Do we use private message function enough?

[newportstorm]

Suggestion for the site. When a topic goes astray, do you think it's better that people use the 'pm' function to continue the conversation amongst themselves? We all do it. Someone goes off on a tangent and the thread begins to change, and then is taken over completely by a new topic. Often times it is only 2-3 users chatting about the new, specific topic. Should a new thread be started or should those users just 'pm' each other?

It's not a huge deal, but when I check into threads I have an interest in after being gone (for a few hours or a few days), it almost seems like a waste of time when 99% or more of the responses read like personal conversations and have little to nothing to do with the thread topic.

What say you?

[fretlessman71]

I used to feel like you do - especially when I'd start a thread specifically to get some answers. Time and again the thread would veer off the topic, and only the first 8 or 9 posts would do me any good. It used to really irritate me when I'd get "hijacked" in such a manner. Then I realized that regular conversations do the same thing as these threads, and the reason these are called "threads" is for just that reason: Nowhere is it written that we MUST stay with the topic. The downside is that the thread title becomes a little disingenuous; the upside is that it's very interesting to see how a conversation got from one topic to something completely different (i.e., the man with three buttocks).

If you don't believe me, just wait and see how the above sentence will affect the rest of THIS thread - and darned if you're not going to be enthralled with the results! :D

[Payson]

I tend to agree with Newportstorm. I get a little frustrated when I have a limited time to check into the site and 75% of the responses are so chatty and off topic they have no relevance. Multiple posts to correct a spelling error get old really quickly.

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by Payson
Multiple posts to correct a spelling error get old really quickly. Thankfully, you had none, so you're safe this time. :)

Oh, WAIT... did I just do th....? DANGIT.... sorry....

[crashbobo]

HIJACK :D

[unkle bik]

I would like it if you got notification that you have a PM in your inbox. Usually, I don't check my CP that often. When I do, I find a 3 week old PM that is unanswered.

Am I doing something wrong?

[davesarman]

You should be able to change your settings, because I always get an email notification whenever someone sends me a PM.

[sallad]

I know its still a ways off, but anyone want to make a guess as to what Stone Brewing will do for their april fool's joke in '05??

(sorry, i couldn't resist either)

[newportstorm]

Originally posted by unkle bik
I would like it if you got notification that you have a PM in your inbox. Usually, I don't check my CP that often. When I do, I find a 3 week old PM that is unanswered.

A great idea that has been tossed out there in the past. I'm sure the site admins have a long list of "things to do", but please add this to it. Both BeerAdvocate and RateBeer have easy to see icons that let you know new messages are waiting. Would make it much easier to 'pm' each other quickly and knowingly, so short one-word personal answers don't dominate the thread.

Cheers!

[newportstorm]

Originally posted by davesarman
You should be able to change your settings, because I always get an email notification whenever someone sends me a PM.

That's cool, but someone could send me a 'pm' just after I had checked them, looking for info quickly and I wouldn't know about it until I check my ISPs email - usually once per day, but sometimes longer. An icon would simplify a lot of things, imo.

How many times I have seen "XXXXX, check your pm's" in the forum.....

Cheers!

[threecb]

Originally posted by newportstorm
"XXXXX"...

Ahem, I believe the correct spelling is "L".;)

Seriously, though, I know I'm guilty of contributing to a tangential conversation, but I'd agree with at least starting a new thread when something skews off-topic. It can get a bit frustrating sometimes.

[chazwicke]

I'm very guilty. Sorry guys! (And Fret, I caught that MP reference.)

[wortchillergoal]

Can a man with 3 buttcocks pass gas from all three at the same time?

[steveh]

The last forum-style listing, at the bottom of RB's main Community page, tells you whether you have a new PM or not. It also tells you how many unread and total messages you have in your box.

And I tend to agree with Fret on the conversational tone of most of the forums on this board. If I post in one of the technical forums I try to stick to the question at hand, but the rest of the forums all have a bar-room style conversation - and I'll especially participate in an odd tangent once the initial point of the original post has been made or answered. I'll also bow to someone bringing the subject back around.

AFA skimming, the "View New Posts" link at RB's main page, as well as on the Community's main page, is very helpful as an overview of new posts since you've last logged on.

Also - at this point I think I need to point out some definitions here; there is really only one Administrator of this board: Stan. He is the only one who has access and control of all forums and the layout and design of the site. Fret, Brewmonkey, Fast Eddy, and I are only Moderators and we can only edit the posts in the forums we moderate and nothing else. We tend to keep Stan informed of goings-on he may have missed or needs to know about, but anyone can PM him at the forum. His handle is (wouldn't you know) Admin. (http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=1)

S.

*Edit - let me forewarn, Stan is on a small sabatical until after the first of the year - so please don't start flooding his PM box!

[hopjack13]

speaking of threads my wife bought me a cool shirt the other day. it had flames and skulls......flames and skulls are cool:D

i think fret is right, normal conversations are much the same way, a lot of times the topic of a thread will not interest me but i'll read it anyways just to see where it goes. makes it fun i think.
nothing against ba, as i love the site, but i feel more comfortable talking here as there is more 'freedom of speech' ie. no one is going to delete my post if i don't stick to their guidlines , topics and what have you. i can say whatever i like.

[newportstorm]

Originally posted by wortchillergoal
Can a man with 3 buttcocks pass gas from all three at the same time?

Here come the anarchists...

And a 'buttcock'? I'm not touching that one... :D

[chazwicke]

Stan is supposed to speak at the Spirit of Belgium fest here in January.

[Bruno_78]

I would also have to agree that the "freeness" of this forum is one of the reasons that I like it so much. I've made a lot of friends here being so friendly, and that might have not been the case if everything were to stay on topic. And lord knows, I don't have very many friends, so I need all that I can get.

And some of the tangents can be informative too.

I've been guilty of excessive posting and threadjacking myself. I made a personal decision several weeks ago to try to limit myself unless it was really necessary. Maybe if we didn't eliminate the frivolousness, but tried to just cut back, or control it a little bit, it would be a nice compromise for those who it bothers.

When is that fest chaz?

[Fly Creek]

I can understand the frustration that might arise upon having to parse through the chit chat in the quest for a kernel of relevance, but speaking for myself, I enjoy the collective idle banter almost as much as the serious beer talk. :)

[chazwicke]

I know I'm one of the biggest offenders and I take a lot of pleasure posting here. I promise to be more careful (He says with fingers crossed behind his back :D ) I the board just the way it is but I also have published my AIM screen name so feel free to look me up on Instant Messinger if someone wants to chat off the board. Screen Name: our man chuck

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by wortchillergoal
Can a man with 3 buttcocks pass gas from all three at the same time? No - three buttocks are like having 3 butt cheeks, isn't that right? I think you'd be limited to a maximum of 2, uh, erm, orificies.... :o

[chazwicke]

And now for something completely different...........

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by newportstorm
Here come the anarchists...

And a 'buttcock'? I'm not touching that one... :D Oh, MAN.... just wait until my eyes are better... I should have seen that right off the bat! *sigh*

[BluesHarp]

I've been guilty of veering off course a time or two (ahem) myself ;); but like Fly Creek, I also enjoy the random silliness as much as the on-topic talk. I think it really helps you to get a feel for what the people here are really like - to get to know their personalities; you don't get that in a dry discussion on yeast propagation.

I have "tuned in" on several occasions to find myself in the middle of one of these tangents and have had a very enjoyable time...I would have missed that had the topic been PM'd.

I guess the best policy is to try to keep the "help" and technical threads on track and let the less formal ones go where they may.

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by Bruno_78


When is that fest chaz?

http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5526

[steveh]

Originally posted by chazwicke
Stan is supposed to speak at the Spirit of Belgium fest here in January.

He's starting his research tomorrow...

S.

[Bruno_78]

researching beer....

What a life!

[Fast_Eddy]

I absolutely believe this is a case of "It's not broke, so don't try and fix it." Nothing is everything to everybody but this board is a good approximation. It might be annoying when interesting(relative term) threads digress but majority rule works very well around here and we're all pretty free with our opinions(in a constructive way).

In other words, I feel for you but this place seems to work pretty well.

[brewmonkey]

The only thing I think that needs fixing here is the pop up function for PM's. Mine, while checked to do so never does. I am on 4 other forums (yes, I have nothing to do) with this software and it works like a charm.

[danno]

I don't have a problem with tangents...

and the PM function could probably be used a bit more, I also agree. generally once a thread reaches ~20 posts, I tend to tune it out, unless it's homebrew related...

here's a tangent; brewmonkey, are you going to be involved with the KC BierMeisters 2005 competition? since it's stop #2 for the High Plains Brewer of the Year award, the planning for the MN delegation has begun, I'm thinking of attending, since i have friends in KC... Dinner with Ray Daniels sounds pretty cool... :cool:

http://www.kcbiermeisters.org/Competition/2005Comp_01.htm

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by danno
I don't have a problem with tangents...

and the PM function could probably be used a bit more, I also agree. generally once a thread reaches ~20 posts, I tend to tune it out, unless it's homebrew related...

here's a tangent; brewmonkey, are you going to be involved with the KC BierMeisters 2005 competition? since it's stop #2 for the High Plains Brewer of the Year award, the planning for the MN delegation has begun, I'm thinking of attending, since i have friends in KC... Dinner with Ray Daniels sounds pretty cool... :cool:

http://www.kcbiermeisters.org/Competition/2005Comp_01.htm

I am ALWAYS doing stuff with Alberta, Jackie and the rest of the crew. Ray is a great guy if you have not had the chance to chat with him (He, Larry Bell, Todd Ashman and myself all share the same birthday! Talk about having to live up to a standard...whew!) When I was the VP of the KC Brewers guild we got him to come out for a meeting and talk about his theory on beer color (MCU), very interesting stuff.

Let me know if you need a liason in the area, I would be happy to help out anyway I can.

[brewmonkey]

They have some pics of me at the 2003 event that I had forgotten about.

For all of you who wonder what brewmonkey looks like, this is me back when my goatee was shorter.:D

http://www.kcbiermeisters.org/2003compimages/IM000260.jpg

And SOME of the tap handles for my beers...http://www.kcbiermeisters.org/2003compimages/IM000261.JPG

[fretlessman71]

I remember seeing those when we dropped in trying to run into you! Very cool! Now you have to post a pic with your Billy Gibbons-esque chin scuzz! :D

[steveh]

Originally posted by danno
Dinner with Ray Daniels sounds pretty cool...

Heh, heh, heh - I have to laugh because I've probably had dinner and drinks with Ray more than a few times over the years. Yes, at brew-club functions and the like, but still chatting beer and all.

S.

Damn Monkey, yer a pup! Couldn't tell that from the leetle avatar.

[Bruno_78]

Is this the same ray daniels from "designing great beers", and the Chicago Beer Society?

Or are there three ray daniels?

[steveh]

Only one...as far as I know, that is...

S.

[Fly Creek]

Originally posted by brewmonkey
For all of you who wonder what brewmonkey looks like, this is me back when my goatee was shorter.:D

http://www.kcbiermeisters.org/2003compimages/IM000260.jpg
[/IMG]

Not for nuthin' my friend, but what is that horrible thing you are standing next to?

[chazwicke]

Always good to put a picture with a name. Thanks for the pictures.

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by Fly Creek
Not for nuthin' my friend, but what is that horrible thing you are standing next to?

The owners at one time even had that crap on tap next to my beers. It took me 3 years but I finally got them to let me have all 12 handles and that stuff only went out in bottles.

In small mid-America towns a brewery really won't survive unless they sell some macro swill. It did not bother me because once I brewed my light beer bottle sales dropped and craft beer increased.:D

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
I remember seeing those when we dropped in trying to run into you! Very cool! Now you have to post a pic with your Billy Gibbons-esque chin scuzz! :D

I have one from way back then... I think this was right after GABF in 2000.

[Payson]

So, not to be a stick in the mud but... my God! This is a perfect example of a thread that has gone so far astray it's borderline absurd!!!! It's a perfect example of what some may find problematic. I have a limited amount of time to see what's new and thought this thread was of interest......oops!

[fretlessman71]

This is true, and normally people will preface a post such as yours just above with a statement something like "and now to drag this thread back on topic". The fact that most of us are familiar with that sort of phrase speaks well to your plight. Of course, a phrase like that was not necessary in your case.

Having said that, I really see no reason for halting what seems to be SOP for most of us here. Here's one way of looking at it: When the thread veers off as far as this one has, it's safe to assume that people have for the most part grown tired of the original topic, or have figured that they've said all that was needed to be said. This is something I learned waaaaaay back when - remember my "Coke or Pepsi?" poll that turned into a "favorite-root-beers-in-the-round" discussion? I discovered that nobody, save for a few diehards, really wanted to talk cola on a beer site. And I had to live with it. There are a few threads around here that have taken on a life of their own and have grown to over 20 pages, with many a topical twist and turn. Although I agree with you in principle, and enjoy getting real feedback and information when posting a new thread, I also enjoy the fact that nobody is actually limited in what they can say and where (save for spam threads, which are obliterated unless they adhere to very specific guidelines, and the very occasional vulgarities). Such limiting would destroy the conversational atmosphere we enjoy here on the site, and I came to realize this after whining for a good bit about my own hijacked thread. I stopped taking it personally and understood that it is simply an aspect of human nature I would just have to live with.

I do think, however, that this particular thread has garnered enough discussion on the matter that many of us will begin taking our "side conversations" to another thread, or to the PM function, simply because we are more aware of our fellow members who are sensitive to a veritable plethora of virtually meaningless posts clogging an otherwise useful thread. (Hopjack, that last sentence was for you - you'd never know I had just polished off a bottle of Paulaner Salvator, would you? ;) Okay... sorry... back to the topic!) Nothing wrong with airing our grievances, and most of us, while we like to joke about it, will take the true feelings of our fellow board members seriously.

I, for one, have been guilty of making "post runs" with another member (meaning we take turns posting short but witty remarks over and over again in a thread - there are a lot of us here that like to do this!), and will hereby cease to do that whenever asked by the thread originator. Maybe that ought to be the policy: If you begin a thread, and you really don't want frivolous posts getting in the way of a topic you're really serious about or a question you desperately need an answer to, and you say so in your opening post, the rest of us should honor that request - even so far as to forego the humorous posts about not making useless posts. Does this sound fair to everybody?

(Sorry for the longish post - after 5 weeks or so, my eyes are almost back to 100%, and I'm pretty excited! But I'll say again that the red background is beginning to take its toll just now... it's making my eye sockets hurt!)

[Payson]

Well said. I'm certainly not trying to be Scrooge-like and enjoy humor as much if not more than the next guy. That being said, the main reason I visit the site as much as I do is because I like it and it's well done. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.
Chris

[wortchillergoal]

Fret, is longish a real word or are you entitled to word creation as our speel checker?

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by wortchillergoal
Fret, is longish a real word or are you entitled to word creation as our speel checker?

According to Princeton it is...:eek:

http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?stage=1&word=longish

[wortchillergoal]

Originally posted by brewmonkey
According to Princeton it is...:eek:

http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?stage=1&word=longish

can we trust a source that does not have lauter tun in it's data base?

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by wortchillergoal
can we trust a source that does not have lauter tun in it's data base?

:eek:

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by brewmonkey
According to Princeton it is...

http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?stage=1&word=longish YEAH! What HE said! :D

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
YEAH! What HE said! :D

Aren't you supposed to be staying off the computer???

[fretlessman71]

Not anymore - my eyes are about 99.5% back to normal now! The only issue is when I get really tired, or turn my head too fast, I can't get my eyes to meet on an object immediately. It sometimes takes about half a second. Other than that, the flat screen monitor (which is pushed back about 6" more than my old one) plus the keyboard tray being repaired (which adds about a foot to the distance my eyes are to the monitor) have made it so I don't expect to have the same problem again. It's a much nicer setup, and after 5 weeks of being really nice to my eyes, I don't see double anymore - it's really nice!

But I'll keep harping on it - the red is actually starting to give me a headache when I have to look at it for too long.... *sigh* Maybe that's a sign that I should be practicing more and typing less, eh? Certainly the way I sounded last night at church would speak to that... :rolleyes:

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

[Fly Creek]

I stopped by the office to e-mail christmas pictures to family far away. Glad to hear you are 99.5% recovered. I'd say that's a pretty good Christmas. I'm happy to hear your doing well there Fret.

Merry Christmas,
J

[P-Train]

Glad your eyes are better frettless!