Wine Store

[dananne]

If this is WWs last post, he'll surely be missed by us, and hopefully we'll continue getting weekend phone calls from him, particularly during football season!

As regards the board, let's be honest here -- it's basically a group of about a dozen of us talking to each other. I could probably name everyone off the top of my head, both by username and by given names. Many of us have met one another and know each other offline. Occasionally, a newbie will show up and ask a question, or somebody will pop in from the past with a few posts and again disappear for long stretches, but by and large, it's just us talking with one another, interrupted now and then by the random post. I like that, and I enjoy having a small group that I can learn from, discuss things with, and have all the conversations politely and without anyone being abrasive, obviously showing off their knowledge or cellar, or otherwise just being unpleasant to socialize with online. I'd say most of us hang around on this board for that very reason -- the other boards have just too many unpleasant people making it too unpleasant an experience.

True, it seems the forum is now an adjunct to the wine store and not the other way around, but it's also a service provided us for free, and they've got to find a way to make money somehow. Otherwise, the board goes away, and we're all left trying to talk to each other amidst the shouting at a place like ebob. Ugh.

I personally haven't thought PW to be over-the-top in his posting. I've never bought anything and haven't felt pressured to do so. Then again, I haven't been around since the Mead days, so I feel no real personal affront about the change in focus. I can understand the point of those who do.

Anyway, I echo others in that WW will be missed, and Anne and I hope he'll reconsider. If not, then he'd better do a better job picking up that phone! Also, I like Aaron's suggestion that the board and the store be split up a bit more clearly, so that the board can be more towards wine education and discussion, and the selling can move over to the other.