Grower forums & secret influencers feedback thread

[Kassiopeija]

Over the course of ~~10 years membership in a dozen (big n little) growforums I think I can savely say that a number of posters are just present to influence the others to make them buy their shit, hype their products, generally, try to promote their own interests...
Naturally, this background is being obscured otherwise it would raise doubts of bias etc

The Cannabis grow sector has become a huge market. Seeds, lights, fancy bottles create huge income and the amount of total clueless noobs is astronomically high. Even middle-men (that are not directly associated with said products) may profit when they get hardware/items for free to use in grow-reports.
The Dinafem-scandal has unveiled the scope of their cooperations with assets well beyond 100mio € confiscated, and ties to the weaponized international mafia.
Occassionally, reports of doxxing appear, and opposite views or threads may face ridicule, topics trolled to death. Who would have thought the growers scene consists of smooth & relaxed people, when rather hard capitalistic ego's aggressively pursue their stance.

Over the course of the years, I have witnessed:
- Commercial growers giving horrible grow-killing advice (even sticky posts) out to keep the concurrency low
- scientific studies to promote lights, additives so faulty you can just throw them into the virtual trashcan
- websites, basically any free internet places, write some half-truth nonsene, albeit cleverly worded, to advertise stuff
- seeds, genetics, many antagonizing stories, about >90% of the genetic are fakes, topped by individuals that specialize to rip people off
- same "selling water by the river" scheme from a few nute companies just selling extremely expensive snake oil, or chemicals disguised as biological product
- why is everything cannabis related so excessively expensive anyway?
- some guys are present almost everywhere, either for likes or the dissemination of "their side of the story", almost impossible to escape their carefully orchestrated narrative
...
...
etc pp

***

So what are your impressions, thoughts or estimations about the rate of people present at grow-forums, that may qualify as being "secret influencers"?

 

[Fardsnarp]

What? You are suspect of some 13 product 'super flush'? Not one but 13 silver bullets? Gonna have to get a bigger revolver. Seriously, they know stoner marketing.

Just as bad when they spread disinformation about competitor products. It was another forum but one advertiser here used a giveaway thread to reach out to me with a PM and said if I bought their product they would reimberse me for a positive review. I declined.

Time for a fact check section?

 

[T Ray]

I’m sure there are supposed influencers on here, but there’s also tons of fan boys and girls too which could look like it but aren’t. My guess it’s much lower than you think. Atleast ones that are paid money or have a actual quid pro quo deal for promotion for product.

Everyone is partial to what they grow and what they think is the best.

As far as nutrients go it’s bc everyone is after the Holy Grail bottle that will turn their buds to magic. They fail to understand that it’s mostly genetics and treating it like a plant. Healthy and lush with solid genetics will out perform any magic bottle claim but they won’t listen.

The fact it was illegal for so long brought around a bunch of bro tales aka bro science and 95% of it bullshit with nothing but hearing it from a guy.

“But the guy in the hydro store said” or “on YouTube” is every where. There’s a lot of new growers who get suckered on products or take grow techniques from idiots without doing proper research first.

This instant gratification World everyone wants the info handed to them. Nobody wants to learn with research and experience. Just buy this and do this and pop this 1 ten pack and I’ll have the best of the best.


Nobody likes to research and experiment/learn for themselves and find out what works best for them.

At the end of the day feed them plant food and keep them healthy and green. If you do that you’ll be rewarded if you have some solid genetics from a bunch of pheno hunts.

 

[mudballs]

I welcome secret influencers, helps drive interest in the hobby. I dont care if John Doe gets taken for some expensive item that does nothing of value, kudos to the hunter that got a kill.
Sink or swim bitches!

 

[Herb & Suds]

Cue the music
Da da dun
Watch out for rampant lasers from space

 

[Fardsnarp]

I welcome secret influencers, helps drive interest in the hobby.

I could make the reverse argument. They make people think it is too much work, to expensive and a high likely hood of failure so some never start.

 

[mudballs]

I could make the reverse argument.

sure, go ahead and make the argument...im listening

 

[ChongMaBong]

I totally agree i have used forums over last 25 years and from the start there has always been someone who can sort you out with information regarding certain products where to buy etc of course they are here giving us false information especially against their competitors thats just business. Its the fan boys who follow spamming their products and dissing other and what would half them know they have never tried another light,nutrient,medium,style or even experimenting on their own because they are too busy up someone else's Arse thinking they are the bollocks. Just the other week someone on here was giving me shit advice thinking I was a noob on lighting and tried to sell me a light that was too big for my space lol anyways you know who you are with your shit fake links to a fucking wank website haha. Oh well worth a try this place got scammers so be careful!

 

[Kassiopeija]

I forgot one type of influencer - that is the moralistic "man on a mission", conservative or ecologist, that will elaborate on shipping costs, quality "made in...", energy reduction (buy buy buy everything new, every 5 years - to reduce carbon emission).
These argue mostly out of personal motives.

 

[Fardsnarp]

View attachment 5097638
sure, go ahead and make the argument...im listening

I don't have too. You made my argument for me by providing links showing cannibus sales are up, NOT cannibus growing equipment.

If you don't know how dishonest people can be detrimental I really don't know what to say other than I have no interest in mucking up this thread in a pissing contest over it and that's the last I have to say on it. Peace.

 

[EarthAngel]

What's worse is that these shill jobs are rapidly being lost to chinese bots

 

[oswizzle]

Cal-Mag ... "do or do not....there is no try" .... Master Yoda

 

[xtsho]

If people are stupid enough to be influenced by some posts on the internet and obvious fluff marketing tactics that are easily identified by anyone with a functioning brain then there's nothing you can do about it. There's fools waiting up all night to pay $30 a seed for some stupid "Drop" of some pollen chuck. I've said it often. Cannabis growers are the most naive group of growers there is. No other group of people that grow plants whether it be orchids, african violets, vegetables, etc... falls for this type of crap.

For every cannabis grower that sees the light and realizes they're being taken for a ride three more take their place. The marketing budgets just keep getting bigger and the claims keep getting more preposterous. Half the crap out there reads like a scammy infomercial with youtube leading the pack as far as pure growing garbage being spread. Youtube has a wealth of good information on many different subjects. Cannabis isn't one of them. Mostly hacks that can't grow and don't have a clue or commercials masquerading as grow videos.

 

[Astral22]

Fully agreed, glad someone said it. It's strange how the usual suspects didn't come to troll this post, at least not all of them

Have to remember, most of those people used to be dealers on the black market, and most of them don't come from moral and ethical backgrounds. They transferred the same philosophy from the illegal business back then, into the legal business now.
Until cannabis becomes completely legal worldwide, with a pleasant culture and tradition like wine or cheese, it will remain to be a shady business. (hats off to individual exceptions)

And there is one company which i will not name here, but they are especially shady and i absolutely hate them, they became one of the most popular brands in the cannabis world, but they are one of the worst brands in reality.
They are constantly sending free products and paying for advertisements and sponsoring everywhere: forums, Amazon, Ebay, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram etc.
They have thousands of people writing good reviews about them, they offer discounts to customers for writing a good review..
Every single google search when looking for the ''best LED grow light'' comes out with their name. But when you actually buy their product, you realize it's a piece of shit junk toy. And they charge a fortune because of marketing, they invested more money into marketing than actual quality.
The real quality brands got hidden beneath all the garbage because they overflooded the market.

And it's very obvious that anything related to cannabis is double the price. I mean just a LED grow light can cost as much as a good PC, cellphone, laptop, used car, washing machine, drying machine, refrigerator, AC unit etc. but the components, engineering and build quality is not that expensive.

An electric cannabis grinder costs around 40-100€
Bosch drill machine costs the same price or even less.
Almost the same design mechanic with a spinning motor, but the Bosch drill is more powerful, useful, durable, made of metal and Bosch is a quality brand..
But the electric cannabis grinder is made of plastic, it barely grinds cannabis, unknown brand, breaks easily etc..

 

[Lordhooha]

Fully agreed, glad someone said it. It's strange how the usual suspects didn't come to troll this post, at least not all of them

Have to remember, most of those people used to be dealers on the black market, and most of them don't come from moral and ethical backgrounds. They transferred the same philosophy from the illegal business back then, into the legal business now.
Until cannabis becomes completely legal worldwide, with a pleasant culture and tradition like wine or cheese, it will remain to be a shady business. (hats off to individual exceptions)

And there is one company which i will not name here, but they are especially shady and i absolutely hate them, they became one of the most popular brands in the cannabis world, but they are one of the worst brands in reality.
They are constantly sending free products and paying for advertisements and sponsoring everywhere: forums, Amazon, Ebay, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram etc.
They have thousands of people writing good reviews about them, they offer discounts to customers for writing a good review..
Every single google search when looking for the ''best LED grow light'' comes out with their name. But when you actually buy their product, you realize it's a piece of shit junk toy. And they charge a fortune because of marketing, they invested more money into marketing than actual quality.
The real quality brands got hidden beneath all the garbage because they overflooded the market.

And it's very obvious that anything related to cannabis is double the price. I mean just a LED grow light can cost as much as a good PC, cellphone, laptop, used car, washing machine, drying machine, refrigerator, AC unit etc. but the components, engineering and build quality is not that expensive.

An electric cannabis grinder costs around 40-100€
Bosch drill machine costs the same price or even less.
Almost the same design mechanic with a spinning motor, but the Bosch drill is more powerful, useful, durable, made of metal and Bosch is a quality brand..
But the electric cannabis grinder is made of plastic, it barely grinds cannabis, unknown brand, breaks easily etc..

What led are you seeing that cost the same as a used car. Or what sort of used car are you getting? I copied and pasted your best led in google and got growers choice, luxx, gavita amd a few others. The most expensive led I’ve considered has been foshe ai3. I don’t know or care about influencers as most of them can’t grow themselves out of a box.

 

[Astral22]

Where i'm from you can find a used car in good condition for less than 2000€, from year 2000 and upwards.
Mind you we're not talking about Mercedes or BMW, i'm talking about standard city cars.

Cars:
Opel Astra - year 2000 - 800€
Kia Rio - year 2008 - 1800€
Renault Megan - year 2006 - 2000€
VW Golf - year 2003 - 1300€
Fiat Bravo - year unknown - 1000€

These are just some standard common city cars in good condition that are around 20 years old, but you can also find cheaper and older ones for 500-600€ also in good condition. Of course don't expect a race car or long distance trips with them, but as a beginner car or a standard car just to drive your way in the town, buy groceries, go to your job, take kids to school etc. those cars are perfect for short-distances.
How much are used cars at your place?
And don't cling just on cars, what about other products i mentioned? All of those are about the same price as LED lights, but the technology is nowhere near as complicated or expensive to produce, and you can also build your own LED light, unlike building your own washing machine or refrigerator or AC unit for example..

LED Lights anything above 300W the price already goes above 500€, for a decent 600W LED be ready to pay 1000€ or more.
Gavita pro 1700e is 1800€ here, how much is at your place?
And now even the cheap low-end brands started to charge a lot because they can.

For that price you can buy a high-end PC even in this madness of graphics card prices because of cryptomining, and that's including all the PC parts, not just the GPU, and you're settled for both gaming and working from a PC.
Playstation 5 is 700€..
AC Unit: Mitsubishi Electric Standard Eco Inverter 3,5kW, indoor unit + outdoor unit + installation + 5 year warranty and service = 700€, and it's suitable for both heating and cooling a room up to 35m2
Bro i bought a new cellphone Xiaomi POCO F3 for 400€ what are we talking about.. What is harder and more expensive to make, a modern smartphone or a LED light?

When i do a google search for leds, all i get is cheap low-end brands and blurples. Most of those brands you mentioned aren't even available in EU as far as i know, so i guess location plays a role too. But regardless, we also have some good LED brands in EU like Lumatek, Migro, SANlight etc. but they don't come up in the results because the cheaper brands are doing so much paid advertising. And i tried many search terms and many different websites, all of them include the low-end entry level lights as the ''best''.

P.S - These are not ''secret'' influencers anymore, they've all been discovered and most people on the forum already know who they are.. It's always the same group of guys, trolling, arguing, always talking sh*t and countering every opinion.. They gather like a pack of vultures, they always like each other's comments, supporting and kissing each other's ass, and they laugh at other comments. They are monitoring every single post on this forum 24/7 all year long, their whole life purpose is to troll and talk against anything, you say it's green they'll say it's yellow, you say it's yellow they say it's green, and it goes in circles... They behave as if they are the best growers in the world and above everyone, when in reality they are just unlived and unfulfilled. And what's worse, they never help anyone and they never give a good advice, they're just putting down opinions and that's it.. I don't mind being scolded by someone who actually knows what they're talking about, someone i can learn from, someone who can have a healthy discussion and give proper examples.. But these guys are just talking against, nothing else.. Then you see them battling over sponsors, giveaways and rewards in other threads.. Those know who they are.

 

[Scuzzman]

great thread

 

[ChongMaBong]

What led are you seeing that cost the same as a used car. Or what sort of used car are you getting? I copied and pasted your best led in google and got growers choice, luxx, gavita amd a few others. The most expensive led I’ve considered has been foshe ai3. I don’t know or care about influencers as most of them can’t grow themselves out of a box.

You can easily get a used car for same price as some led lights in uk all be it not a very good one but yes you can get used cars for some of the prices of led lights.

 

[ChongMaBong]

Where i'm from you can find a used car in good condition for less than 2000€, from year 2000 and upwards.
Mind you we're not talking about Mercedes or BMW, i'm talking about standard city cars.

Cars:
Opel Astra - year 2000 - 800€
Kia Rio - year 2008 - 1800€
Renault Megan - year 2006 - 2000€
VW Golf - year 2003 - 1300€
Fiat Bravo - year unknown - 1000€

These are just some standard common city cars in good condition that are around 20 years old, but you can also find cheaper and older ones for 500-600€ also in good condition. Of course don't expect a race car or long distance trips with them, but as a beginner car or a standard car just to drive your way in the town, buy groceries, go to your job, take kids to school etc. those cars are perfect for short-distances.
How much are used cars at your place?
And don't cling just on cars, what about other products i mentioned? All of those are about the same price as LED lights, but the technology is nowhere near as complicated or expensive to produce, and you can also build your own LED light, unlike building your own washing machine or refrigerator or AC unit for example..

LED Lights anything above 300W the price already goes above 500€, for a decent 600W LED be ready to pay 1000€ or more.
Gavita pro 1700e is 1800€ here, how much is at your place?
And now even the cheap low-end brands started to charge a lot because they can.

For that price you can buy a high-end PC even in this madness of graphics card prices because of cryptomining, and that's including all the PC parts, not just the GPU, and you're settled for both gaming and working from a PC.
Playstation 5 is 700€..
AC Unit: Mitsubishi Electric Standard Eco Inverter 3,5kW, indoor unit + outdoor unit + installation + 5 year warranty and service = 700€, and it's suitable for both heating and cooling a room up to 35m2
Bro i bought a new cellphone Xiaomi POCO F3 for 400€ what are we talking about.. What is harder and more expensive to make, a modern smartphone or a LED light?

When i do a google search for leds, all i get is cheap low-end brands and blurples. Most of those brands you mentioned aren't even available in EU as far as i know, so i guess location plays a role too. But regardless, we also have some good LED brands in EU like Lumatek, Migro, SANlight etc. but they don't come up in the results because the cheaper brands are doing so much paid advertising. And i tried many search terms and many different websites, all of them include the low-end entry level lights as the ''best''.

P.S - These are not ''secret'' influencers anymore, they've all been discovered and most people on the forum already know who they are.. It's always the same group of guys, trolling, arguing, always talking sh*t and countering every opinion.. They gather like a pack of vultures, they always like each other's comments, supporting and kissing each other's ass, and they laugh at other comments. They are monitoring every single post on this forum 24/7 all year long, their whole life purpose is to troll and talk against anything, you say it's green they'll say it's yellow, you say it's yellow they say it's green, and it goes in circles... They behave as if they are the best growers in the world and above everyone, when in reality they are just unlived and unfulfilled. And what's worse, they never help anyone and they never give a good advice, they're just putting down opinions and that's it.. I don't mind being scolded by someone who actually knows what they're talking about, someone i can learn from, someone who can have a healthy discussion and give proper examples.. But these guys are just talking against, nothing else.. Then you see them battling over sponsors, giveaways and rewards in other threads.. Those know who they are.

Fuck that took a bit of reading but yes well said!

 

[amneziaHaze]

i bought a fake spider from aliexpress everybody starts talking shit about asian knockoffs. light gives same as the real spider. i paid it 10% of the real spider