18 Responses to “Friday poll: are wine forums fun, informative or a big waste of time?”

1. Dr. Debs
   February 29th, 2008 at 11:26 am

   Forums, in my experience, are best for adrenalin junkies, or people who don’t get enough stress in their life already. I used to go on Chowhound but then a few people (who clearly do not have jobs and just spend all day responding to wine forum posts) became such a huge pain in the a** that I gave it up. I won’t go on E-Bob for general principle, and WLTV? No. I am glad Gary is making an impression on people, but the sports metaphors make me crazy.

2. Catie
   February 29th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

   Ebob! Hold me mommy!

3. Gary Vaynerchuk
   February 29th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

   DR D hate the sports huh? So sorry :(, I hate that i lose awesome people like u based on some of my personal stuff sorry and keep up the great work!

4. Dr. Debs
   February 29th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

   Gary, it’s like this. Either the sports things work for you–and they clearly work for a lot of people, so that’s great–or they don’t. Like I said, I’m GLAD that you are doing what you do and reaching all the people for whom the wine/sports thing is a good fit. It’s jut not ME, so therefore I don’t personally like to hang out in the forum for too long. But that’s why there are 51 flavors, yes?

5. winehiker
   February 29th, 2008 at 2:01 pm

   I suppose it’s a value perception wrapped up in an inclination cloaked in time available for chasing down tangential postings. Can’t… muster… brainjuice….

6. Taster B
   February 29th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

   I have a hard enough time keeping up with blogging/commenting/tweeting. Also, I saw where SBAdvocate got a less than warm welcome on one of the big ones. Basically got her um…hat handed to her. I know it all worked out in the end but still. Sorry, I haven’t any brain juice left either…

7. Shawna (TeelaJBrown)
   February 29th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

   I’m so new to all of this, I’m lurking just about everywhere. I read the wine.woot forums a lot, but so far have only pulled the trigger once to buy (though that could soon change). I’m at WLTV forums trying to learn as much as I can, just like with the blogs.

   I’m on wine info overload at the moment. Firehouse approach. It’s the only way to get indoctrinated, methinks.

8. Sonadora
   February 29th, 2008 at 2:35 pm

   I post on a forum, just not a wine one…I get enough wine stuff through blogs, twitter, drinking, drinking, drinking, reading books, drinking….

9. monkuwino
   February 29th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

   One thing to point out - the poll should have been done to allow multiple choices for the wine poll junkies out there, rather than allowing just one selection. That said, I normally don’t read wine forums - there’s too much other information that overloads me! Regarding Deb’s comment on Chowhound - unfortunately while I still post there, I have to ageee with her assessment. And their wine board has too many pretentious snobs inhabiting the place. So did I say enough negative stuff in this post? lol..

10. Jeff
    March 1st, 2008 at 9:30 am

    I glance in occasionally to see what the threads are, but, generally speaking, I think there’s a partisan mob mentality in the boards that is off-putting. Too much, “look at how smart and clever I am because I read something you didn’t.”

    And, while Dr. Debs may not like the sports metaphors on the WLTV boards, she should be thankful she stays out of some of the sports –like college football– boards because those places make wine boards seem genial in comparison.

    Jeff

11. RichardA
    March 1st, 2008 at 10:47 am

    I only occasionally post on any of the wine forums, and probably more on Chowhounds than anywhere else. Though I post far more on the Boston Food forum of Chowhounds. Yes, there are posters on most forums who can be unwelcoming and rather nasty. Yet it can also be a way to reach more people and to find something new.

    And wine forums, good or bad, certainly garner far more feedback than most blogs. If you added up the comments on wine blogs, you would get only a mere fraction of the total comments made on wine forums. So such forums are certainly very popular places for people to post. Now why can’t we convince more of them to post on blogs instead.

12. Randy
    March 2nd, 2008 at 2:36 pm

    Yeah, I started out posting on WLTV a little bit (my post count is like 44, so it’s basically like ZERO). I have a long and storied past on forums of all kinds, and I’m happy to have left most of that behind when I began my new lifestyle iteration with wine.

    I find that forums in general are somewhat of a social experiment, and can quickly go completely off the rails if codes of conduct (or closed membership) are not adopted. E-bob is a fine example, WLTV is very similar in its dynamic (the faces are different, but there’s still a few large cliques that defend their own). The main difference I’ve seen with WLTV is that sometimes there’s a feeding frenzy effect, where it seems like they eat their own kind in a fraternity-style hazing kind of way.

    I’ve met many of the people on WLTV forums face-to-face (in the San Francisco offline last May) and had a great time, very much a big umbrella event). But February 2008 is a considerably different WLTV than May 2007.

    OK, well, this has gone on way longer than I expected. Sorry about that Jill! Back to the show!

13. FTBoomer
    March 2nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm

    As a participant of the epic thread and chief instigator. I feel that things worked out well for me. Having such an intimate dinner with Gary was a once in a lifetime event.

    As for forums, I have been on forums from way back in the 80’s when we dialed into bulletin boards. They have always provided a unique perpective you can’t always get from the face of a web site.

    People with common interests posting daily will always lead you to new informed and uninformed ideas. Either way, you’re going to learn something new.

14. Jill
    March 2nd, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    Thanks everybody for weighing in. I personally find myself in an interesting spot. Because I’m a retailer, when I post on boards like Chowhound, I’ve been moderated if it seems like I’m trying to sell anything (even if I’m not…though I understand why it may seem that way). Though I don’t get moderated on the WL forums, I have found it hard to break through and be taken seriously, not because I’m a retailer but because it is so social and I’m…well, I’m a little socially awkward (whether in person or online, sadly!).

    FTBoomer, happy you had a good dinner with Gary, and I’m hoping TampaSteve makes a speedy recovery — I did check back and see that there have been several more pages added to the initial 18 I mentioned, and lots of people seem to have kissed and made up (thankfully).

    Overall, it seems like there are some people who are just more comfortable taking part in these social networks than others. I still go to them myself because I’m looking for the “unique perspective” that FTBoomer says he finds. I’m sure it’s there (it’s definitely there on other threads).

    Personally, I am realizing that I happen to prefer finding the unique perspective front and center, and not in an 18 page thread (though it was mighty entertaining thread, until the revelation that TampaSteve had fallen ill).

    I guess that’s why blogs appeal to me: they lend themselves to full sentences (I can’t understand the ROTFLOL-style acronyms much of the time), a unique point of view, and potential subsequent conversation and argument (but without quite the mob mentality). Wine blogs seem to me the social forum for the slightly anti-social inward looking folks who want to be part of a community, but want to take things slowly rather than diving head in.

15. Kathleen
    March 2nd, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    I have a wine blog and post on both WLTV, Ebob, Wine Spectator and the rochester, NY D&C wine forums.
    I find that wine forums are a great way to share information and ask questions.
    Maybe the average wine enthusiast feels more comfortable with posting just a line or two on a forum, rather than be that first response on a blog post.
    Kathleen Lisson

16. Jill
    March 2nd, 2008 at 7:37 pm

    Kathleen, I think you’re case in point as to why I should have provided the option of choosing more than one…sorry, next time I’ll set up the poll differently!

    I admire your ability to penetrate the different social networks (okay, no “penetrate” jokes, people!). I, myself, am just a misfit with poor social skills.

17. el jefe
    March 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm

    I showed up on WLTV’s forums mostly because I found fans there who were talking about and liking the wines I make. They had questions and were excited to be able to talk to the guy making them - and I was at least as excited to be able to have the interaction! Now some of these folks are regular correspondents and are (hopefully) on the way to becoming friends.

    Also, Gary and his staff have been very kind to let me mention happenings and promotions at our winery on his site. He doesn’t have to and I wouldn’t be offended if he said no, but I appreciate the attitude!

18. john witherspoon
    March 4th, 2008 at 12:41 pm

    I enjoy forums for the content you can get from them, sometimes!!! So I would say that I am a commenter must less frequently than I am a searcher. Weeding through all the chatter can be hard sometimes but you can usually find what you are looking for and maybe make a new connection. And like Sonadora said I usually read more bicycling forums than I do wine ones and keep my reading to the blogs and industry webpages.

    Good post
    Cheers
    John
    

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