Regarding the Mr. Beer forum

[Beer-lord]

If I may, I'd like to say a few things about the Mr. Beer forum. I'm not here to bash and hope it comes back soon. However, I would still come here many times a day.
But, I wonder if the damage is done and it's over. Look at some of the posts and see how all the old time guys with tons of knowledge feel. And, see what Mr. Beers response is. Seems like it's about as good as it's going to get.

http://community.mrbeer.com/community/d ... nity-forum

http://community.mrbeer.com/community/d ... -from-mrb-

I think they are doing a disservice to their members by not communicating. While members aren't obligated for anything, it's just good business to discuss what's being done. They've been asked to mention what can be expected and nothing specific has been given. When the brain drain leaves, new members will be helpless.

I don't want to spend all my time on this great forum discussing problems on other forums and am grateful to Louie for this one but this just seems too simple of a problem to fix for it to be so bad. There must be something else going on there. I truly want to help others on every forum I frequent but it's painful to try on that forum. A good search function is one of the most important pieces and that one is dismal.

OK, I'm done for now. Just wanted to say my small piece and move on.

[jivex5k]

That, coupled with the fact that they didn't delete my recruitment post makes me wonder.
Maybe they don't want to support a large forum anymore?
Regardless, there are already enough old hats with plenty of knowledge here, I know this is my new home.
And I'll do whatever I can to help it out.

I just replied to those topics, might get banned soon lol. But, I keep it pretty tactful I believe so it might make matters worse for them if they banned me.
Of course, this could be what they want, maybe they were sick of maintaining a forum and don't realize the underlying benefits to harboring a passionate community.

[Beer-lord]

I just read your two posts and I think you did a great job of mentioning this forum while at the same time, letting people know that we've got to be patient. I think they may delete it but might be afraid to.
Heck, they may even join here to see what we're talking about. That's cool. The more forums I can frequent, the more I'll learn and pass on to others.

[gwcr]

In one of the posts, Louie also invited the MB folks to come over here and give updates if they wanted to. Would be a nice gesture if they did. If that one doesn't get deleted, yours should be safe.

[philm00x]

There are some folks I would love to see migrate over this way, like the Hat, Inkleg, and Screwy and I understand if they don't do so. I'm with jivex on that this feels like home, the way the old MB boards did. That said, I'm forever grateful for having had the opportunity to learn from there when I first started almost a year ago.

[FrozenInTime]

I sent a couple e-mails, never did get a reply. I made some harsh statements in hope of getting them to reply, but yet nothing. They don't give a poop about us, they probably figure the newbies will go there and not knowing anybetter, think that is a good site. They have really screwed the pooch as far as I'm concerned. I have no problem talking bad about a company that don't care about their long time posters. It was very stupid of a company to allienate long time contributers which results in newbies continual purchasing of their products. With-out our help, many of the MrB first times would have gave up and not spent any more $$ on their products based on the very bad first results of their kits due to MrBs bad instructions and lack of guidance. I know, I was once one of those very diasspointed newbies with a shitty first batch. I'll say it again, Mr Beer went straight to hell with the latest software.

[LouieMacGoo]

FIT, I totally agree with you about the new brewers getting fed up and not going back to Mr. Beer. I do know that Mr. Beer has opened the door for people to move to BrewDemon or other brewing kits if they decide to continue brewing at all!

I also think that Mr. Beer will survive this whole fiasco as they did with the "upgrade" before this and other bad management choices. This will all fade away into distant memory.

[jimjohson]

you might be right Louie, but it seems like they may have done irreparable harm to their borg by running off the experienced brewers now it'll be noob advising noob. with out y'alls help i'd 've never understood why the cal sucked and when the cerveza came out basically the same i'd've quit. wonder how many new brewers will be lost over this?

[Sparrow]

+1 Jim. Not only did the change over run out all the folks capable of imparting real time knowledge, they seem to have removed the ability to search for all the previously posted wisdom.

If I had a dime for every time I pointed someone to a post from one of the more experienced members, well I'd have a few bucks since my post count wasn't stellar.


Anyway, no use crying over spilled milk. Beer maybe but not milk, and I'm really Grateful that Louie gave us a great new place to carry on.

[JimH]

Yeah, except for Dianne being more active, it is eerily quiet over there!

[haerbob3]

All that I can say it is sad what has happened. I know that I would have quit brewing if it was not for the old forum. I do not know the number of years I been a member there. I have quit it, been kicked out of it had my rants etc. It is good to see the ole timys here sharing their knowledge. Liek others wish Screwy & the Hat would show up and make themselves at home. Their wit &wisdom is sorely missed!!

[docpd]

Hi guys,

I really hope they fix the forum, but after a week it doesn't look good. Thanks to Louie for setting up this one.

[JimH]

Welcome doc! Glad you found us. We are expanding here, and a lot of familiar faces are around!

[jimjohson]

hi doc

[docpd]

To Louie,

This forum works better than the pre "upgrade" Mr Beer site. Great job. Unless they do a major fix there I think we may be better off here. I checked out Homebrewwtalk but was a bit overwhelmed. This seems more like home. Also we can talk about Brewdemon here without getting censored. There are 3 extracts that I regularly use as a base for my favorite IPA, Irish Red, and Belgian Witbier that I can only buy from the demon now.