The good ol’ days on BP

Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2022 · 121 posts · 143 votes

2mo

Thanks for the feedback Shiloh--appreciate you. Will share your specific suggestions (thank you for including those) with our internal team.

[email protected]

1 Reply

Doug McVinuaPro Member

Property Manager · Queen Creek, AZ · Member since 2016 · 608 posts · 426 votes

2mo

@Shiloh Lundahl, I have recently been seriously questioning my paid status, as my activity and leads have declined so significantly over the last few Years. The site used to be engaging, with new members joining and asking questions. I feel that the general dialogue that used to occur has dropped off, or at least it has in my feed.

As a Property Manager, I didn't come on to sell anyone directly; it was a matter of sharing knowledge, being helpful, and being plugged in that brought business my direction. Of late, it has dropped to almost nothing, causing me to question the investment.

[email protected]602-751-7577

3 Reply

Richard F.

Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes

2mo

Yup, I too have been in and out since 2008. Lots of issues...the search function is a big one. And over the past year a lot of AI slop. There are a couple threads on the "General REI" > Q's about BP subforum with further comments.

I'm fully retired now and just trying to share some of that pesky "knowledge" that newbs and gurus don't put much stock in.

A new CEO just intro'd himself, we shall see what the future brings...

2 Reply

Tom Bertog
Realtor · San Clemente, CA · Member since 2026 · 6 posts · 1 vote
2mo
Quote from @Richard F.:

Yup, I too have been in and out since 2008. Lots of issues...the search function is a big one. And over the past year a lot of AI slop. There are a couple threads on the "General REI" > Q's about BP subforum with further comments.
I'm fully retired now and just trying to share some of that pesky "knowledge" that newbs and gurus don't put much stock in.
A new CEO just intro'd himself, we shall see what the future brings...

I'm new on here and the search function is something I've noticed too. It's not that it's hard to navigate but so much more can be improved if there were better ways to refine my searches. I haven't found myself using it a lot yet, but it's something i hope that can be improved.
0 Reply

Dan H.Pro Member

Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes

2mo

Quote from @Shiloh Lundahl:

Most of you have not have been around BiggerPockets for over 10 years. But I have. And I've seen a lot of changes. Changes from ownership to CEO to website layout to what appears to be the mission and purpose of Bigger Pockets.

First off, I recognize that I do not own BiggerPockets and the individuals or entities that do own BiggerPockets have the ability to make any and all decisions regarding the purpose and function of BiggerPockets. Therefore, This post may not serve any purpose. However, if by some chance, this post does get to some decision-maker, I would like to share a daughter or two to bring back some of the glory days of BiggerPockets.

First off, the layout today, in my opinion, is not nearly as good or user-friendly as it used to be. Bigger Pockets used to have the top three trending forum discussions on the front page. The featured discussions drew people in and led to great engagement. If you land on the front page of BiggerPockets today, it's hard to even know that a forum exists. You have to go search for it. The things that are front and center are all of the sponsors. So you're not sure exactly what the website is about. It seems like a website that advertises versus the primary purpose of it back in the day was to provide information by investors for investors.

The search function has also changed quite a bit. It used to be very easy to search members by Location or by what they had in their bio according to what they did primarily. For example, if I was looking for a BIggerPockets member that lived in Mesa, Arizona, that was a wholesaler, It was easy to filter that and come up with a list of people in Mesa that we're wholesalers. Then I could send a direct message to them and ask them to add me to their wholesale list. I can also search for information in the forums according to post date. In other words, if I wanted to see who was talking about Costa Rica in the last three or four months, it was easy to search that out. But now it really doesn't have the same searchable filters or at least they don't work correctly.

The meet up map is no longer there. There used to be a map where you click on a state and then it would show you what meet ups were happening when they were happening. They got rid of that entirely. I've mentioned it a couple of times to people like @Scott Trench but nothing was changed to highlight meetups anymore. It's almost as if BiggerPockets couldn't monetize something then it stopped focusing on it, even if those features were really helpful for the BP community.

Those are a few of the things that I've seen change over the years that I think has lowered the website user experience. But I am interested in what any of the old timers have to say. Would you say that the BIggerPockets website layout Is better today than it was say 10 years ago? What do you miss about how The website used to be. Or what features does it have now that you like that it didn't used to have?

I have been on BP 11 years and never had the search functionality you describe. How bad is the BP Search function? Bad enough that I use Google to search BP. It is the worst of any forum I participate. I never knew that it once was usable.

i agree with your items, but I fear the users are doing more harm of the forums than BP and BP should take on the challenge of eliminating AI posts and poorly disguised self marketing posts.

i question the purchase price of BP company and fear its value and benefit has peaked. I think the previous owners may have exited at near peak value.

I justified my pro membership for RentRedi (still Present), Rentometer (discontinued), my use of the forum (pay for something I use) and BPCon discount (i have not yet decided if I will be going and was far from thrilled at the Orlando location). It is likely I no longer get my money’s worth.

hopefully BP can address some of the issues.

3 Reply

Adam BartomeoBusiness Member

Real Estate Broker · Cape Coral, FL · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes

2mo

I have been on here for 12 years or so. There have been lots of changes, some good, some not so much... Overall, I am still very appreciative for this platform which has allowed me to meet and build relationships with other investors, friends, and even partnerships. I look forward to the future!

[email protected]239-339-3969

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1 Reply

James Mc Ree

Rental Property Investor · Malvern, PA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 934 votes

2mo

I am a 13 year member and very much appreciate BP. It took me from my first rental as a newbie to a somewhat experienced SFR landlord who has managed to avoid most tenant problems, thanks in no small part to BP and its members. I appreciate you!

I agree with the other posts that commercialization has negatively impacted BP. I also miss the top posts and often wonder why I always see the first post as BPCon or some other BP sales pitch. Other sites allow users to turn that message off and maybe get another pitch, but at least get the same one repeatedly. I'd rather have the trending topics.

I never knew BP search to be good, so haven't used it much in years. I use Google to search BP which works well. It's strange that BP took away search features I didn't know were there.

Adding in the short term rental population reduced my BP interest. I am a LTR investor, so very interested in those topics, but minimally interested in short-term rentals. I can see how exposure to the content could pique my interest, but it would be nice to turn that content off selectively. The STR folks might appreciate the same feature for LTR content.

We get the occasional survey asking what BP does well and can improve upon. That is a great opportunity to provide feedback. I think the best thing to happen for BP is not a change to BP. It would be competition. I don't know of any other site comparable to BP which is a fantastic complement to BP. Unfortunately, it allows BP to stagnate as there is no pressing need to innovate until paid subscribers and advertising dollars go away for lack of interest. It would be great to have another company pushing BP to get even better and maybe giving all of us an alternate forum that is even better until BP catches up.

0 Reply

Ed O.

Investor · Statewide, MO · Member since 2011 · 814 posts · 425 votes

2mo

Having been here about 16 years, it seems like the decline has been pretty linear. The forums now feel to be 75% posts made by "placeholder placeholder" or people who have less than 5 posts and no votes. It's mostly takers and a handful of givers.

I canceled my pro subscription this year. Had it for about 10 but it just seemed like there was nothing in it for me. I don't need any of the few perks that came with it.

Yeah, I'm still here a little. The staff has been dismissive of remarks about how things used to be, I'm surprised this thread is still up.

I'm glad Josh sold this site and made his money - but the new owners haven't done anything for me. Maybe the new model is to get as many new users as they can to sell courses and the bpcon.. they seem like lucrative opportunities and we're all chasing a profit.

I tried the search feature... I think they stole it from k mart.

It would seem the people running this place know better than we do. It would be nice to clean it up.

6 Reply

Stuart UdisPro Member

Attorney · Philadelphia · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes

2mo

I've met a lot of great contacts through this site, but I've never found the forums particularly easy to navigate or search. If anything, that aspect has gotten worse over time.

My bigger criticism, however, is the narrative that often gets pushed. Much of the content gives the impression that investing is relatively easy, or at least far easier than the realities many investors eventually encounter. Markets matter, asset quality matters, capital matters. Those realities often receive less attention than they should.

I also understand the business reasons for this. BiggerPockets generates revenue through memberships, courses, events, and related products. If the prevailing message was that real estate is difficult, many deals underperform, and not everyone should be investing, engagement would likely suffer. The platform's continued alignment with many of the industry's guru-type personalities only reinforces that perception for me. I still find value in the site and the relationships I've built through it, but I think investors should approach the content with a healthy degree of skepticism.

[email protected]

4 Reply

John MorganPro Member

Rental Property Investor · Grand Prairie, TX · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes

2mo

Ditto all the comments above. I've been here for 11 years and it's gone downhill every year with new management. Hopefully they'll change and go back to how they did things 3-5 years ago again.

2 Reply

JD MartinBusiness Member

Moderator

Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes

2mo

I guess I've been around for maybe 12-13 years if I count the lurking days when I was just reading and not contributing to the forums. Things I miss:

- some of my old BP "friends". There was a contingent of us that seemed to end up in most threads at the same time and it was nice having conversations with those people, and learning from them most of whom were smarter than me at least when it came to real estate.

- the lower thread count. Keeping up with the sheer volume of posts as just an interested party (forget about as a moderator) is difficult and I sometimes stumble into interesting threads that went by a week or a month or a year ago that I completely missed because it just flowed through too fast.

- the "real people" just here to discuss and learn from each other. Not to say there wasn't always someone around with something to sell but there were a lot less of them 6 or 7 years ago for sure, at least before COVID.

- the lower amount of sub-forums. This is just my personal preference, but having dedicated forums for everything ends up washing out everyone into their own little worlds.

- the geographic dedicated sub-forums. This goes against my previous comment, but a lot of things I think junk up threads tend to be geography specific and those things used to be covered in those forums.

- the original podcast. I'm a little biased here, having been on the original one, but I think the juxtaposition of Josh and Brandon was a good format. You had an enthusiastic guy and a bring it back to earth guy and there were some excellent guests that way.

All in all, though, real estate just became a lot more popular. It's easy to look at the good old days, because after the financial and real estate crash of 2008-2010 there were just a whole lot less people in this arena and the ones that were here were real people - the money to be made was in real endeavors rather than junk ones. But real estate has become something of a victim of its own popularity. Also, a lot of early adopters of anything end up missing the old days when there were just a lot less people to deal with.

Podcast Guest on Show #243

Skyline Properties

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4 Reply

Don KonipolBusiness Member

Investor · The Woodlands TX / Avon, CT · Member since 2009 · 6k+ posts · 10k+ votes

2mo

Quote from @Shiloh Lundahl:

Most of you have not have been around BiggerPockets for over 10 years. But I have. And I've seen a lot of changes. Changes from ownership to CEO to website layout to what appears to be the mission and purpose of Bigger Pockets.

First off, I recognize that I do not own BiggerPockets and the individuals or entities that do own BiggerPockets have the ability to make any and all decisions regarding the purpose and function of BiggerPockets. Therefore, This post may not serve any purpose. However, if by some chance, this post does get to some decision-maker, I would like to share a daughter or two to bring back some of the glory days of BiggerPockets.

First off, the layout today, in my opinion, is not nearly as good or user-friendly as it used to be. Bigger Pockets used to have the top three trending forum discussions on the front page. The featured discussions drew people in and led to great engagement. If you land on the front page of BiggerPockets today, it's hard to even know that a forum exists. You have to go search for it. The things that are front and center are all of the sponsors. So you're not sure exactly what the website is about. It seems like a website that advertises versus the primary purpose of it back in the day was to provide information by investors for investors.

The search function has also changed quite a bit. It used to be very easy to search members by Location or by what they had in their bio according to what they did primarily. For example, if I was looking for a BIggerPockets member that lived in Mesa, Arizona, that was a wholesaler, It was easy to filter that and come up with a list of people in Mesa that we're wholesalers. Then I could send a direct message to them and ask them to add me to their wholesale list. I can also search for information in the forums according to post date. In other words, if I wanted to see who was talking about Costa Rica in the last three or four months, it was easy to search that out. But now it really doesn't have the same searchable filters or at least they don't work correctly.

The meet up map is no longer there. There used to be a map where you click on a state and then it would show you what meet ups were happening when they were happening. They got rid of that entirely. I've mentioned it a couple of times to people like @Scott Trench but nothing was changed to highlight meetups anymore. It's almost as if BiggerPockets couldn't monetize something then it stopped focusing on it, even if those features were really helpful for the BP community.

Those are a few of the things that I've seen change over the years that I think has lowered the website user experience. But I am interested in what any of the old timers have to say. Would you say that the BIggerPockets website layout Is better today than it was say 10 years ago? What do you miss about how The website used to be. Or what features does it have now that you like that it didn't used to have?

Member since 2009…..at the beginning we had a few knowledgable, experienced people and a lot of inexperienced, but their questions, comments, etc where REAL. In the last 2 years we’ve had the invasion of the “promotion” disguised as a real post, to the point whereI’d say more than half the posts are really bs.

The one thing that has stayed consistent is the large number of people who actually believe that they are going to be able to have success as a “wholesaler” with no experience, knowledge or capital. While their initiative to achieve financial and life success is admirable; their misunderstanding of the education, experience and capital required is glaring and obvious.

I also believe that BP has way too many specialized forums and hence many contributors never see most posts as they (as I) check only those in a few categories.

Private Mortgage Financing Partners, LLC

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Theresa HarrisPro Member

Member since 2019 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes

2mo

I haven't been around as long as most of you, but what I like about BP is the community helping each other. Providing their experiences and helping others. I don't want AI generated answers or advertizing disguised as a question.

2 Reply

Eric AugustynPro Member

Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 14 posts · 29 votes

2mo

Hi Shiloh & BP members on this thread - Your feedback is being heard and I agree with a lot of it. It was one of (if not the primary) reason I have come on board as the CEO last month. We have a mission internally and externally to bring back the OG culture of BP with 2026 tech. Our community exists to educate, empower, and instill confidence in the average American to build wealth through real estate. Few things I'd like to highlight:

- We are building a new community platform that will focus on connecting members from both a digital and IRL experience. The build kicked off last week and we have brought on an industry visionary (also been on the pod) to lead this effort. Announcement coming this week.

- We are aiming to have a Beta out in August where we will need feedback and participation to test the functionality.

- Please feel free to directly message me with feedback, I am more of a reader than a poster. We can't change everything overnight, but I will read and listen to all feedback.

- Real Estate is so lucky to have the BP community and it is an example for small business everywhere. Please note the BP team will be working tirelessly to do better.

Happy 4th, America 250, and look forward to meeting everyone at BPCON.

7 Reply

Ken M.
Investor · Get yourself trained before doing something inadvisable. · Member since 2024 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2mo
Quote from @Eric Augustyn:

Hi Shiloh & BP members on this thread - Your feedback is being heard and I agree with a lot of it. It was one of (if not the primary) reason I have come on board as the CEO last month. We have a mission internally and externally to bring back the OG culture of BP with 2026 tech. Our community exists to educate, empower, and instill confidence in the average American to build wealth through real estate. Few things I'd like to highlight:
- We are building a new community platform that will focus on connecting members from both a digital and IRL experience. The build kicked off last week and we have brought on an industry visionary (also been on the pod) to lead this effort. Announcement coming this week.
- We are aiming to have a Beta out in August where we will need feedback and participation to test the functionality.
- Please feel free to directly message me with feedback, I am more of a reader than a poster. We can't change everything overnight, but I will read and listen to all feedback.
- Real Estate is so lucky to have the BP community and it is an example for small business everywhere. Please note the BP team will be working tirelessly to do better.
Happy 4th, America 250, and look forward to meeting everyone at BPCON.

@Eric Augustyn: "I have come on board as the CEO last month."

Welcome and nice to meet you. You will be busy enough, but once you get settled in, could you have the tech department put in a better search feature? I know it consumes a lot of resources to index for a sort, but it will make the site useful. Longer engagement time.

A lot of people will appreciate getting current posts that relate to their question.

It would help if the search feature was adaptive and knew when a word was simply "mispelled" or had a regional difference name. Such as they search for the term "SFR" and it returns both "SFR" & "SFH". (SFR - single family residence and SFH - single family home)

Another aspect: if it is sortable by date and/or location. Like "SFR+rewired+permit+CA+2026"

Thanks and we wish you well in your new endeavor
0 Reply
Dan H.Pro Member
Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes
2mo
Quote from @Ken M.:

Quote from @Eric Augustyn:

Hi Shiloh & BP members on this thread - Your feedback is being heard and I agree with a lot of it. It was one of (if not the primary) reason I have come on board as the CEO last month. We have a mission internally and externally to bring back the OG culture of BP with 2026 tech. Our community exists to educate, empower, and instill confidence in the average American to build wealth through real estate. Few things I'd like to highlight:
- We are building a new community platform that will focus on connecting members from both a digital and IRL experience. The build kicked off last week and we have brought on an industry visionary (also been on the pod) to lead this effort. Announcement coming this week.
- We are aiming to have a Beta out in August where we will need feedback and participation to test the functionality.
- Please feel free to directly message me with feedback, I am more of a reader than a poster. We can't change everything overnight, but I will read and listen to all feedback.
- Real Estate is so lucky to have the BP community and it is an example for small business everywhere. Please note the BP team will be working tirelessly to do better.
Happy 4th, America 250, and look forward to meeting everyone at BPCON.

@Eric Augustyn: "I have come on board as the CEO last month."

Welcome and nice to meet you. You will be busy enough, but once you get settled in, could you have the tech department put in a better search feature? I know it consumes a lot of resources to index for a sort, but it will make the site useful. Longer engagement time.

A lot of people will appreciate getting current posts that relate to their question.

It would help if the search feature was adaptive and knew when a word was simply "mispelled" or had a regional difference name. Such as they search for the term "SFR" and it returns both "SFR" & "SFH". (SFR - single family residence and SFH - single family home)

Another aspect: if it is sortable by date and/or location. Like "SFR+rewired+permit+CA+2026"

Thanks and we wish you well in your new endeavor

Most forums I participate have basic search and advanced search. Basic search has only thread name or include thread contents as the only choice.
Advanced, you can pick to search for things like person, event, of forum contents. Forum contents allow user to select date range, author, forum topic, etc.
I can do fairly well using Google. Put “bigger pockets” in quotes. Example “bigger pockets” posts by “Ken m.” on “subject to” will likely turn up multi pages of results.
However, I should be able to search within the forum (every other forum I am on I do not need to go to Google to search. I suspect the first time I complained on the forum About BP’s search function was likely close to a decade ago. If it has improved any, it is hard for me to tell. Bad then and bad now.
0 Reply
Ken M.
Investor · Get yourself trained before doing something inadvisable. · Member since 2024 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2mo
Quote from @Dan H.:

Quote from @Ken M.:

Quote from @Eric Augustyn:

Hi Shiloh & BP members on this thread - Your feedback is being heard and I agree with a lot of it. It was one of (if not the primary) reason I have come on board as the CEO last month. We have a mission internally and externally to bring back the OG culture of BP with 2026 tech. Our community exists to educate, empower, and instill confidence in the average American to build wealth through real estate. Few things I'd like to highlight:
- We are building a new community platform that will focus on connecting members from both a digital and IRL experience. The build kicked off last week and we have brought on an industry visionary (also been on the pod) to lead this effort. Announcement coming this week.
- We are aiming to have a Beta out in August where we will need feedback and participation to test the functionality.
- Please feel free to directly message me with feedback, I am more of a reader than a poster. We can't change everything overnight, but I will read and listen to all feedback.
- Real Estate is so lucky to have the BP community and it is an example for small business everywhere. Please note the BP team will be working tirelessly to do better.
Happy 4th, America 250, and look forward to meeting everyone at BPCON.

@Eric Augustyn: "I have come on board as the CEO last month."

Welcome and nice to meet you. You will be busy enough, but once you get settled in, could you have the tech department put in a better search feature? I know it consumes a lot of resources to index for a sort, but it will make the site useful. Longer engagement time.

A lot of people will appreciate getting current posts that relate to their question.

It would help if the search feature was adaptive and knew when a word was simply "mispelled" or had a regional difference name. Such as they search for the term "SFR" and it returns both "SFR" & "SFH". (SFR - single family residence and SFH - single family home)

Another aspect: if it is sortable by date and/or location. Like "SFR+rewired+permit+CA+2026"

Thanks and we wish you well in your new endeavor

Most forums I participate have basic search and advanced search. Basic search has only thread name or include thread contents as the only choice.
Advanced, you can pick to search for things like person, event, of forum contents. Forum contents allow user to select date range, author, forum topic, etc.
I can do fairly well using Google. Put “bigger pockets” in quotes. Example “bigger pockets” posts by “Ken m.” on “subject to” will likely turn up multi pages of results.
However, I should be able to search within the forum (every other forum I am on I do not need to go to Google to search. I suspect the first time I complained on the forum About BP’s search function was likely close to a decade ago. If it has improved any, it is hard for me to tell. Bad then and bad now.
@Dan H.: Thanks for pointing that out.
I just checked "sort" and somehow I missed the memo of the upgrade.
It is better than I remember.

I gave up on it a long time ago.
It used to provide unsorted data from useless years that was double pathetic.
I'll try this and see if it meets my needs.
1 Reply

Shiloh LundahlPro Member

OP

Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes

2mo

@Eric Augustyn nice to meet you. Here is a suggestion that you can consider if you would like. Before you change a bunch of things with BiggerPockets, get a group of 20 or 30 of us old timers on a zoom call for a couple of hours and brainstorm some ideas of ways to bring back the glory days.

Of course, as the CEO, you don't need to do this. But I think getting some of the input from people that have been on the site and contributed to the forums over the last decade may give you some insight that otherwise you may not have about the site.

I'm sure that many of us would be happy to contribute some ideas if you would like.

480-206-1209 Podcast Guest on Show #287

0 Reply

JD MartinBusiness Member
Moderator
Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
2mo
Quote from @Shiloh Lundahl:

@Eric Augustyn nice to meet you. Here is a suggestion that you can consider if you would like. Before you change a bunch of things with BiggerPockets, get a group of 20 or 30 of us old timers on a zoom call for a couple of hours and brainstorm some ideas of ways to bring back the glory days.

Of course, as the CEO, you don't need to do this. But I think getting some of the input from people that have been on the site and contributed to the forums over the last decade may give you some insight that otherwise you may not have about the site.

I'm sure that many of us would be happy to contribute some ideas if you would like.

Be careful Eric - you're liable to end up with a Mega-Pool if you listen to this guy 🤣 (Shiloh's one of my friends so I can give him hell).
Podcast Guest on Show #243
Skyline Properties
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0 Reply
Shiloh LundahlPro Member
OP
Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
2mo

@JD Martin Which one?
480-206-1209 Podcast Guest on Show #287
1 Reply

Georgii Grigoriants

Real Estate Consultant · Member since 2025 · 133 posts · 84 votes

2mo

I'm still relatively new to BiggerPockets, so maybe I don't have the full picture yet.

But one thing I've noticed is that I don't think AI is the real issue.

AI simply exposed a problem that was already there. And sooner or later, it will become almost impossible to distinguish between human-written and AI-assisted posts anyway.

To me, the more interesting question is why low-value content becomes more visible than high-value knowledge.

Maybe the discussion shouldn't be about filtering text at all.

Maybe it should be about rewarding contribution.

The people who consistently answer questions, share real experience, and invest time into helping others naturally make a community stronger.

Whether they use AI to organize their thoughts or not feels much less important than the value they actually create.

Great communities don't grow because they have more content.

They grow because knowledgeable people keep finding reasons to contribute.

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The good ol’ days on BP

The good ol’ days on BP

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