Chowhound--A Shadow of its Former Self

As others have noticed, the level and sophistication of chat on Chowhound has gone precipitously down since the advent of LTH. I have kept this in mind for many months until I read the following post there recently. Sure, it may be a fraud. My sense is, though, that it's a real post. The omnipresent moderators have left it alone. If so, it hammers home just how much Chowhound has lost to LTH. I'm not gloating. Really. Just an observation.

The post:

"Chicago is such a great and exciting city! I've lived here for a year and have been awed by all the surprises you can uncover if you just get out and look!

"Last night I was exploring a part of town which not too many people have visited. It's called Lincoln Square and it's near the corner of Western and another big street - Ashland I think. My boyfriend and I decided to have dinner at Opart Thai House, which looks kind of seedy from the outside but is very nice on the inside. I'd never had Thai food before but was eager to experiment. Lots of the menu items had strange-sounding names, like Num Mun Hoy. Sounds like someone talking withe their mouth full!

"We had an appetizer called Tiger Cry that was so good I wanted to cry! I had the Red Curry, but it was actually more orange in color and it wasn't very spicy. My boyfriend had Gai Pad Prik which made us both laugh, but he like it a lot. In fact, everything was delicious! I highly recommend this hidden gem. And don't be scared to try Thai food. I think they use coconut milk but it's delicious anyway!"

Paul,

I read this CH post with some amusement (Shannon, I thought this would be your cue!), and I, too, have sensed a diminution of valuable posts on CH, the mother board. Naive posts such as this one about Opart Thai (assuming it's not a joke) are inevitable when you have new people coming in all the time, and with Jim Leff (a god) encouraging simple hint-seeking ("where's the best pizza," etc.), my guess is that such elementary observations and queries will remain a big part of the CH board.

I remember the first time I posted on Chowhound, I had found this excellent Italian beef place called Johnnie's that I wanted everyone to know about.

I guess people have to start somewhere,

Hammond

Yes, David, I also remember the childlike delight with which you told us about Ann Sather's cinnamon rolls and how awesome the Cubby Bear is.

You kids.

Sorry - been out of town - something silly like clients took me away (see my posts to the out of town board about NJ for more details.

I think that Chowhound suffers especially in comparison to LTHforum because it is so difficult to find ongoing discussions in the midst of sillyness (such as the quoted thread).

I still use it for searches, especially about new cities, but am finding that when I am pressed for time, I only check here, not there.

(going to TAC Quick for dinner tonight probably instead of Opart - closer to our home and I think now my favorite Thai in the city)

Shannon

Hi,

I saw this post when it first came on CH. I was going to respond, then decided to allow someone else to get their thought out first. Soon after a regular CH poster inquired, "IS this some sort of joke?" I then chimed in, "Or perhaps enthusiasm overdrive?" Both these posts, plus a bunch of like-minded others, were zapped in the preserve the bandwidth laser focussed tradition of CH.

I think if the entire thread had been preserved and not edited, you may get a clearer picture all hope is not lost at CH. I like to believe the Chicago food think-tank resides over at LTH; though I am thoroughly biased.

Anyway, I am happy in this pond and still read the hot posts over at CH daily. Occasionally answering a question or weighing into a topic, whatever suits my pleasure. My original stuff initiates here and when relevent I am beginning to quote/copy some of CH body of work over here. Some blustery winter day, I am going to do a concentrated effort to collect all my CH material onto my harddrive. As it has been underlined before, nothing on the internet is forever.