Bob, that title is definitely over-gracious. Loved doing the podcast with you and James. Hopefully I didn't talk too much.
Many thanks to you members above who have taken the time to listen and comment already.
Yeasty wrote: you kept that quiet.
Bob and I only had about 36 hours notice ourselves
. It was 9am Bob's time so his bar was open but that did not set the BIAB community back at all! It certainly makes a podcast a lot more interesting and enjoyable with Bob than just listening to me drone on. Btw, where did that hiccoughy laugh and strange chuckle of mine come from
.
HbgBill wrote:Funny Bob.. It was a great interview. I think Pistol Pat now has me convinced to forget sparging :D
Excellent! And, it looks like the Pat is out of the bag
*.
Bill I think it was you that made a really nice Facebook post
here. It looks like we have six comments there already which exceeds most other shows.
If any one else wants to post there, that would be excellent. In the podcast, we mention the importance of using clear terminology. If possible, can someone link the
Clear Brewing Terminology thread on the Basic Brewing Radio Facebook page?
The Pat is Out of the Bag
As many of you will have guessed, I usually post here as PistolPatch. This takes up a lot of time but provides most of the thought for how I want to see the site structured to allow users to find quality quickly. We are now at the stage where I believe I can structure the site to do this and this will relieve you all of reading my stuff over and over and of course will save me many hours per week writing personalised answers.
Incidentally, I was with Simon (NME/admin) the other day and we were able to estimate that I have written over two million words on brewing here and elsewhere. That's 31 average size novels
. It's time we distilled that.
There are many things to do here. Besides setting up fast, intuitive navigation of the forum, if Bob agrees, I would like to do a series of three minute videos on the BIABacus. Getting the BIABacus coded is just one more priority.
What You Can Do...
If someone asks a question on the board and you feel as though you can only answer one part of it, please do that. Or, if someone makes a new first post, welcome them. Every time you do that, it saves me or other senior members time.
Apart from time, I also have spent a lot of what they call opportunity cost on the site. In other words, I have deliberately taken time off my livelihood many times to spend on this site. That's many thousands of dollars. Yes, I must be mad! But,. not that mad. I simply can't afford to continue to put so much time and money into the site. In fact,...
Since the site began, we have had less than a thousand dollars of donations and all this I have handed on to others or has been spent on forum expenses. The other day, I asked Simon to change the top right corner of the forum. This alone, to set up took about five hours. What I am hoping is that many people will take the minute to contribute $5 to the forum as there is so much to get done here.
Make Others Aware of the Situation
If you notice someone being given a lot of attention and time and they are still not a Donor or an Enthusiast, maybe send them a PM and ask them to read this post. It's quite possible that many members here just assume that because of the personal attention they get, the site must earn a fortune and/or that the posts written to them must only take a few minutes whereas they sometimes take a few hours.
I certainly have no regrets on the time/money I have spent to date. The community here has been fantastic. We've had a couple of people pinch/say stuff for their own personal gain (one cost me a few thousand dollars in lost work - nice) but they pale into insignificance. I'm sure everyone agrees we have the nicest of forums here. But, obviously, making the culture here sustainable is from now on going to be increasingly up to existing members.
I have a fair bit more to do off-forum now so I better sign off. Hopefully the above reads okay and once again thanks to Bob, James and all of you most supportive members.
Pat