“Piffin” sits down on his well-upholstered rocking recliner, raises the foot rest, and balances his laptop on his lap. With his right hand on a wireless mouse set on the chair’s armrest, he clicks his way on-line into Fine Homebuilding magazine’s forum, Breaktime, enters his password, then sits back to see what new questions have cropped up lately. Anyone can register for Taunton Press’s forum as several thousand have, and ask a carpentry question trusting that some knowledgeable person will respond with straight-from-the-shoulder, experienced-based advice. The person most likely to do that is Islesboro’s Paul F. Nichter, his initials P.F.N. providing the screen name of Piffin.
Since 1998, Nichter has logged in more responses on the forum than anyone else in the country; since 2002 when a new server began counting automatically, he has made 41,600, plus or minus, posts. A hard core group of about 100 participants are the frequent responders for this volunteer service hosted by the magazine, which recognizes but does not pay for the value these folks add to the Fine Homebuilding website. Most of the questions come from well-educated, well-heeled professionals who are building new homes, and want advice. Actually, the majority of Fine Homebuilding’s subscribers are not carpenters or contractors but rather consumers.
Starting as a roofer to earn money while traveling the country after graduating from high school, Nichter went on to carpentry and general contracting. He met and married his Islesboro-born wife, Carole, in Colorado, and about twenty years ago they moved back to the island, where he has been a builder and general contractor since. While he thought seriously about studying to be an architect and had the grades for scholarships, he liked working with his hands and could not imagine spending another seven or so years studying. Now, having come to it the long, hard way, he spends time designing as well, using computer assisted design software. High-end house building in Islesboro’s summer community allows him to exercise fine craftsmanship and with 40 years of practical experience, he often has a pretty fair idea of how to lend a hand to someone stumped with a problem. At the end of a tiring or exasperating day it is fun and relaxing to get on-line and see what is up.
Looking for information on new products led Paul to Breaktime. While there are other on-line forums for builders, questioners might wait for a week or more for a response. “Someone is always here,” said Paul as he clicked down the left-hand menu where various threads, that is, topics, are listed. Common questions include preventing or solving leaks and what are the best kinds of windows to use. Sometimes the posts are personal as participants write about everything from divorces and the death of children to joyful life events, and supportive responses pour in.
Paul always looks at the roofing questions because he has such deep experience with the topic, but his favorite thread was the one he started: “What do you do for a career in real life?” This pulled out of the woodwork “lurkers,” that is, people who read forum posts but do not usually write any. That thread uncovered professionals like a pediatrician and a rocket scientist. Not all posts are all-business. Paul recalled a thread that generated 300 or so entries, all puns and jokes, sometimes ribald, that started with a question about squirrels chewing their way into a house, that one responder commented was because “the squirrels must have been looking for nuts.”
A couple of years into his posting on Breaktime, he heard back from one of the magazine editors who asked, “Who are you? You seem to know a great deal.” His posts are quoted from Piffin” in the magazine’s pages, and he was even asked to write an article for it.
Many of the regular contributors are, like Paul, geographically isolated — on other islands or in the mountains — building fine houses for the newly rich. He has observed over the past few years both in personal experience and in his on-line discussions with others that many people who are having houses built now are very wealthy and have high expectations. “They are very demanding in time and scheduling,” he said.
Posting on Breaktime, Paul said, is a way “to give back to the community without having to get dressed up and go some place.”