Should we bring back New Beer Sunday?

Thanks, I just asked that because I think I'm getting fewer likes and my posts are no worst than they used to be.

 

This is where I'm sitting. NBS was great for me. It felt special. I generally drink new beers all weekend (or did), but saved special ones or tastings for the NBS thread. Now that the thread is available two days, and the conversations aren't as connected, I've pretty much stopped sharing. It feels like WBAYDN, a great thread tradition, but not something I get the same connection with anymore.

+1

NBW was part of the reason I left the NBS BIF crowd. Maybe I'll rejoin someday. Just felt strange waking up to NBW one day with no warning that NBS was gone, especially considering the number of consecutive NBS.

FWIW, I really don't care either way anymore. NBS would have to come back full luster to get me to contribute. Something tells me I'd be reluctant to check it after NBW. Perhaps it's best to keep it NBW so those who are busy Sunday can participate.

 

That’s pretty much how I feel, too.

Appreciate the opportunity to throw some love at and mourn the old NBS thread, though. That NBS BIF, too, was something special.

 

I don't check NBW anymore. Just feels like a chore to catch up on all the posts when I log in Sunday. I was a perennial "like"er, so that may explain one "like".

What happened?

NBS is how I got into reviewing beers. I'd post a review, formatted with photo above, and ask for feedback on making it smoother - the review, formatting, descriptors, etc.. I was terrified to write back then, but fostered a love for reviewing after those early weekends of feedback.

 

I wanted to share this as a strictly NBW participator...

For me personally it certainly feels like that I still feel there are plenty of connections and discussions happening. That is partly why I've enjoyed participating so much since I've found it.

I obviously can't speak for strictly Sunday, but from my one sided perspective it certainly feels different, in a connected community good way, than any other thread IMO.

It is interesting to read so many perspective. No matter what happens though I'm here to stay no matter what day/s its on.

This is what NBW did for me, never thought to actually review and add them to BA database until I started participating in that thread.

 

You can't force things like tradition, or trust, in anything, but especially a social media beer site. You can put the framework together, but if something special happens, it's because of contributions you don't control. New Beer Sunday had that something special. Whatever made that happen is probably gone.

Yoko broke up the band, man, and there's no getting it back. There are, however, other bands, it's just that some of them are Wings.

 

I'm in the same boat and you put it better than I could've. All I want to say is it bums me out and, although it sounds trite and hyperbolic to say so, the magic of NBS was that it was like a relic from another time in the internet's history. As much as I miss it and as much as I am curious to see what eventually happens, that cozy, thoughtful, familiar feeling of virtual friends hanging out all day talking is not coming back. The way people use and perceive of the internet as a communication tool has changed. Or so says I at least...

 

I remember the switch and I remember being pretty disgruntled about it. Also, I do remember this happening and I agree that this did more damage than the change from one day to two days (and sometimes three):

The traditionalist in me did not like seeing the "consecutive Sundays" streak end one bit, but that I could adjust to. When we stopped (or cut down) the content of the posts (I'd often post a tune or something else that seemed kinda fun) the environment seemed a bit less familial, but not horrible. Not having a dedicated host - hmmm - that I think is a huge change that I hadn't thought much about, but it really isn't fair to expect someone (or multiple someones) being up early enough with a new beer in hand to kick off the thread. Maybe the kickoff post doesn't need to include a new beer? Or that kick off post should try to capture the "flavor" of the old - reiterate the "rules", maybe a little anecdotal story to get things going - some reminder of why we all participate in the thread.

It's still by far and away my favorite thread. I hardly post on WBAYDN anymore - I haven't even read the thread in months. But...what has happened to me is I think on Saturday "yeah I'll post tomorrow" and then something stupid happens on Sunday and I've missed the boat - that has been all too frequent lately.

I've never felt anything but welcome once I started to participate in NBS/NBW and I will continue to do so in whatever format it takes. My reviews are what they are - what I taste and think in the moment of consuming the beer. Sometimes I'll relate a little of where things are in my life, but I lead a pretty tame existence - NBS/W is often the highlight of my week, so let's leave it at that, eh? I'll save a beer specifically for NBS/W - and it is part of the reason I have such a log jam in my house of beers that NEED to be drunk, but I don't drink in volume, so they sit (I mean, I still have Dan Paquette beers in my cupboard...). Yes - people do need to be reminded once in a while to add content when it looks like a WBADYN miss-post, but I'd hardly call the NBW/S environment "intimidating".

A "style Saturday" might be interesting but may also have limited participation due to availability of certain styles in some areas. And wouldn't that be redundant with the on line tasting threads?

I voted leave it as NBW (maybe restore the "count" to include the previous NBS streak?). I can't say why I voted that way since everything I have said would indicate a reversion to NBS as my preference. In theory, it creates opportunity by adding that second day. The numbers don't seem to back that theory, so maybe rather than attracting new participants, some OG types have been lost? For now, I'll stay in the no big deal either way camp as long as the thread exists in some form.

 

Memory is strong when dealing with charming folks. It's an old Southern and Hudson Valley trait.

 

Hey now,I liked wings. Maybe adding linda to the band wasn't a great idea but...

 

That is a mirror of my experience and thinking. We can really appreciate the past without mourning that things change. It is always inevitable. After all this is only a wonderful repository of like-minded folks exchanging ideas and sometimes opinions. Cheers to everyone!

 

I like the option of either day or both days. The change has certainly been responsible for higher rate of reviews from me.

 

I didn't even know NBS / NBW existed until ~Jan 2020. Since then, I've been a fairly consistent participant, but I obviously lack the history so many of you have. My two cents? I voted for NBW, as I find it a heck of a lot more convenient to have that flexibility. Will I lose any sleep if it goes back to NBS? Not a wink. I may post less frequently, as I don't always have a beer on Sunday, but that's ok.

The passages I quoted above do echo my thoughts on engagement however. It wasn't long after I started posting that the clarification / crack-down (depending on your point of view) was communicated regarding content. Are comments on other things going on in your life "allowed"? Yes. Nobody said you couldn't add some color to your post. That said, any time I do so, I do so with a bit of trepidation, and I'm definitely wary of commenting on anything somebody said that wasn't beer related. Again, that's fine, it's a new beer thread after all, not a "tell me about yourself" thread, but I think it does limit engagement, which in turn impacts participation. Not sure where the balance is.

Thankfully, I participate in the BIFs, which is where I feel like I actually get to know people. If I'm being 100% honest, it's the people that draw me in, not the beer or the technical proficiency of the reviews. Do I love when I see a review that makes me think "damn, I really need to try that beer"? Yes. Are the reviews alone what keep me coming back? Not really. The review means a heck of a lot more to me if I feel some connection with the person behind it. That probably puts me at odds with the spirit behind why the thread exists, and that's ok. I'm supportive of whatever the goals of the thread are. We all have a choice as to whether or not to participate. I just know that for me, I enjoy having the personal stuff mixed in with the beer talk.

 

I voted for continuing NBW, even if there was something special with NBS. Kind of too late to go back anyway. And the point of including people is a major one.

 

If NBW gets roughly the same number of posts as NBS going back to Sunday doesn't really serve a purpose. It may even reduce posts by people who sample a new beer on Saturday and a new beer on Sunday.

Our semi-regular, user generated style tastings seem to work well and I would hate to see those diminished.

A weekly or biweekly tasting devoted to a single beer or brand might not be a bad idea (BA marketing potentials?) without changing the nature and allure of our ongoing style tastings.

Easy X-posts between WBAYDN, NBW, and BOW (Beer Of the Week) would be great and create more cross content as BA's go for the hat trick

 

FWIW, it seems to me that now the only "rule" regularly "enforced" (in a mild "why don't you tell us about it" sort of way) is to include some kind of comments about why you liked/didn't like the beer. It doesn't need to be a review, just a few sentences about it. That's the main purpose of the thread.

I've seen some commentary here and there about no videos.

That's about it, I think.

 

The threads in this general vein I like are the irregular Online Tastings and NBW.

I used to participate in WBAYDN, but I stopped. I found it to be too much of a chore to keep up with, and if I'm not keeping up with it, what's the point? (Also, it was encouraging me to drink too much (that's my problem, not the threads...))

I cross-posted in WBAYDN for the recent memorial, but that was the first time in a long time.

An annual single-beer day for select beers might be interesting. Duval Day. BCBS Day (although for this one, I'd prefer waiting a week after launch, since I won't go out and chase the first arrivals... but, again, that's just me), etc. Or, go for the dive, and have a Bud Day!

Focusing on a style is better done with the online tastings, IMO.

 

As a long-term participant of NBS there is zero doubt in my mind that with the switch from NBS to NBW there was a notable change to this weekly thread and a change not for the better IMO. A few other long-term NBS participants (I tagged a few below) also expressed similar sentiments.

Was the fact that this weekly thread was expanded from one day to two days the root cause for the change in the feel of this thread? Or was it the other mandated changes (e.g., the thread is no longer started by a dedicated BA(s), etc.) the root cause for the change? Or maybe a combination of all of the above?

In my perfect world NBS would have been left as is with no tampering but we are where we are now.

Will changing NBW back to a single day (i.e., NBS) recapture the specialness that this weekly thread had prior to the change? Or is the ‘damage’ already done and there is no going back?

FWIW what I missed most about the change of NBS to NBW is that some of the regular participants of the weekly NBS threads seemed to stop participating. This aspect feels like a loss to me personally.

Cheers!

@DrStiffington @Roguer @rgordon @bluejacket74 @meefmoff @ovaltine @thebeers @Whyteboar @dennisthreeninefiveone @DEdesings57 @Harrison8 @cjgiant @seakayak @TheDoctor