Are there too many "appreciation" threads?

I didn’t count, but it seemed like there were more yesterday evening. It also seemed to have brought attention back to the IPA Appreciation thread and a few others that hadn’t been active in weeks.

 

Can there really be too many threads?
After all, you don't have to click on it.

 

Let people come together and find common ground with beer.

 

Firmly with the nay sayers on this one.

If I were to start an appreciation thread I would place it in the appropriate region.

Now for some more Kalsarikannit.

 

As it should, let's face it IPAs are the BEST

 

I love the appreciation threads.

I hate the endless double-triple etc. posts.

I'd prefer you pick the BEST thread for a particular post and leave it at one.

That said...I'm hitting like on all those m'fers as long as you post a pic. Even if it's quadrupel (pun intended) posted.

No pic? No like. I'm a visual learner, I guess.

 

I get where you’re coming from—but what is the BEST thread for a 12-year-old, Northwest-brewed barleywine that I was “drinking now” earlier today, which also happened to be during Cellaruary? That’s totally subjective, no? That beer rightfully belongs equally in:

• WBAYDN
• WNWBAYDN
• Barleywine appreciation
• Cellaruary

Knowing that different people look at different threads, and not everyone looks at all threads, I choose to post it in all of them (though in the case of 2012 Arctic Devil today I think I might have posted that one previously in barleywine appreciation so didn’t post it again this time there). But seriously, what is the “best” thread for that beer? There is no correct answer, it meets the criteria for all four equally. So I say, there’s nothing wrong with covering my bases.

If you don’t like seeing the same beer posted in three or four threads, then I leave it to you to choose the one you think is “best” and “like” that one only. But don’t ask me to choose which thread most BAs would want to see my beer in, that’s an impossible task. “All of the above” sometimes is the correct answer on a multiple-choice test.

Cheers!

 

At the moment, out of the 21 threads on the first page in Beer Talk, 7 are “appreciation” threads (so about 1/3rd). But in counting them, it occurred to me that what makes a thread an appreciation thread isn’t clear-cut, and therefore the option of relocating them might require some fuzzy decision making. I bet some people wouldn’t have counted 7 like me. (I’m not suggesting that fuzziness doesn’t already exist in all of the current thread groupings.)

In the first post of the “Oldies but Goodies” thread, @jonphisher was saying that his thread is an “appreciation thread” - even though it isn’t in name (this year) and isn’t style specific. By that logic, one could also say that the weekly “New Beer Weekend” thread is an appreciation thread (since it’s just the other side of the “oldies” coin).

I didn’t count either of those threads in my 7.

Would one of the style tasting threads go in an “appreciation” thread section? If so, then what about the current Cellaruary? If the “Hamm’s Appreciation Thread” was initially named “Show us your Hamm’s beer and stuff” instead, would people here have thought of it as yet another “appreciation thread?”

Just a little food for thought before a potential change.

 

If any change was made I think it should be pretty narrow in scope—just threads that are celebrating/appreciating a specific style or brand. Oldies but Goodies turns the focus on tried-and-true classics, taking a break from the attention given to the shiniest new toy that is so prevalent in the beer community. Cellaruary is a limited-time, regular feature thread, similar to New Beer Weekend, except it’s annual rather than weekly (I don’t recall if it’s been done before, but I assume it will be done every February going forward) that I’m starting to think of as an early “spring cleaning” thread for beer.

Your point about how threads are named—and perhaps also how they evolve as people post responses—is a good one. There would have to be some wiggle room and I trust the mods to make the right decision.

The point for me is that if a separate forum were created for appreciation threads, those who really enjoy them would need only to click a button/check a box next to “follow this forum” and literally nothing would change in their BA experience. For others who want to see more diverse content on their “home” page (whatever it’s called) this would happen automatically. I don’t feel particularly strongly about it either way but I do understand why the question was raised.

 

I can only speak through my experience, but believe others are likely in the same boat. I started participating on New Beer Sunday about four years ago, and What Beer Are You Drinking Now occasionally after I retired and regularly after the government mandated lockdowns as a way to pass the boring months of staying at home or going to grocery stores. I like the comradery in both threads and have always cross-post between the two on weekends. The third component I'll cross post are the style and beer tastings held several to a dozen times a year.

Saison was the first appreciation thread established a few years ago, and that is the one I enjoy because the style is rare and there is good conversation and I get good recommendations for other offerings in that seldom discussed style here. I really don't post beers in the other threads often beyond perhaps a weekday rating, as I feel ratings are more appreciated beyond WBAYDN than that audience. But I enjoy reading through and discussing particular beers or trends in the style threads I really enjoy.

In terms of "whoring for likes", I've jokingly referred to my cross-posts at times in an attempt at humor, but my posts in the respective threads are completely independent. I'd be fine and post in the same exact manner if there were no "like" option on this board. It is irrelevant to me in any of the content I post. I just like discussing beer and this is my primary outlet as my personal friends don't give a rats ass about it. They are lifelong Miller Lite and recent White Claw adoptees, plus spirits and wine, and aren't regularly trying any "fancy, expensive, too strong craft beer" while going blotto on bourbon.

 

It's obviously the "cellar reviews" thread. And I can't wait to read your thoughts there, right

 

I don’t care about likes either and it’s not why I do what I do. The point of BA is to share our thoughts and experiences related to beer, so when I do that I cast the widest net possible. I don’t actually spend a lot of time reading through other people’s posts in those threads but I appreciate that they take the time to do it—in those threads I tend to be more of a drive-by poster but that’s purely a product of how much time I choose to spend on BA, and where. If I post a beer I’m drinking and someone asks me my opinion I’m happy to oblige, and I almost always reply; I just don’t tend to engage in as much of the discussion as I could, and that’s just a personal choice based on how much time I have and how I want to spend it. Much of the time that I’m on BA my wife and/or daughter is sitting next to me on the sofa and I think it would get old for them fast if I was constantly typing on my phone instead of engaging with them (though my daughter, now 17, spends a lot more time in her room and when she’s with us she’s on her phone 95% of the time).

 

I didn’t even know about folders or threads like WBAYDN or NBS, held outside the Great Lakes forum, for years after my sign up. Like you, I had minimal time beyond logging beers and seeing what was going on in Chicago.

I probably spend too much time here, but I don’t work anymore, so can now enjoy participating and reading the contributions of others in these threads beyond Great Lakes. That’s when I discovered and started participating in WBAYDN, and I’m still behind on hundreds of days I’ll likely never get to. I also still need to cut and paste hundreds of reviews here.

There is just too much content to follow regularly, especially if people have other significant responsibilities such as work and raising children still at home. I just try to stick with what I’m interested, which is already a challenge with the time involved.

 

Hey, to each their own

 

I would support separating out some of what I, at least, think of as key threads, like WBAYDN, and any special events, like Cellaruary, so that they are always front and centre when you click on the forums tab. If people enjoy the appreciation threads I think they should stay. It is optional to participate.

 

I enjoy appreciation threads very much. I think it will be better for them, and the site if a new forum is added specifically dedicated to appreciation threads.

 

I don’t care one way or another. Today is the first time I ever noticed how many there are.

 

I'm in the idc group. They don't bother me none. I think it's a good idea for styles that aren't as popular or for controversial styles where theres potential for discussion.

 

He's only a regular ole Poo-Bah. He better kneel and kiss the muthafuckin' ring...show some respeck!

 

Most of the time I do . I was drinking Lager for 40 years in Germany and totally fed up with it when i discovered IPAs...