A New Chapter for C&F

Announcements
1

// Posted earlier today (September 4, 2025) on our Facebook Group //

Hey friends of C&F!

The outpouring of gratitude for Dale says it all. What started as his personal project turned into something much bigger: a community, a home, even a lifeline for many of us who found our way into the music here. I’m honored that he’s entrusted me to help carry this legacy into the future.

I’ve been around C&F since 2001, back before Facebook or Instagram were even on the scene. Back then this forum was the place where I found the music and the people. My routine was simple: C&F open on the screen, The Amazing Slow Downer running, a whistle in hand, a cup of coffee nearby, and my dog sighing in the corner while I worked on tunes, repeating cuts, taps, and rolls ad nauseam, much to her chagrin. What I found here wasn’t just information, it was connection, encouragement, and friendships that spilled into the real world.

Looking ahead, the big next step is moving the forum from phpBB to Discourse. The heart of C&F won’t change. What will change is reliability. This move will not only give us a more modern platform but will also put the forum in a managed hosting environment, so we’re not relying on me alone for technical support. There will be a dedicated system administrator on the job to make sure issues are handled quickly and the site stays stable. And with over a million posts in the archive, we’ll finally have tools to help us find and revisit the gold that’s been shared here over the years. It will also work better on phones, be easier to moderate, and help keep the community strong into the future.

Moving to a new platform always takes a little getting used to, but we’ve already tested the migration and everything looks good. All of the discussions and history will be there, and I’ll share a walkthrough video to help everyone get comfortable right away. The migration should begin in the next week, and I’ll give a heads up once I know the exact timing.

My hope is that the forum will become our main gathering spot again, with Facebook as a backup check-in. C&F has survived many waves of the internet, and I believe it will continue to thrive as a place where we stay focused on the music, the instruments, and each other.

Dale will always be the Undisputed King of Internet Tinwhistle Journalism. We’ll miss his humor, wit, and those unforgettable DaleForceOne sign-offs, but his spirit is woven into the DNA of this place. Carrying C&F forward isn’t something I can do alone. It takes a village, and this village is one I’m grateful to be part of. I look forward to building the next chapter together.

  • Blayne
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The outpouring of gratitude for Dale says it all.

:boggle:

I probably lead a sheltered life and deliberately don’t visit some corners of the interwebs so I have to go by what I see before me on the forum and as far as I can see there are two threads about this posted by Dale three days ago and, yes, surprisingly, so far there hasn’t been a single reaction to them. Complete and utter silence.

Was yours a prepared statement not reflecting the forum’s response or mood? How are we supposed to read it? Irony, sarcasm hyperbole, wishful thinking? Am I missing something? :confused:

3

I’m grateful. Announcement was first on Facebook, so a number of responses there. Largely positive :laughing: . Some of us just don’t have the words to respond. I started receiving Dale’s newsletter emails in 1999, and registered on this forum in 2002, so I acknowledge that it’s been a long relationship. Also, Dale is hilarious.

4

It’s often better to lead a sheltered life than wander into certain corners of the interwebs! :wink:

You’re right - Dale’s original post went into the announcements forum, which isn’t where most folks tend to hang out. Add to that the number of long-standing stickies there, and it’s easy for important new posts to get lost in the shuffle. That’s something I’m hoping our new platform will handle more cleanly.

As for my reply: it wasn’t a prepared statement. I was responding to the big outpouring of appreciation for Dale on the FB group, and I wanted to make sure folks here didn’t miss it. To that end, I made Dale’s post “global” so it appears across all forums, and I also pasted my FB response here so everyone would be in the loop on both Dale’s transition and the upcoming move to new forum software.

So yes, not scripted—but I do understand how it might have felt a little out of sync without the FB context. Hopefully that clears it up!

5

It didn’t feel out of sync with the Facebook group for those of use who are not amongst its 2.2k members, it felt out of sync with the chiffboard.

I look forward to more of the action coming back here.

And I wish all the best to Dale and to it’s new minders.

6

Thanks, Kevin. I’d be right there in the “loss-for-words” camp - it’s hard to condense decades of appreciation into a short post. And yes, Dale’s humor is Undisputed!

7

Thanks David. Totally get that and I’m all about getting the action back here on C&F proper!

8

Let me start with a few feeble excuses.

First, I don’t usually notice the announcements. I just go straight to the forums I’m active on.

Second, I did just notice this announcement from Dale, but since nobody had responded to this monumental news, I wondered if we were supposed to, or allowed to, respond to announcement. I expected to see hundreds of responses to the announcement, and there were none!

Third, the board, or at least the technology it depends upon, has been very flakey, for me, over the last few weeks. Its been hard to view at all, and even harder to post to.

Finally, I don’t do Facebook, as a matter of principle. It is a stand I’ve taken for many years, basically trying to avoid lending any support to the privatization and closing off of the formerly open Internet that it represents. I disagree with their terms of use and refuse to sign them. But I have to admit that I’m now more or less the only person left on the planet taking this noble stance. Its a frustrating situation for a person like me who has spent their entire career as a computer science researcher and professor, and who has contributed a lot of technology to the open Internet. Lets just leave it at that.

But excuses aside, this IS monumental news! I hardly even know where to start in stating the level of appreciation that I feel for the all the work Dale has done to create this amazing community. It has been an important part of my life for many years now.
The news that Dale is leaving does kind of leave me in a state of shock.

However, I also know Blayne well enough to feel VERY positive about him taking over, and I’m really looking forward to seeing C&F in its more modernized state.

I really hope that the majority of the interaction will come back here so that we aren’t all faced with the choice of signing our life away to Facebook or losing access to a community that is an integral part of our life.

Lets all try to restore the level of interaction on C&F to its former glory!

9

But I have to admit that I’m now more or less the only person left on the planet taking this noble stance.

No, you’re not.

FWIW, some years ago, when volumes of posts went down dramatically and I also started browsing from my phone, I started to open the forums from the ‘active topics’ quick link. Which gives a quick overview of all new posts across all forums. I found that to work well, and you see the announcements as they appear, including Dale’s latest two threads. The deafening silence in their wake surprised me and did make me think the quoted ‘outpouring of gratitude’ sounded too much like taking the mickey.

As to the future, I am not sure anything can be done to lure people back once they abandon forums like this to other means of communication. But I’ll keep an open mind, we’ll see what happens.

10

I only use Facebook for things geographically close to me - within the range I travel for a concert, session or workshop. By restricting it to that it’s algorithms seem to work well as a tailored “what’s on” guide, with little clickbait clutter to ignore.

I saw Dale’s post a few weeks ago including mention of an offer to buy. My reaction was that I was surprised anyone had hopes for what looked like a sinking ship so I though it best not to say anything. Seems I was wrong :slight_smile:.

Searches sometimes lead me to other instrument related forums (e.g. melodeon.net, mandolincafe.net ) that still operate in a similar way to the chiffboard and I wonder if they have also had a drop off in ‘engagement’. I recently changed browser and C&F was no longer there as a ‘frequently visited site’ so it dropped off the ‘have a quick look when taking a break’ circuit until something reminded me.

11

@paddler (our new forum software will support @ mentions!) Totally get why the response was so low (though now there are finally a couple). I think it may have been the first time I’d read anything in the announcements forum myself.

I’ve been giving the role of the Facebook group a lot of thought, and I’m leaning toward a policy where anything shared there would first need to be posted here on the board. We could also disable comments on Facebook so that all discussion happens here. If Dale and I had shared our notes that way, just as teaser links pointing back here with comments disabled, the conversation would have taken place on the Chiffboard instead.

I’ll need to think more on this, but my feeling is that if the Facebook group isn’t actively serving to strengthen this community, its days are likely numbered. It really started as a lifeline back when the board was down so Dale and the mods could communicate. These days we have better options like email, text notifications, and maintenance mode messages.

I also haven’t been around here as much myself, partly due to the friction of the board running slowly or not at all. Props to those of you who kept the lights on and the coffee pot brewing.

I really appreciate your vote of confidence. I’m excited about the future of C&F and hope to make it a more accessible and welcoming place for all of us to gather.

12

@Mr.Gumby

That’s really helpful usability feedback. These days most of us “check in” on our communities from a phone, so making sure the platform works smoothly in a mobile-first way is definitely important.

13

@david_h

Really appreciate this feedback, and I’m glad something nudged you to check back in. With the incredible wealth of content in our archives, I think moving to a platform that makes exploring it more seamless - and makes connecting with each other easier and more fun - will go a long way.

I also sense more and more people looking to step away from the endless algorithms of the big social media platforms. And with new folks discovering this music (and the instruments therein) every day, I want to be sure we have a place that makes it easy for them to connect and learn from the knowledge gathered here.

14

Excited to see the forum carry on. Huge thanks to Dale for nurturing this beast and all that I have learned over the years of dabbling. I think my wife sometimes wishes I would stay out of the classifieds.

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I resemble that remark! :laughing:

16

Blaine: My knowledge of - and respect for - you, began with your expertise, at times I wished to sell instruments. I am very pleased that you will be taking over the care and feeding of C&F. I feel the board is in good hands.

In friendship and respect.
Byll

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17

Good to hear its sorted. Long may it live!

20

Thanks Blayne (and other migrators)! It’s so responsive now…

Rob

1 Like