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+--- Thread: Where are the newcomers? (/thread-21019.html)
- Jackie - 01-29-2011
I'm noticing that it's been nearly three months since anyone has posted on the NOVICE forum. Any thoughts on why that might be?
Are people finding the forum? I'm wondering...
Jackie
- Innkeeper - 01-29-2011
Jackie, the Novice tread was down for several months during the reconstruction of the site. It came back up in late October. We have have one newcomere since November. It could be that during the down time we got a bad rep that could have been posted elsewhere.
Also, on other sites that I frequent there has has also been a dearth of newcomers. It might have something to due with the economy. The snobs who drink the high end stuff don't need us, and the newcomers to the wine world are happy with the low cost plonk.
Some how or other we need to advertise.
- Thomas - 01-29-2011
Maybe there are no more new comers to wine and all is complete [img]/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
- Jackie - 01-29-2011
There must be so many newcomers... I'm wondering what we can do to let them know we're here. New participation is fun!
- Drew - 01-30-2011
Two reasons I think.
#1 I have a lot of friends who love wine but are too intimidated by boards to post on wines they enjoy or ask questions.
#2 A lot of folks who really enjoy wine are not into it, like we geeks, enough to seek out wine blogs. My wife has been drinking wine as long as I have and HATES it when I ask her to describe a wine she's drinking...If she likes a wine, all I get is Yummy! A lot of folks don't want to analyize what they're drinking.
Drew
- winoweenie - 01-30-2011
I agree with both IK and Drewski and one other point that may have some pertancy... After making a newbie post on other boards(ie WS or WCW) and getting the cold shoulders from them smarties (and smirks) they have no intention of getting hammered again. I've quit trying to even think about grazing the other boards ('cept an occassional glace at WLDG) because I have to bite my keyboard to keep from exposing the idiots making some of the non-sensical comments or profane descriptors used. Haven't a clue how to get around this so what am I ranting about. Withdrawal symtoms maybe???WW
- Thomas - 01-30-2011
WW must have noticed my lack of participation on the other boards of late.
I believe the reasons are in fact the two that Drew posted.
This board calls them novices, but my suspicion is that anyone who signs onto a wine forum site, any of the sites, is a likely candidate for future geekdom and not necessarily just a novice looking for some information. As Drew points out, most people just enjoy what they like to drink and live the rest of their lives without digging deeply into the subject--right now, that accounts for about 90% of retail wine sales.
Maybe this forum can be the forerunner Web site that devises an interaction that attracts that 90%. It would be revolutionary.
- Kcwhippet - 01-30-2011
Definitely agree with Drew on point 2. As a few of you may know I manage a wine shop and usually taste about 60 to 80 wines a week. I think I do a pretty good job picking some good wines for the shop. Judy, on the other hand, just drinks whatever I pour. As it turns out, she has a much better palate than I do. She can find nuances in wines that I miss, and detect minor flaws in wines that I generally miss. However, ask her to describe a wine the way some of us might and she really can't do it. Just like Drew's wife, it's simple - either she likes it or she doesn't, and she doesn't want to have to analyze it - other than to let me know if it's flawed.
- andrawes76 - 01-30-2011
I think there is a major piece of the puzzle that no one has hit that I am working on behind the scenes. I am going to upgrade this forum to a new PHPBB version. This version is anciently old and not indexed by major search engines. There are thousands of wine tasting notes here on this forum which need to be indexed by Google, which will happen as soon as we do the upgrade. This will require one to two days of downtime. If everyone is cool with that we can make this happen in the coming two weeks.
Also, another reason why people are not leaving posts on the forums is that the forum trend is kinda swaying to the Facebook, Twitter thing where current or relevant issues, notes are being posted vs. archived conversations. I dont think its a reason to abandon, but to use this to our advantage by actively bringing in new people into the forum, again which is in the works. How are we going to do this? If you look at Wines.com from the homepage and sign up for an account, you can review wines, wineries, favorite wineries and merchants. This will in the coming weeks be tied to the forum so that if you leave a post for the forum, it posts to the relevant wine and vice versa on Wines.com Wine Show Pages....
This is a BIG website with a lot of moving parts. Trust me we are not sitting on our tails over here there are pieces being worked on every day and this one is very important to us.
Viva la Wine Board!
- Thomas - 01-31-2011
Oh yes, the Facebook/Twitter intervention is of course a factor, and you may be right PW, it may be THE overriding factor. But I don't see either of those formats doing much in the way of education.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 01-31-2011).]
- Jackie - 01-31-2011
I used to put a little link on the WINES.COM homepage inviting people to click to "Ask an Expert" or "Ask a Wine Question -- visit our friendly WineBoard" (with an emphasis on friendly).
I agree that newcomers have LOTS of questions that they are afraid to ask in settings that could be intimidating... It's such a shame that anyone gets treated badly on any wine site. I think this almost never happens here, which makes me so proud of this Board.
- Thomas - 02-01-2011
Jackie, just keep the newbies away from that ornery critter named weenie...
- winoweenie - 02-01-2011
Jackie Love...... Who helped the Foodster tunnel out?????? Thot maybe he was snowed in till the spring thaw. I should not be so smug. Our weather forecast is for decidely colder weather with a forecast for Wed nite of a low of 31*. Break out the longies and winter woolens. WW [img]/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
- andrawes76 - 02-10-2011
I will shoot out an email with a revised homepage design which highlights the forum. It basically is above the page fold and has the last posted note from the Forum. This way it shows constant updates from the Forum on the homepage. Again this will coincide with the upgrade from the old forum software to the new forum software.
- Jackie - 02-13-2011
I can't get into the Forum from the homepage top menu at all. Had to go to MY TASTES and then link in.