How can we help eliminate misinformation on this site?

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Great, now the libs are ruining a friggin beer forum. Unbelievable

Would you care to explain what you're saying?

There's a lot of give and take here, but you making a snide quazi-political statement without any consideration of the topic is what is "unbelievable". No helpful comments, no thought out criticism, no statement as to an improvement. Just an ignorant and useless post.
 
Interestingly enough, Palmer also encourages the use of secondaries to avoid autolysis! (In the online edition anyway...)

Sort of - the following sentence says:

howtobrew online said:
As a final note on this subject, I should mention that by brewing with healthy yeast in a well-prepared wort, many experienced brewers, myself included, have been able to leave a beer in the primary fermenter for several months without any evidence of autolysis.
 
I'm going to quote my father in law and say that "Opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one."

More importantly, I feel that it is up to each individual to search out what works for them. I've been on this forum for about six months, and have really only posted a limited amount in the last couple. I like the fact that I can perform a search and get 10 different opinions about what I should do and the reasons why. That way I can plod my own course. Also, if you join this forum and after reading numerous threads can't tell who you should and who you shouldn't listen to, then the onus is on you.

As I said to the owner of a LHBS, "I'm not looking for the definitive answer. Just point me in the direction of the pinata so at least I have a shot at hitting it."
 
Sort of - the following sentence says:

True, but a few years later Palmer later retracted all statements about secondaries and autolysis, and later editions of the text leave that stuff out. Turns out Palmer's just a homebrewer learning like the rest of us.

How in the hell did you get 156 posts in one thread in one day?! This has got to be a record.

Ahahahahahaha. Clearly you have not met the more prolific post whores of this forum. Ask me where I got 6000 of the posts on my tally sometime.
 
True, but a few years later Palmer later retracted all statements about secondaries and autolysis, and later editions of the text leave that stuff out. Turns out Palmer's just a homebrewer learning like the rest of us.



Ahahahahahaha. Clearly you have not met the more prolific post whores of this forum. Ask me where I got 6000 of the posts on my tally sometime.

Where did you get 6000-:D:D posts on your tally:D?
 
Obviously i did not read through all of this thread but heres my opinion anyway.

Homebrewing is an inexact science with an array of different styles, systems, opinions, and what have you. What is misinformation to one homebrewer may prove hepful to another. Dont limit, or judge, or rate, the information you find on here. That SERIOUSLY cripples the credability and viability of the community.

If someone posts a new way of doing something that is ridiculed as "misinformation", and then it turns out that their new trick is actually a revelation, we all lose.
 
I didn't read the whole thread so pardon me if I m repeating something already said.
Notice the giant number under Revvy's name? Listen to that guy. Problem solved.

If i copy and post the same 6 thread responses over and over, i could rack up some big numbers too.:D
 
Great, now the libs are ruining a friggin beer forum. Unbelievable

Whats a lib?

Libertarian? Librarian? Liberace?

"Have you ever heard of [beer] politics? Neither have I. [beer]... don't have politics. ... I'd like to become the first... [beer] politician." - The [beer] Fly
 
Just want to post some opinions after reading all 17 pages:

-Watch anyone that uses "always" and "never" often.

-I have seen guys I would lay odds are chemists or engineers give expansive, knowledgeable answers that had nothing to do with the original question. Unfortunately, they jumped to conclusions before finishing reading the entire first post.

-There is more than one way to cook chicken. Just because you find a recipe you like, does not mean the rest are wrong.

-Steer clear of the "north / south" debates. In the universe, pure white and true black are rare; but it is instead filled with the infinite shades of gray. As are most truths.

-On the cigar forums I visit, you would have been buried by this point as a troll, OP. Many high post count members over there get a kick out of giving bad advice to noobs too lazy to do a search. After being there for years, these people are like saints. When reading through deathbrewers thread on partial mash, I wanted to hunt down and beat with a stick the people that asked the same questions repeatedly that were answered on the first three pages. But Deathbrewer patiently continued to answer their questions. How do you rate that kind of loyalty? And would you want to take a chance that some thumbs downs or bad ratings would cost the forum a member like that?

-If you sit read and read, you learn soon enough who you listen too, and who you just stare at the two chicks making out in their avatar. :rockin:If you are unwilling to do the reading, (or to see that the same question is asked lower on the page) you deserve what you get.

-And finally, do we need a rating system where Revvy gets any more props than he does already? His head will get so big he won't get through most doors! :mug:
 
Would you care to explain what you're saying?

.

I can decide what I want to listen to just fine. I don't need anyone to do it for me. My first brew (Irish Stout) came out fantastic thanks to this forum. This is a strange thread for a site with so much good information.
 
I've read the whole thread. I also run a forum for a record label that has about 10k active users. I found that any sort of rating system, from thumbs up/down, karma, pos / negs or any option to dislike something will only cause trouble. Take into consideration that the average user doesn't read EVERY post on the forum. However as the person who built and maintains it I have to. The only results will be people yelling favoritism and then censorship if you try to correct it. Everyone will start arguing about pointless garbage like why this person shouldn't be listened to or why that person should be banned from the site. The only "voting" option that seems to work without negative impact is a simple LIKE button. If you don't like the info you don't reply or like the post. If you agree with the info then you like it. No harm done to anyone. Yes it doesn't fix misinformation but like most of the other users said I need both OPINIONS to decide my own.

I also agree that having allot of posts under your belt does not signify you know what your talking about. There's plenty of places on here that you can post in that has nothing to with beer itself. :rolleyes:
 
Great, now the libs are ruining a friggin beer forum. Unbelievable

Funny, I was jokingly thinking this along about page 2 but I sure as hell wasn't saying it. And I'm glad I didn't after reading Yoopers wrath.

After 17 pages, I don't have much more to add. I think you people have covered it well. All I can say is as a new brewer and an 12 month HBT reader, I've gained most of my knowledge from this computer, reading here and elsewhere daily for almost 5 months before even attempting a brew day. I think that during that amount of time, I learned the proper way of doing things. I had enough time to form my own opinions and weed out the info that I didn't need. Not that it was wrong or bad but info that I was not going to use for my system of brewing. Obviously this is not the only way to do things, but it kept me from starting an 'Is my beer ruined' thread.

FWIW, I spend 90% of my beer learning time on this site, mostly because of the vast amount of members and content that keeps springing up by the second. Plus, some of the comedy on here cracks me up. So, all I can say is I'm one of those don't fix it if it isn't broke people. Because who in the hell is going to read from this 200 post clown?:confused:
 
If you propose to "rate out" the "mis-information" then you also condemn the potential for evolution of concepts.

THIS is the biggest reason why I think it's a bad idea. Lots of techniques that are now basically mainstream would have been labeled as "misinformation" a relatively short while ago.

Plus I'm in a forum because I'm interested in a variety of people's opinions and feedback, not necessarily the same five or six all the time. If you do your homework you will have a good idea who to listen to.
 
dirtyjerz said:
The only "voting" option that seems to work without negative impact is a simple LIKE button. If you don't like the info you don't reply or like the post. If you agree with the info then you like it. No harm done to anyone.

I think that's the ticket. Definitely seems like the safest way to do it.

I was just on the android forum, and next to the most useful answer to my question, were big green letters that said "Best Answer".
 
Just want to post some opinions after reading all 17 pages:




-On the cigar forums I visit, you would have been buried by this point as a troll, OP. Many high post count members over there get a kick out of giving bad advice to noobs too lazy to do a search.

how helpful
 
I was a member of another php forum a number of years ago.

the layout was nearly exactly the same, except instead of the "thumbs up thumbs down" option there was the ability to "Thank" the poster for their post if it was a good one.

when a post was "Thanked" it would say below the post who thanked it; just like how the "Post edited by..." pops up below the post when it's edited, but instead it would say "Post thanked by: PolishStout, UserName1, etc..."

And anytime a user would post, it would have a tally of how many times they've been thanked underneath their avatar. ex: "Thanked 30 times in 8 posts"


I wonder if something like that could be done with this forum.
 
I was a member of another php forum a number of years ago.

the layout was nearly exactly the same, except instead of the "thumbs up thumbs down" option there was the ability to "Thank" the poster for their post if it was a good one.

when a post was "Thanked" it would say below the post who thanked it; just like how the "Post edited by..." pops up below the post when it's edited, but instead it would say "Post thanked by: PolishStout, UserName1, etc..."

And anytime a user would post, it would have a tally of how many times they've been thanked underneath their avatar. ex: "Thanked 30 times in 8 posts"


I wonder if something like that could be done with this forum.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I was on another forum that did that as well. I don't particularly care either way, but I have seen it done.
 
If the answer is important and you're patient enough, you'll seek multiple sources to confirm you're answer. You can't eliminate misinformation, I've been annoyed by this before...but it is what it is. Hopefully someone jumps on it and tells the person they are wrong.

I would be more interested in a way to help encourage people to post conclusions to their ideas. I know we've all looked for something and found a topic on our question only to see, "I'll post back my results"...and no results ever follow.
 
Since this is an evolving area of knowledge/science (and an art form) it is hard to eliminate "misinformation". To paraphrase an earlier comment, today's misinformation is next year's best practice. Some "misinformation" is just a different way of doing something, even if it is less practical, less efficient, less whatever for some people.

The ability to present multiple options, processes, etc. and discuss their merits and justification may be frustrating to a new brewer or somebody venturing into new territory but it has an overall positive effect on the breadth and depth of knowledge available to be searched. The best way to prevent a thread from being unhelpful to the OP is to steer the conversation by asking additional questions and asking for feedback on different ideas presented.
 
It's mentioned later in this thread that we already have a thumbs up/thumbs down feature on this site. Would it be possible to expand this feature so that we could see which posts have been given a thumbs up/thumbs down and how many of each have been given? I think this would be a better way to accomplish what I'm attempting to achieve here.

====================================
Original post below:

I'll start off by saying that I have learned 90% of what I know about brewing from this site

Well there's your problem. This is in no way a diss on the great forum here or any of the other good ones out there, however, from my perspective as an old SOB I see far too many homebrewers using sporadic questions on forums to learn brewing. While it seems to be more the norm than the exception it's not unlike jumping into an airplane cockpit and yelling out the window, asking questions of random individuals to learn how to fly. Unless you educate yourself to at least a basic level and have at least a modest clue as to the overall brewing process it is extremely difficult to separate quality information from hearsay and BS. A large number of posted questions on any of the brewing forums are answered in any of the basic books on the subject and it is fairly obvious that many of the questioners have never read one. Being able to tell a good answer from a bad answer really is the responsibility of the individual IMO. :mug:
 
Well one way we could clear up the misinformation on this site is by deleting all of the posts that refer to Yooper as a dude.
 
I think this is a terrible idea. If admins/mods determine who is rated as a trusted poster, then why not just say only admins can answer questions?

I didn't read much past this post but I have used forums for games where there is a rep system and the rep is given out by other users of the forum. People who posted well were given +rep and others who were simply trolling and being a nuisance would get -rep. It was for an online game so it had rank titles themed around the game and it was a great way to identify if someone was a helpful contributor. You were also limited on how often you + or - rep the same person so its not like someone could get in an argument and one person could slam their rep to the ground. I'm pretty sure this forum is capable of it because this looks to be programmed or scripted the same.

http://forum.travian.us/showthread.php?t=33822 Above their avatar it has their reputation rank and below it has their reputation bar. This also happens to be the post where they explain how you get what rank and what benefits come with it.
 
Well there's your problem. This is in no way a diss on the great forum here or any of the other good ones out there, however, from my perspective as an old SOB I see far too many homebrewers using sporadic questions on forums to learn brewing. While it seems to be more the norm than the exception it's not unlike jumping into an airplane cockpit and yelling out the window, asking questions of random individuals to learn how to fly. Unless you educate yourself to at least a basic level and have at least a modest clue as to the overall brewing process it is extremely difficult to separate quality information from hearsay and BS. A large number of posted questions on any of the brewing forums are answered in any of the basic books on the subject and it is fairly obvious that many of the questioners have never read one. Being able to tell a good answer from a bad answer really is the responsibility of the individual IMO. :mug:

I Agree, I visit here and scan the posts looking for the nuggets to mine. I find enough to keep me coming back. It gets to the point where you can read a topic and guess the replies, both the good and not so good. I like when someone dredges up a post from 2007 and I see some of our more educated members asking questions when they were new to the forums. I'm sure that a lot of us would like to take back some of our earlier posts, but it is what it is.:mug:
It would be funny though to see what post number it was of each member when they made the post rather then today's total.
 
I am not interested personally in any sort of ratings system. When I post, I try to give advise to the OP that reflects what I have learned in the two years I've been brewing. That makes me neither right nor wrong, just means I have some experience. Is it the experience of Revvy, Yooper, Deathbrewer, et al? No, it's my experience. I've done this, here is what I did to counter this. I'm not here to kill someone with bad advise about beer, I'm not here to ruin someone's batch; I'm here because people have helped me make beer that tasted great rather than okay and I WANT TO GIVE BACK.

Plus I like looking at the two women making out. It makes me feel nice.
 
I, for one, have never been strongly in favor of proposing bureaucratic solutions to problems that don't exist.

Agreed. Like any other internet forum your going to get a lot of different opinions - most good, some not so good. personally I haven't seen too many post where an answer or response was just flat out WRONG, and in those instances other people are usually quick to jump on it.
why fix something that isn't broke?
 
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