Official Northeast Merger Discussion Thread

There are *literally* eight threads on the main page that haven't been responded to since Saturday. If the speed of this forum is too much for you guys to keep track of or if putting (Connecticut) in the 'Beer Shop Finds' thread title is too much trouble, message boards probably are not for you.

 

New England - we would formally like to introduce you to NY’s resident rain man. Yes on first glance (and subsequent ones) he has minimal social skills. BUT - he has an encyclopaedic knowledge of every NY (state) brewery and has been an invaluable resource to many a visitor.

 

Having no patience for whiny, annoying people on the internet =/= lack of social skills.

 

Fair man - but @meefmoff is a cool dude, very even-keeled / thoughtful. I don't think it was whining - just his first comments in a thread set up for discussing the merge (on a regional level).Let's put our best foot forward!

 

If it has to be explained and justified to your customers how your improvement makes something better (even if it actually does), then it's not an improvement.

That's Marketing 101.

And this seems to be the case since the majority of posts are against the change. And the survey indicates 75% of the people don't like it, 19% don't care, and 6% (13 people) like it.

 

Oh I have no doubt he is, and I'll be the first to admit I'm impatient and quicker to voice that than most, I've just honestly been flabbergasted at how people look at this as some seismic change within their online lives. It's not that different!

And it can afford people the chance to talk to others on here (though me calling people whiners is obviously not the best example of that) and learn about places they likely wouldn't have just staying on the previous forum.

Point is, let's take the good (of which there is plenty) from the merging and all rally around a point of easy agreement: Wegman's is the best grocery store.

 

Surveys 101: People are always much quicker to vocalize what they dislike than what they like.

And I'm not even arguing that it's an overall improvement, just that it's really not much functionally different as one forum than as two.

 

I prefer Manhattan, not even close to me.
*ducks and runs*

 

My not needed take.

I actually like the fact I can access some of my favorite breweries (yes, they’re in New England) threads within the same forum as the brewery threads closer to home. If I can get to the Fox Farm, Schilling, Jack’s Abby, etc threads without clicking to another forum than im all for it.

Does it really make geographical sense? Nah. But, who cares?

New England and mid-Atlantic form like Voltron and shit on the rest of the countries breweries. We’re number one! We’re number one! We’re number one!

Yep, I said it.

 

Would people be more willing to embrace this change if it were framed as “this is a very small (or no) inconvenience to user experience and we think that it might increase discussion” instead of how most people have framed it: “what’s the benefit to me, personally?” Not every format change is intended to personally and directly benefit you. I didn’t assume that this was a big, positive change which is why I’m “indifferent” on it.

It probably would have helped. But I’m sure we would still also get “old crazy aunt vibes” from the people who loudly complain that they’re quitting the internet whenever Facebook makes minor adjustments to their interface. Some people just get weirdly upset by tech format changes (and then end up adapting anyway and forget about it).

 

Is it this chair!?!



Cheers!

P.S. The above chair was actually used to save a space for a Tired Hands beer release.

 

Yes, I think I would agree with this.

I like posts like this that point out why the change is good (well potentially is good).

They also tend to have a solid craft beer selection.

Both good points.

 

Really was an excellent Ace Ventura reference on here...

“Yesssss....”

followed up with a cannibal corpse set

 

Also, their is still a “New England breweries in planning” thread in the Northeast page that involves the mid coast.

trying to process this

 

I think that is how Todd framed it, more or less. Any interface change is presumably meant to either make things easier and/or change user behavior to something that is more desirable for the website owner or for the community at large. From his post it seemed that merging the threads was because many of the forums didn't have sufficient traffic (he mentioned Europe specifically). So the goals are to increase conversations which seems very logical.

Any delineation of forums is a delicate balance, too narrow and you won't get much activity, too broad and you get too much activity and conversations get lost. Obviously many posts in this thread think the delineation for the Northeast is too broad. I've made my opinion clear but at the end of the day any individual opinion is irrelevant. Hopefully @Todd has criteria to determine if this change is a success or not. Hopefully that criteria looks at at least two variables, 1. does this change increase conversations, and 2. does it increase conversations beyond just the usual busy threads (if Tree House and Other Half are the only threads that get more traffic then I personally don't find that beneficial, it should increase overall conversations). If the conversations continue to be good (and local) then it really doesn't matter how the regions are split. Beyond that, to paraphrase @IGaveYouPower, its all just bitching and moaning

 

Its all New England now brother!

 

Ohhh that's where it's from.

Was this scene always in the movie? I felt like it was added later on.

 

Is being a busy thread a good thing if it's just busy? Busy doesn't equate to quality for me. There are plenty of busy threads on here that are shit. For me, this one is/has become that. How much longer can this thread topic be discussed?

Love it, hate it, or indifferent, I don't think there is really anything else to go over. Sure, it's created a conversation, pages and posts, but it's not that good or interesting.