will continue, and we'll keep this unique community protected from a lot of the marketing, branding, etc., we plan for CHOW. In short, CHOW enables us to balance the necessary business requirements while enabling the Chowhound community conversation to continue.

Yes, you may see the CHOW name around in more places than you did before (for example, in the title bar). But the spirit of Chowhound remains the same, and we can look forward to an uninterrupted flow of chow tips for years to come.