Should we bring back New Beer Sunday?

I was typing my post as you made your post and I too chose the verbiage of "feel" to describe the difference from NBS to the change of NBW.

Unlike you, as a long-term NBS participant, I very much ascribe this change of "feel" from changing the format to NBW. For emphasis, as I discussed above, I am uncertain whether it was the specific change of 2 days vs. 1 day is the root cause but there is zero doubt in my mind that the difference in "feel" is from the decision to change from NBS to NBW.

I already discussed that I wish this change was never made but...

Cheers!

 

One of the things that brought me to NBS was @cavedave and@UtopiaJane as the hosts. I could always count on them for a good, entertaining opening discussion. I think that is what @cjgiant and I tried to do when we hosted NBS, and I think we succeeded (for the most part, anyway).
I don't think it makes too much difference whether it is one day or two, but it would be a good idea to bring back the hosts.

 

First off- please restrict any regularly scheduled tasting threads the either beer or brand. The nature of our semi-regular style tastings give them the feel of an event.

How about a thread every other Saturday devoted to tastings and conversation about a single beer (family where there are variations) or style versions of a single brewery (IPA's from Lagunitas)

Which would quickly become New IPA Saturday and greatly reduce the number of NBS postings. You would simply be splitting up the posts without drawing in additional viewers and posters.

Which is why I like weekends, you don't have to drink radically different new beers within a few hours. Several times I've had a new to me beer on Saturday and a very different new to me beer on Sunday.
This past weekend I had an excellent hefe on Saturday and a mediocre raspberry shandy on Sunday. I would have hated to have to drink one after the other.

#1 requirement for a host-the ability and willingness to pop open a 12% IIIPA or BBA stout at 8 AM

 

Jack, do you think it was the change from one day to two that drove that change in "feel", or the tightening of things to keep it more strictly beer focused? If I recall correctly, those two changes were made around the same time (give or take).

I remember one of the first NBS threads I participated in (possibly kicked off by @lordofthewiens? had everybody sharing pictures of their pets along with their beer reviews and there was tons of interaction in that thread, both about the beer and the pets. I think that type of interaction would be frowned upon now.

Side note: Huge thank you to the moderators and those who kick off these threads. I think all of us contributing to this thread would agree that you have an unenviable task, and you can't please everybody! I appreciate @Todd asking the question, and all the work you all do. I also appreciate the fact that we can all have a reasonable "conversation" about this without going completely off the rails, as so many things online seem to do.

 

As I discussed in my prior post I do not have a good answer here.

What I do know is that when the thread was NBS it was a one day thread and within the existing format (e.g., dedicated hosts, etc.) there was indeed a specialness to this weekly thread. It genuinely felt like a community.

I started New Beer Weekend #2 with the following lead-in:

"There is an old saying: The only constant is change.

I was a BIG fan of the ‘old’ New Beer Sunday (NBS) thread but we are now in a time of change."

Even at week 2 I had an unsettling feeling about the change of NBS to NBW and over the past 40+ weeks that unsettling feeling never went away.

As I remarked in my prior post maybe "the ‘damage’ already done and there is no going back?"

There is an old saying of "you can't put the genie back in the bottle" and perhaps that applies here?

Cheers!

 

Just to emphasize (again) the change from NBS to NBW was not just an expansion of the number of days (i.e., 1 to 2) but there were other changes as well (e.g., no longer dedicated BA(s) to start off the weekly thread).

Cheers!

 

I think this is a good point. In person, conversations are rarely linear and the most interesting things are said from going off on tangents and being off-topic. I get that the mods don’t want things going way off the rails, but with many of us interacting here for years, it’s only natural to banter and go off on tangents, especially in a thread like NBS or WBAYDN. But like I already posted, I also think it has something to do with the Sunday to all weekend change.

 

Well said and yes I am definitely one of those who has stop participating.....

 

And I am not a fan of this.

And needless to say you were not the only BA who made a decision to stop participating. A shame IMO.

Cheers!

 

I do wonder how many of the BAs who are for NBW are relative "Newer" members compared with those who are for NBS?

 

A few NBWs ago I believe there was a brief discussion about how the beer world has changed and how that might have affected NBS/W. Very generalized idea: is there too much new out there?

Also, in this thread there have been numerous mentions of ideas like the “feel” of the thread, that change is inevitable, and restrictions based on “the rules” which some have, well… felt.

I wonder if there isn’t a combination of these things - if the impression is that a participant has to focus on the beer (as some have felt) and the beer being focused on by itself doesn’t (or even can’t) be a common tie (local brewer, limited distribution, brewery only, whatever), might that also affect the draw of the thread?

And if so, can anything be done about that? One or two days probably can’t change it, which might make answering the poll question harder for some.

Also @JackHorzempa - purely for historical accuracy, I’m 99% sure the two changes did happen separately, but fairly close to each other, especially considering the tenure of NBS.

 

The mods can likely determine this.

I am all for 'new' BAs joining the weekly thread. To my mind there was never any negative thoughts about 'new' folks joining the old NBS community and for the most part the NBS BAs were welcoming with posts like "welcome to NBS" and such.

I will once again state that I am uncertain whether going from 1 to 2 days was the "root cause" of why the 'feel' of the weekly thread has changed but there is zero doubt that a change of 'feel' as occurred.

There has been discussion above on the topic of "tightening of the banter/off topic stuff". Was this the cause for you to decide to stop participating on this weekly thread?

Cheers!

 

Well depending on how you define "fairly chose" this could be a difficult 'nut to crack'.

Prior to the change to NBW did you notice that certain BAs who would regularly participate no longer did? I have no data/statistics to back me up but it sure seemed to me that when it changed from NBS to NBW there was a change in this aspect.

Oh, well. We are where we are? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cheers!

 

Quick check, March 2020 we went to needing a beer to open NBS. July 2020 was first NBW. We’ll both have to guess how many found the first change the deciding factor or if the camel’s back was merely weakened in March to not being able to withstand July’s straw.

 

FWIW I am of the opinion that requiring that the person who opened the thread also discuss a beer would not be off-putting to NBS participants.

Perhaps @DEdesings57 and @Harrison8 can express whether this specific change was 'onerous' for them?

Cheers!

 

You raise some great questions. It did cross my mind when selecting a beer for NBS that I should reach for something not just sold out of a local taproom. At this point, I pretty much only buy local beers.

As far as "feel", I can't recall if it was NBS, but sometime around then one or two of my posts were removed for discussing running. I recall thinking I would subsequently post less in those threads to avoid my account getting banned. What I didn't realize at the time is how that interaction, along with some general complaints I have about this forum, would reduce my usage of the forum as a whole. Further weakening my use is when NBS BIF members started stepping out - a group I pointed at as the reason I've remained on BA. At the end of the day, a single NBS post of mine could take 30 minutes. That's everything from taking the photo, to writing a review, formatting, and proof reading. If I am unable to discuss the anecdote at the start of my post, or interact over shared music recommendations at the end of the post, then the review may as well be shared directly to the database, as the level of interaction will remain the same between the two.

I also think it just sorta soured me that NBS, something I talked up to my friends and family in person, was suddenly gone one Saturday morning when NBW showed up. Should this have soured me? No, but it left a bitter feeling.

I also didn't realize @JackHorzempa enjoyed my posts. That's cool to read. I put a lot of time into my NBS contributions, so glad someone drew some joy from them.

EDIT: The opener of the thread sharing a beer review didn't really reduce my enjoyment of the thread. I understand why this was instated, if the door is open for anyone to open the thread, you don't want someone kicking it off every week at 12:01 just to 'start it', but that change in specific didn't contribute to my change in behavior (at least to my knowledge.)

 

I did indeed enjoy your posts. I enjoyed reading about your thoughts of the new beer you were discussing. I also enjoyed reading whatever you wanted to share that day.

I am repeating myself but it was posts like yours which created a genuine sense of community. The new NBW just 'feels' different from when we interacted in NBS 'back in the day'.

Cheers!

 

I certainly noticed a shift in tone once the change occurred, just something felt off about it and it wasn't the same. I also feel that while moving it to two days gives more people a chance to participate it took away from the "uniqueness" of having it only on only Sundays. The build up to Sundays was part of the fun because it was only on that one day. I recall many Saturday nights actually saving the news beers I bought specially just to share them with the community on Sundays. Having new beers on say both Saturday and Sundays feels anticlimactic. It just felt more unique, personal and special having it only the one day to me. And there had formed a really special set of BAs who you always knew where going to be there when you showed up and I always thought that was pretty damn awesome.

 

I agree, I just used those words to indicate that change in hosting (and a reinforcing of the guidelines) versus the other which was purely an extension change, as I recall.