Should we bring back New Beer Sunday?

Yup. This a HUGE thing that got lost. Malty started it, and MattCrill was his backup (Malty was a DJ, and so Saturday nights would sometimes run long for him, and Matt would kick it off when Malty was gonna be late). Then, Matt and Malty had life catch up with them, and handed the reigns to @cavedave and @utopiajane. They would alternate weeks, and both would post openings that were interesting, thoughtful, and (most importantly IMHO) clearly laid out the rules for the thread.

When they stepped aside, a couple of the other took over and did a dine job. But, since the change in format, and the decree that anyone could start it, is when it started slipping. There's too many drive-by posts with no depth. I could accept leaving it two days, but I really want 2-3 dedicate people to pick up the mantle and be the only ones to start it. The thread needs focus, and it needs to be clearly stated what the expectations are.

 

Yup. I had no clue it was even a consideration, and then BOOM!, a whole new thing was thrust upon us with zero warning.

 

I cannot claim to be a long time participant, but I do know that I really appreciated the NBS as it was - I thought NBW would maybe be twice as cool but it feels to me to be halved instead.
I still make a point to post every weekend, but there is no longer a reason to have something special; just new to me. I'm confident not all posts on NBS were 'special' beers, but that's what they felt like to me. It's a perception thing. Obviously, yours will be different. One of the many reasons this is such a great community. We can disagree about something and still have a beer together!

 

Appreciate the RUSH reference. Freewill; great song.

 

NBS developed a unique vibe shared by all who participated. Of course I could (and did) review new beers on other days but saved the special ones for Sunday spending more time in both preparation and presentation.

Saturday could be a new beer theme day such as Pilsner, Stout, IPA, etc.

 

And the switch is why I now live Kiribati , Saturday starts here, so I can start the thread at 12:01am my "local" time! I'm willing to share duties with any Aussie or Kiwi BAs!

 

How about New Beer Saturday.? What Beer are you Drinking Now allows me freedom of music and a firm platform for quick concise opinion. NBSunday really took some thought if you wanted to do it well. It was like a college course that was really fun.

 

I guess you are the right person to ask. Are fewer people posting on NBW than did on NBS?

 

Honestly at first I wasn’t a big fan of the change, but now I’ve grown to like it being the whole weekend. While I enjoy having the full weekend to get a few reviews in at a relaxed paced I do understand people wanting to bring it back to just Sundays.

I’m happy with it either way and will still be engaging weekly.

 

New Beer Sunday had a great flow and wasn't just a beer review platform, it was a social gathering, all rag tag and pure, letting personality and experience have a real voice. The truth is is that this place is pure Democracy and is a real lesson in this brave new electronic universe.....

 

Never liked the move to the new format one bit. NBS for me and I happen to think a large amount of OG BAs would agree.

 

Very good point. I didn’t notice it as much until you said it, but as NBS it was more of a gathering and had more of that back and forth flow.

 

That thread was the first I learned about the change: announced by a mod as a done decision. I was surprised by it then and asked in that thread where the discussion about the idea had taken place. Somebody was kind enough to BM me, and I learned that it was discussed mid-thread in a small handful of posts a couple weeks earlier.

Not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. But I felt the whole thing was disrespectful to the NBS hosts. The later decision to start the numbering over again at 1 annoyed me further. Not saying it’s rational or that anyone else should care. Just my opinion.

 

But, from how many different users? I put 5 new brews under my belt yesterday. There were 125 posts on NBW. So, 5/125 beer-only posts were just me (I'll let a math major figure out the percentage). Without rereading the whole thread, how many of those 125 posts were: A- just a reply to another post, without a review? B- how many of those 125 posts were by X number of posters (and the corollary, how many folks only posted once in the thread?) ? And C- is this the type of "growth" you wanted from NBW when you made the change?

 

I have been an outspoken “NBW detractor” (mostly in a tongue-in-cheek way) since the change, but I have never really been strongly against it. Inclusion is a good goal but if the attempt has not yielded higher engagement then I understand the consideration brought up here. I respect Todd a lot for bringing this up and I believe that the correct choice will inevitably be made, but I personally will say that I found NBS to be a “sacred” tradition and would not be against its revival.

That said, to those who cannot drink on Sunday... I think if we go back to “NBS” as a nomenclature, we should respect those who had something new on Saturday because they could not otherwise post it in the NBS thread. In other words, I would be fine with a change in name and general “feel” back to the original way of doing things, with the caveat that those who cannot normally participate on Sunday make known their circumstance. Not trying to gatekeep drinking new beer, and honestly I have participated less since I got a new job (which, I think, kinda lends some gravitas to my opinion here!), but I really do hold NBSes close to my heart.

I think all will work out as it should. Love you all. Thank you for your part in making this the best community for beer on the big ol’ Internet. ❤️

 

And, for the record: NBS is dead. Let it lie. If NBW isn't meeting projections, too fucking bad. It lives, Let it live. Do not try to resurrect the dead.

Nobody wants a zombie NBS.

 

I got you @BBThunderbolt...4%

Chem major but we know our math

 

I'm abstaining from voting, as I only started participating in NBW early this year, haven't posted in several weeks for a few reasons, and don't have strong feelings regardless.

However, reading through the responses thus far has brought some thoughts to mind:
1) The primary reason I'm seeing in favor of going back to NBS - aside from tradition - is a feeling of intimacy. Threads and communities are what the constituents make of them. Expanding a thread from 24 to 48 hours doesn't magically alter the tone and tenor of engagement.

2) If you stopped posting in the thread because of the change, that's certainly your prerogative. But at that point, have you not made an implicit admission that the camaraderie of the thread had less value to you than the idea of making some sort of point to BA staff by ceasing your participation?

3) If the pro-NBS crowd feels like a more compressed timeline led to more engagement, why not just ignore the thread on Saturday and all implicitly agree to jump in on Sunday to maintain the old feeling?