Monday 18 August 2008

Making friends and influencing people

This is a friendly beermail I just received on BeerAdvocate:

drewmprs -[ BA Since: Dec 12, 2005
In A Van Down By The River, California
BJCP
Sent: Mon Aug 18, 2008 18:02 UTC (3 hours ago)
--

You will soon be banned from beer advocate, good day to you sir.


I confess, I've cried quite a bit since I read that. I'm going to be banned from BeerAdvocate. I cried so much, my St. Bernardus Abt turned into St. Bernardus Pater.

What am I going to do? When I want to be entertained by discussions such as

Will the next "great American beer" be an ale?
Biere de Champagne Worth the Price?
Question about firkin vs cask
Coming up on review #400: any suggestions?
What Beer & Music have you been frequenting of late?
Thoughts/opinions on Double White Ales?
Finally got my beer porn ready!!!
Pregaming? anyone do it?
What's your favorite Pumpkin Ale?
Do lagers have an inherent skunk?
"Imperial Pale Ale" as a style?

My life won't be worth living. Please, plead with them not to ban me. I really can't be responsible for my actions if I get banned. It could be really bad. I may even start watching Hollyoaks. You wouldn't want that, would you?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Banning users with conflicting opinions is bad enough, but such kindergarten-level BULLYING ??? Who does that one think he is ?

Stonch said...

Ronbo, I think you're missing the point of Hollyoaks. As someone who must be no stranger to a hangover, that surprises me.

Fact: someone I pulled was on Hollyoaks. Bit part. She played the captain of a football team comprised of attractive young women.

Another fact: one of my very best friends' girlfriend was on Eastenders tonight*. Bit part. Played an environmental health officer.

* I didn't know what to do with my apostrophes and plurals in that sentence, so just winged it.

Stonch said...

Ron, I've been threatened with expulsion from Ratebeer for saying Star Trek is sad. Which it is, by the way. Je ne regrette rien.

Anonymous said...

Ron, what makes this even more aggravating is that I went to go look at some of this guy's reviews. His favorite beer style is Geuze but he pans Boon Gueze and gives it a C when it's a classic of the style. Sounds like he had a tired bottle but wasn't smart enough to realize it. Then there's his review of Schneider Weisse. Too cloudy for a hefeweizen and too dark? Now wait a minute, didn't Schneider essentially invent the modern style of weizen? Then he gives the Trader Joe Hefeweizen (brewed by Gordon Biersch) a good review saying it's a good American hefe. That beer is so bad I even stopped using it for blind tastings in BJCP classes because it's so downright awful. To be threatened to be banned by a deluded moron like that is just so aggravating. It's a terribly biased site anyway and it just gets me pissed everytime I look at the reviews.

On a happier note for you, I teach my brewing club's BJCP classes and I'm in the process of revamping all of the materials because of the 2008 updates to the BJCP (which I'm sure you followed closely). Because of your blog, I'm now adding a section to each study guide called "Inaccuracies in the BJCP Guidelines” to explain some of the historical (or maybe I should say hysterical) fallacies in the guidelines. But I'm also warning people not to mention those things on the exam if they want to pass. I just can't pass on the same old homebrew drivel anymore and you're to blame.

Thanks again for writing this blog and educating the tiny percentage of BJCP homebrew twats like me who actually have open minds and like looking at historical manuscripts. Tough to beat a good gravioty table.....

Anonymous said...

Y'know, for all the vitriol pointed at BeerAdvocate... I can't help get over how much of the exact same behavior you decry is evident throughout your blog posts here. Yes, shockingly, a thread on BA is full of people who give the immediate benefit of the doubt to the people on "their" site.

That said, drewmprs is an agitator and a troll, and not very representative of the BA community... he once railed on me for a week calling me a faggot who spread Jew conspiracy theories (nothing against being gay or Jewish... although I happen to be neither) because I argued that there might indeed be a hop shortage.

Now, you can take his one meaningless comment out of context (he holds no more sway at BA than you do) and hold it up as an example of all the awful, deluded people over there (and sometimes the Bros are indeed small-minded and awful) and bash away delightedly in the same manner you hold so abhorrent in those who disagree with you (who really just seem to be people that perhaps don't know as much as you)... or you can maintain some semblance of propriety and politeness and by conducting yourself in a more mature, and intelligent manner, actually get people to listen to what you have to say.

Anonymous said...

I had never heard of "drewmprs" before that thread. I like to think that he or she deserved a better introduction than his/her deplorable behavior provided. Just goes to show that adults are really big children (assuming, that is, that this is an adult).

Anonymous said...

I thought I recognized you from the Dale Carnegie posters...

Anonymous said...

Ron,
You should settle this dispute like gentlemen. Challenge this drew dude to a drinking contest. The last man standing is the winner.
And post the video on YouTube.
Mike

Anonymous said...

Ron, you forgot "what's in your fridge", the favoured standby of the beer-stupid who populate these ticker sites.

Banned? badge of honour, like an ASBO. From the site owners down, there's no toleration of dissenting opinion there any more.

Chela said...

My most sincere congratulations for that honour I raise my pint for you.

Haya Salud

Compañía Asturiana Amigos de la Cerveza said...

We think that this banning is a dangerous act against freedom of speech but after reading the kind of staff and the cultural interest they showed in webpages like BA or BR we are not much surprised.

A toast for you because, paradoxically, you can feel freer by now.

Greetings from Spain

Anonymous said...

BeerAdvocate, AeerBdvocate! That's what I say.

Let's not get forget ourselves here. This ain't no Rorke's Drift. If I may lift the dusty lid to this rag and bone shop and shine my pocket torch through the darkness to the grotty back wall: one freakishly nerdy beer obsessive has made an empty threat to another freakishly nerdy beer obsessive.

Anonymous said...

Stonch, try - the girlfriend of one of my very best friends. Much easier...

Superfecta said...

Ah, drewmprs is indeed a little nutty; the best thing about BeerAdvocate is seeing what's going on locally since the ratings are all over the place.

And I'd have to say that as both an archivist and BJCP judge, I like your approach better - let's use actual primary sources since it's an easy way to settle the style questions.