Use the links at the very top to navigate your way around the site. Some are not live yet, but keep checking for new and exciting areas.
A brief history
This resource was first started by Tyler Beard a few years ago, and since then it had taken on a life of it's own, with pipe makers from all over the world joining in to solve common problems and just socialize. The forum developed a reputation for reasonable discourse, and even established pipe makers started to drop in and give hints to beginners.In 2005 Tyler decided to go on hiatus from pipe making, and asked for volunteers to step in and host the website. Kurt Huhn, another pipe maker, offered his bandwidth, time, and server space. The forum continued to grow, with more and more pipe makers, aspiring and established, joining all the time.
Late in 2006, the site was hacked. PHP-Nuke is to blame, due to the massive number of security holes in that CMS. And a email list was started in order to keep everyone in touch while the site was restored, secured, and brought back online. That email list still exists today, and is used for quick questions and simple socializing. It will remain a part of this community as long as there is a demand for it.
A couple weeks later, the site was reborn in the format you see here. In the interests of security, PHP-Nuke was abandoned. The forum was migrated to a current version of phpBB, and extra steps were taken in order to provide for enhanced security. The only glitch is that it looks like everyone joined on November 23, 2006 - an artifact of database conversion, call it a hiccup in The Matrix.
The Future
As you can see by the links above, the future includes a wiki, an easy to use gallery, and a robust chat feature. All will be coming online soon, so keep an eye on things, and check back often.Thank you, and enjoy your visit.
Kurt Huhn
www.pipecrafter.com