Recent Topics on the Forum.

[matt78]

For what it's worth, I am a total novice to homebrew and learning all the time. I have done about seven or eight kits and now feel that I'm just about getting the results that I was hoping for and enjoying the whole process from fermenting to drinking.
Starting off I knew nothing at all about brewing beer and I knew even less about forums, forum etiquette and how forums work. On my first attempt at brewing a kit I reluctantly took the plunge and posted a question. I say reluctantly because I thought my question would probably be seen as silly amongst more experienced enthusiasts and as I said I have never used a forum before and still this is the only forum I am a member of or ever use.
I was SO HAPPY when my first post got some really helpful and patient replies and I have continued to turn to the forum to learn and read of other people's experiences and issues. As other people have said on this thread it is sometimes reassuring to have your own questions answered and hear other people's thoughts on your particular issue. Im sure each question that I've posted on here has been asked before but at first I wasn't very sure of how to use a forum and was quite desperate for reassurance that my brew was going ok.
I totally enjoy reading through posts on here now and do search for answers to my queries before starting a new thread.
It seems to me that this forum is made up of great people with a huge wealth of experience and knowledge that they are only too happy to share and I am really grateful to everybody that has took the time to reply to my posts in my hour of need.

 

[pms67]

For what it's worth, I am a total novice to homebrew and learning all the time. I have done about seven or eight kits and now feel that I'm just about getting the results that I was hoping for and enjoying the whole process from fermenting to drinking.
Starting off I knew nothing at all about brewing beer and I knew even less about forums, forum etiquette and how forums work. On my first attempt at brewing a kit I reluctantly took the plunge and posted a question. I say reluctantly because I thought my question would probably be seen as silly amongst more experienced enthusiasts and as I said I have never used a forum before and still this is the only forum I am a member of or ever use.
I was SO HAPPY when my first post got some really helpful and patient replies and I have continued to turn to the forum to learn and read of other people's experiences and issues. As other people have said on this thread it is sometimes reassuring to have your own questions answered and hear other people's thoughts on your particular issue. Im sure each question that I've posted on here has been asked before but at first I wasn't very sure of how to use a forum and was quite desperate for reassurance that my brew was going ok.
I totally enjoy reading through posts on here now and do search for answers to my queries before starting a new thread.
It seems to me that this forum is made up of great people with a huge wealth of experience and knowledge that they are only too happy to share and I am really grateful to everybody that has took the time to reply to my posts in my hour of need.

Look mate,just p**s off,right

 

[pms67]

Sorry,couldn’t resist ,seriously,glad you enjoy being here and I agree,good members and mods,brew on and enjoy 👍

 

[Sadfield]

Sometimes people need a to ask a quick question and get a quick answer, particularly on brew days when problems are often recoverable. Better that people ask a simple, yet familiar question, than panic and ditch/screw a batch.

 

[RichK]

On another forum I frequent there is a 'beginners' section where persistently repeated questions are permitted & are expected to be answered directly. Elsewhere, people are directed to use the search etc.

 

[dad_of_jon]

search less brew more I say :thumb:

 

[henteaser]

I agree with many others the friendly, help-as-much-as-you-can attitude here is refreshing when compared to other more cut-throat boards (aka Reddit). And barking at new homebrewers to "search first" or "Google it" to a relatively simple question is not constructive.

But are forum members here too helpful for their own good? Maybe the more we repeatedly answer the same questions, the more any attempt at searching for a problem in the first place becomes frustrating due to the shear number of results?

So one suggestion would be to look at the categories, and "stickies".

It's impossible to have useful stickies when the majority of new posts are in "General brewing" (there would be hundreds) despite a new post actually being about, example, grain.

But then over in "Grain, Hops, Yeast & Water" there would need to be dozens of stickies also to deal with the basic questions for each sub-category.

If there was in fact "Grains", "Hops", "Water chemistry" etc. each with their own specific stickies, the mods could then at least suggest a friendly "Hey, this question might be better suited to the 'Hops' section" (or even better, discreetly re-categorise the post for them) and even without the search, new members could at least browse the best QAs the forum has to offer in a structured way, and existing members could refer a new homebrewer to a good sticky post.

The Snug, Brew days and other more conversational sections are obviously not an issue, but where simply finding an answer is concerned, there's some brilliant answers on the forum already that are getting lost in chatter.

 

[Covrich]

I don't think there is anything wrong is discussing or bouncing ideas or repeat questions.

Most questions have been asked before at some point and if we take the read the FAQ on all questions we might aswell shut the forum down..#

Before I ask a question I do google it first admittedly to get a ground idea but I also like to ask for experiences of users who I know and trust their opinions or experiences themselves..

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Most questions have been asked before at some point and if we take the read the FAQ on all questions we might aswell shut the forum down..#

Spot on Covrich a FAQ for most forums would kill the forum.

Does anyone else find this lack of any "search before posting a new topic" policy detrimental to the forum?

The forum has been run this way for years and we have been number one in google search for years, not forcing members to search or use a FAQ thread has not been detrimental to the forum in fact i would say its been a big plus, why change a winning combination.

As i have said this has been discussed in the past and nothing changed, i don't think there is much point in discussing this further as we are going to go round in circles.

.