I’ll chime in: 1. I use my phone 100% of the time for BA. The current layout works fine for my purposes. My purposes generally consist of: 2. Yapping in WBAYDN when I’m in a mood to have a real-ish time “conversation” with a bunch of people all over the world drinking all sorts and types of beers. 3. I rarely use NBW because I try new beers any day of the week I get some, so waiting until the weekend isn’t something I do. 4. I hit up a couple appreciation threads if I want some specific ideas and conversation about the mainly two styles I drink. 5. I look at Trading often, and am relatively active with trading. 6. Beer reviews. 7. There are so many other threads and topic structures that I have never even tried to explore. It’s too broad for my uses, but others might enjoy that amount of variety. I’m like that with menu options, too. In the end, where ever something lands, I’ll find it.
I'm usually one of those quietly complaining about change. But I love The Bar and was sad to see it go. I thought it was great organization of the main page.
Personally I’m happy with the current format. I didn’t love “the bar”. What we have right now is simple, and highlights what is actually being discussed. IMO.
I have become increasingly busy with work and home life over the last 2ish years, and as a result mostly stopped posting on any type of appreciation/WBAYDN threads. That said, I still check them when I can. But, The Bar is out of the way, because I am not seeking out those threads; I am visiting them as I look for new threads/posts otherwise. I previously pretty much stopped visiting those threads when they went to The Bar, and I suspect I will again if it comes back. That’s the problem with The Bar for me - it ONLY has those threads, so I don’t go there because I am not interested in ONLY looking at those threads. But, if they are mixed in with other discussion/topic threads, it is OK. I go from one to the next and so on.
But that's the problem. As of this post, 15 out of 20 threads on the first page are those threads. There's no mix. And I'm sure it's discouraging for many.
Update: Read the feedback so far, got some thoughts from the mod team, slept on it. I'm going to begin to bring back The Bar forum and supporting updates to roughly where things were in November, plus some additional tweaks to help with discovery. After that, we can use this thread to gather additional feedback and make future improvements as needed. I understand that it's not the best solution for some, but I do believe that it's best for most. Please keep the feedback coming. Thanks!
The Bar is open, again! https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/forums/the-bar.68/ Callout on homepage with the current WBAYDN, NBW, and Online Tasting thread (if one exists) for logged in users, who can also follow the forum to display other recent threads from The Bar under "Join the Discussion!" Visitors will see recent threads from The Bar under "Join the Discussion!" Subnav on homepage Link in footer of the site Forum sits at the main level now vs. a subforum under Beer Talk (we'll give it try, otherwise we can easily switch it back to a subforum) Welcome to The Bar! pinned thread with more info Beer Talk is looking good: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/forums/beer-talk.39/ That's it for now. Going to let the updates settle in for a bit before making any further adjustments. Thanks!
@Todd - I can see some logic in putting the "hauls" thread in "the bar" but I assume it's also a bit of a misfit there. I wonder if that's the first place someone would look for that thread. What were your thoughts on including it?
Would it make sense to create a subforum of The Bar that has all of the locked threads to improve discoverability of the open threads? (Open threads current go to pages 3 and 4, buried in a sea of locked threads.) Or maybe the new forum software will allow implementing a compound sort (open then most recent) as default?
I probably, at this point, do not have an tenure to comment. Anyhoo. I find the site very easy to navigate to find what I am interested in. I am not confused by the headings or how to find where I want to post my comments. My opinion is, without trying to step on any toes, is that the site that was started in 1996 by two brothers just to appreciate beer has outgrown it's original intention. Not necessarily a bad thing... but you cannot please the masses. So stop trying. Keep it simple. The good outcome is that the site has become an entity in and of itself. Something no matter how big or how small cannot be destroyed due to the members that tend to it. The site is harmless. It is an outlet. It is a community that has no intention of going away. Overthinking it all for me becomes Gobblydegook. I just want to have a beer and socialize. Cheers to the beer drinkers that make this site exist. And thanks for allowing me to post my 2 cents. post script. You could employ a spell check feature if so inclined
