Erbium:YAG

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Well Gary Glass was outstanding enough to give me a reply in no time flat. I'm actually glad to share it with everyone here. For the most part, I think alot of what he has to say is already practiced on this forum.

Secondly, I would like to make it publicly clear that none of my posts in this thread were ever intended as personal attacks against Seefresh. My posts were about the subject at hand and not the originator himself. If anyone out there misconstrued my intentions in any way, please stand corrected.



Hi Concerned Brewer,

You pose some tough questions here. Homebrewing is indeed a privilege
and not a right. In fact there are still some states in which it is
illegal to homebrew.

I'm not a lawyer, so don't take my opinions on this as legal advice.
The administrators of the forum in question may wish to consult with the
liquor control board of the state they are in to see if they have any
specific legal obligations to control who has access to their forum. My
guess is that unless there is pornographic content on the forum that
could legally be restricted to those 18 or older, the right to freedom
of speech would prevent any legal prosecution of the administrators.

I do not believe that breweries are in any way required to use any type
of "age verification" for their brewery websites. For breweries, these
are public relations measures aimed at showing they are not encouraging
under age people to consume their products.

Online forums are not the same thing. They are not aimed at selling a
product that is illegal for a certain group of citizens to consume,
instead they are about conveying information.

Now, the forum administrators may wish to limit the scope of information
that is conveyed on their forum. For example, on the TechTalk email
forum that the AHA manages, we do not allow homebrew supply shops to
blatantly advertise in forum posts (though we encourage homebrew supply
shop owners and staff to participate in the discussions), we reserve the
right to restrict posts that fall outside the realm of homebrewing and
beer culture, and we do not allow posts that are rude or demeaning to
other individuals who participate on the forum.

I'd say it's up to the forum administrators to establish parameters for
the kinds of discussions they will allow on their forum. I am not a fan
of censorship, so I think it is important to have clear guidelines as to
what is not allowed before administrators start axing posts and limiting
discussions (unless someone is personally attacking another forum
participant - I don't see any need for allowing that kind of behavior).


Anyone who posts to a public forum about participating in illegal
activity such as underage drinking or home distilling, does so at their
own risk. On most online forums, there is no way to tell who might be
reading those posts.

Posts about illegal activities could be used by those with anti-alcohol
agendas to attack homebrewing in general, and so should be taken into
consideration by forum administrators. However, I think the vast
majority of posts on homebrewing forums demonstrate that homebrewers are
generally intelligent, sophisticated people, who have a good
understanding of alcohol and its physiological affects. In my
experience, homebrewers are far more responsible consumers of alcohol
than most other groups.

Cheers!

Gary Glass
Director
American Homebrewers Association

Pumbaa

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hey Mods,

Can I agrue that point?

just kidding I'll behave

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dibby33

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I agree. Who should be able to tell us that we are allowed to brew. They can jam it fair up 'em. Why should it be a privilage? I can see driving as a privilage and a few other things but brewing?

EDIT : Pumbaas avator appears to be describing it well :-)

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Primarys : empty.
Secondary : Mead (2 gallon trials)
Bottled : all drunk
Drinking : A Lot.
Next Up : Pumpkin Ale

Ó Flannagáin

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I'm going to have to agree as well, its not driving on government roads, its brewing in the privacy of my own property. It may be a "privelege" but I also feel its my right.

Ó Flannagáin

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Drinking the methanol would easily deserve a Darwin award.....

Kevlar

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According to the "Missouri department of alcohol and tobacco control" it is legal to produce 200 gallons of beer, wine, or spirtous liquor per household per year. Specifically asked if that included "Moonshine" and the answer was yes.

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Some men learn by reading, and some men learn by watching. But some men just gotta pee on the electric fence themselves.

Radarbrew

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OK, I came back to the thread after 2? days. This rivals our departed Marine friend's rant, does it not?

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No, I like snow, it's the shoveling it I could do without....

Orfy

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Is that still around.

That and the EAC need a sticky with a link or someone should put them in their signature.

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GET THE GOBLIN
Have a beer on me.

Ó Flannagáin

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I have no idea what that means, but sounds interesting if someone can digg it up.

Pumbaa

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Unfortunatly since we as a nation decided to tolerate the Feds stomping all over the 9th and 10th Amendments the Feds ATF trumps MO's ATC. The good news is you wont be facing sate charges if caught , the bad news is you will be facing federal charges

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