We trust everyone enjoyed their New Year celebrations and have a few interesting brews planned for the coming year. Here are some answers to some points GuingesRock brought up earlier in the thread.
GuingesRock wrote:I was also impressed that the moderators and administrators seem to be active...
The moderators here are active but not in the way you might imagine. Members here post in an excellent manner which means that problems are extremely rare. In fact, until four months ago, any fully registered member could bulk PM the entire board. While this is a silly thing to allow on any board, the fact that it was only abused twice is a great reflection on the trust we have been able to put into the community. The biggest moderation problem we have had here in ages is post #6 of this thread. We're not sure what to do there
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There are several types of moderators here. Some approve first posts. others might help people they see are having trouble posting pictures or quotes. Others ensure that no post on the board gets unacknowledged. Others write or review posts 'off the board' where ideas are bounced around and developed. Over 3,000 posts currently exist "off the board". Over half of these have been edited several times and many get deleted when we conclude that an idea is not practical. 2013 will see a lot of the fruits of such labours move onto the main board. Some of these are major and will be noticed. Many more are subtle but essential. Those who assisted in the beta process of the BIABacus have an understanding of this.
Regardless of the Moderator role, the focus is on service.
GuingesRock wrote:I would like to know who you all are, your stories and experiences.
We probably can't help you much here GuingesRock. Before the site began, the founders here wanted to ensure that the site's culture always remained helpful and friendly. Two of the policies we put in place were...
1. A requirement to make a first post before being allowed to post on the board. The thinking here was that the effort to write a first post provides evidence of goodwill. Secondly, a good first post helps existing members look after the newest members.
2. Founders and Moderators were to remain anonymous as much as possible. The first idea here is that founders and moderators should be able to post freely here. Their level of knowledge should not be regarded as being any better or worse than any other member. Secondly, any time you are communicating on the board, it's hard to know if you are communicating with a moderator or not. We suspect that this helps keep the courtesy level high.
We are not sure whether the above policies make a difference or if it is the natural goodwill that most BIAB brewers seem to have that keeps the culture quality high. Just in case these policies do have a role, we are hesitant to change them.
There is one final advantage to this second policy. Anyone who takes on an administrative or moderation role here knows that there is no explicit public recognition. This means that those with these roles are very well intentioned. We are very lucky that every corner of the globe has been able to give us these people.
We are also lucky in the fact that as the site grows and we need more moderators to help in these roles, we have no shortage of well-intentioned members to choose from.
2013
We really appreciate those of you who have made kind comments above as we do realise the current site structure has a lot of holes and clumsiness to it. When starting the site, we thought these holes could be fixed one at a time, easily and quickly. We were a little naive then. A lot of work and thinking has been done since and the beginning of 2013 will see us finally being able to plug a lot of these holes and clumsiness in one hit. Thanks to the older members for your great patience.
Fortunately, the site hasn't had to rely on its structure or tools to date. The enthusiasm of new members coupled with the enthusiasm of existing ones has been the key. In 2013, we hope that the new tools and structure will help accelerate the communication of quality information amongst members. We also hope to see Guests benefit from this and perhaps pass this information on in their local forums or just when they meet a fellow brewer. The faster and more widely quality information spreads, the better for the entire brewing community.
The tools and information coming to the site certainly have the potential to help the entire brewing community. We hope that everyone from guests to active posters here will pass these tools and information on and make 2013 a year where a new way of looking at things results in a major difference to everyone. The last big change in thinking about brewing occurred in 2006 with BIAB. Let's do it again.
BB
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Haven’t found my head yet either. Fun night.
For myself and a lot of men (and some women to be fair) women and beer are complementary. You have football on here too. It isn't a site dedicated to religion, so we are ok there. But how do the women members on here feel? And gay members? Maybe post a picture that you like to even things up. Perhaps that's the problem. It's a little discriminating. Maybe it's fine. I don't know. I don't like football 
