ISO:FT Board: "whales" only?

Yeah, it's gotten quite ridiculous. I have resorted to skimming a few times a week and plan on only really using it to post an ISO...

Maybe sometime in the future a separate board could be posted based on bottle limits? Would that be ridiculous? Maybe a shelf ISO:FT forum and a "whale" forum? Probably a nightmare to moderate that and define lines...

 

I can't imagine ever having a separate forum for "whale" trades. Just gotta use the search function if you're looking for something or post an ISO. I know the frustration you guys speak of, though.

 

I don't know about the prevalence of whales, but I've mostly stopped using ISO:FT because such a high proportion of the offers seem ridiculous and it's gotten so hard to tell what's reasonable and/or getting done.

 

This may be only me but I don't trade for "lesser beers" for a couple of reasons.

1) At this point in my beer life I have good trade partners or beer bros in most of the hot spots that will gopickitupformebro on any IPA's or not limited stufff.

2) We have so many good beers on the shelf here it doesn't make sense to pay for shipping to swap a decent 90 rated ipa from MN with a decent 90 rated IPA from elsewhere.

3) I've tried most things that I've wanted to by now. I'm never ISO pliny or heady because I've had them and I no longer need to worry about that precious tick. If there's a smaller beer in a certain area that I want to try and I don't have a beer bro in that area I'll just wait until I make a bigger trade with someone in that region and request the other beer as an expansion of that trade. Example: I want to try Westbrook Gose - I make a trade with someone for the next wicked weed limited release and ask nicely that they throw in some Gose. Bam, two things I wanted to try, one shipping charge.

 

Always helpful to post a "what's getting done for beer "x" thread in this forum.

 

These are unfortunately of limited use, as people seldom indicate clearly when a trade took place, and relative values can change radically over time (e.g. it takes way, way more to get a KBBS or VSB today than it did two years ago).

 

I'd gladly trade for more lesser than "whale" beers but all anybody talks about anymore is whales, so I don't even know about these other beers existing

 

Don't wanna be a pooper, but why would you trade shelf for shelf...ie buy shelf beer, get shipping supplies, pay for shipping, wait 4-5 days for beer, then drink....when you can just buy local shelf and drink? It is too much of a hassle to only trade shelf beers...you're better of just drinking locally.

As mentioned above, if I want something off the shelf I ask for it during an expansion...4Beans being the latest one for me.

 

You could apply that same logic to whale beers. Why go through all the hassle of shipping your whales and waiting for new whales in the mail, when you could just drink your local whale beers that you already had? I'm sure you have an answer for this, and your answer can probably be applied to shelf beers as well.

 

The answer is that it is fun to try different beers.

 

I do drink my local whales but, I also trade my extras for others I cannot get my hands on myself. The whole point of trading for said whale is because my local breweries don't make a Maple Bacon Coffee Porter...and their locals don't make Xocoveza in Bourbon Barrels...though I wish I can say they did! Lol.
But when its shelf for shelf, my locals do make a solid IPA, IIPA, stout, porter, etc etc...so its a lot easier for me just to drink those. And that was the only point I was trying to make. In the end, trading is just something which makes our hobby even more fun. Some choose to trade differently than others, and I think all that matters is that we all support some amazing breweries in our day-to-day on these forums and at the checkout lines at bottle shops.

 

I love trading shelf beer for shelf beer. I'll even send out some limited stuff for shelf beer. I trade for beer I want to drink. Whether that is whales or shelfies. I've recently done a couple trades with CA and IL traders where I have sent some out some limited beers. The CA trade I just asked for some hoppy beers. Nothing specific, I just really enjoy Modern Times, and other readily available West Coast and Cali IPAs. The IL trade was for some super fresh Anti-Hero which is one of my favorite hoppy beers, some Half Acre offerings and other local IPAs. Sure I can drink all the Jai Alai and Due South Cat 5 IPA (my favorite Florida IPA) I want but sometimes you gotta break it up.

 

I have noticed a marked uptick in ridiculousness over the past few months. The ability to delete a thread, then re-post it (even though it is against the rules) and a willingness to just post for almost anything seems to have accelerated the boards, but it might just be me.

Time was, if you posted ISO for KBBS or Assassin you had better bring it, otherwise you were getting flamed. I counted 5 posts ISO of KBBS in the last 2 days and 11 for Assassin. I make no judgements on if they are good offers or not (frankly I don't care) but it is definitely a lot of whale hunting dominating the forum.

Not sure if a whale forum is something that would help though - I mean, how do you define whale? Does Last Snow or MBCP count? How do you decide if a trade is in the right forum?

Personally, I think it is a symptom of the shift into more aggressive 'winning' type trading that has been going on a while. I am fortunate to already have a number of awesome trade partners, so I am opting out more and more... Just messaging my buddies and sorting out a $4$ trade that way

 

We're catching more and more of these. These will now more often than not result in warnings. We're also looking at options to restrict trade access for repeat offenders.

Yeah...that's *not* what these forums were for...they're supposed to be helpful. End result: no replies. You all had your chance(s). For now at least.

Most of the new trades here wouldn't know a whale if it swallowed them.

The flavor of the day is not a whale.

We have no interest as a staff sorting those details out, defining "whales", or encouraging the pathetic "winning" (my best Chalie Sheen voice) attitude prevalent in the trade forums today. Besides, those clowns are usually so obvious, it's not worth even sending them a message.

Exactly this.

However, I also seek out new Padawan traders to help teach the "right" way to trade. There are more of them out there than you might think. If more established traders were willing and able to do this (yes, challenge laid out), we would all be better off.

It won't kill off the "newmoney" attitude (not possible), but it will give reasonable traders more options. And that's better for the community.

 

Fair - I didn't intend to criticize turning off replies - there was a clear rationale to do so, and people were abusing that privilege too. Flaming people was uncool I agree; perhaps better to phrase it as an observation that it was something that kept crazy trade offers in check (although probably in an equally bad way).

Completely agree. If it was a true whale forum there would only be 3 posts a week in it, and only one a month would get done... I was being facetious more than anything. At face value it seems a reasonable solution, but in practice would be a huge PITA.

Agreed again. My last 2 trades with newer people were awesome and have helped build lasting trade relationships. If anything, a forum for "ISO trade wingman" might be the solution. Let the main trade forum devolve into a hunt for the latest and greatest (Assassin/KBBS/Whatever) and have a separate forum for 'hey I am a gumby looking to find an experienced trader' where people can go to do local 4 local trades the old fashioned way.

I am not pretending to have any good solutions, but I have observed a shift in the forums over the last few months.

 

Completely agree, I find myself posting less often and sadly completing less trades.

 

It's pretty rough. I find scanning the ISO:FT forums to be a lot less fruitful than it used to be. Lots of awful offers out there.

 

I blame this (yes, I know it's no longer up for discussion) squarely on taking the ability to reply to trade posts publicly. The trading community with its collective knowledge and sense, and the public dispense of that knowledge and sense directly on trade posts, was what kept trades as a whole relatively reasonable. It takes a lot less time for other traders to figure out what's reasonable and what's not by viewing comments on similar trades posted. I really doubt knowledgeable people have the desire to private message those with wild trade posts. I certainly don't and finding that I care less and less about these Beer Classifieds sections of BA. It's frustrating to see these posts now and I'm sure for some traders it's frustrating to have no idea why their trades are not getting done.

With regard to "whales", I think the OP has a different definition of "whale" than me. Just because a beer is difficult to trade for and command a lot or being asked a lot for doesn't make it a whale. "Flavors of the month" or "flavors of the year" seems more fitting.