Canada Forum Updates

Untappd might be taking hold a little here in Canada. I don't care for the format personally. It seems to be newbie drinkers who use it. Very simple review system but not helpful for the viewer in terms of detail.

 

Agree Todd, this site gives us more room to express our opinions and expand our thoughts. It's a sounding board, and should be considered as such for conversation. I have learned a lot here over the years.

 

I tell everyone this is still the best place to ‘waste time’ online discussing beer. The presence of brewers in the forums, various experts and historians, etc, makes it the only place to have a really good conversation about beer on the internet.

I think one way to recapture some of the users who have drifted away, or capture new ones, is through the trading forums which have changed a fair bit over the past couple years.

The number of Canadians with Kinek boxes just across the border seems to be growing by the day (Covid-19 times excepted). I‘ve been encouraging those on Facebook groups to come have a look at the trading forums here when ‘How do I get US beer?’ Questions are raised. So much safer than Instagram trading. @Electros and @Phyl21ca do a great job of promoting CANBIF on other sites too (Facebook groups, BarTowel forums, etc.). I know the latter so get a few new people to join, or re-join every six months or so.

I know for some, the problem is a chicken/egg one. There isn’t enough going on in the Canadian forums, so people don’t bother posting conversations.

It would be nice if the participation I experienced back in ‘14, ‘15 could be rekindled.

 

I for one pine for the days of the early 2010s. But I find myself so rarely drawn to a website now for some reason (I seriously don't know why).

 

BA should have made itself a usable app about 5-10 years ago. I don't care to spend time on my desktop using a forum website much more and trying to use BA on my phone really is a chore. Also putting Canada a few more clicks away sure didn't help. Cheers!

 

I use the site on mobile currently, and don't find it too awkward. An app would be nice, but for me it's not a must have.

 

I just noticed that all Canadian users are showing Canada as their location. Is this intentional? If so, I’m not sure it is helpful. @Todd Apologies if I missed an announcement here.

 

At the risk of nagging, is the plan going forward to just have ‘Canada’ as the location tag for all Canadian users? If so, I think this is a bad change. Interprovincial distribution is far more limited than it is in the US and not knowing in which province a user is located makes reaching out to people for specific reasons a real crapshoot.

I doubt this would be popular with any present Canadian user.

 

I think it would be much appreciated if they were returned. The Canadian BIF is running right now, and the ‘shipping west’ or shipping East’ hints are all but meaningless!

If it isn’t too much trouble, I know I’d appreciate it. Not just for this rather superficial reason, but it can be helpful in other regards.

Cheers. .

 

Any movement on listing Province again for Canadian users?

 

A suggestion to increase traffic is to show best of new Canadian beers, even if its based on low numbers. The top Canadian beers list is old news. Lots of great new Canadian breweries making a fuss and needing to attract reviews and excitement.

 

I've come back after a long time away from BA and I have noticed some drastic changes in the top beers list for Canada. I'm surprised, but I'm guessing a lot of it comes down to the amount of reviews? Relatively, Canadian beers don't have a lot of reviews, so when ones do, they shoot to the top.

 

Out of curiosity, how long were you away?

I feel like, other than the influx of Collective Arts beers to the list - likely due to the large US distribution footprint they enjoy - there have been only a few small changes over the past 5-6 years. So many of the breweries many Canadians would consider tops in their province are almost entirely absent (Barncat, Badlands, Temporal, Superflux, Bas Canada, Auval, etc.)