wow – erobertparker…

27.4.2010billn

I just checked, but it’s not April 1st.

I considered it superfluous before – but let me know – should Burgundy-Report have it’s own forum? On second thoughts I might have to do more work – a lingering death for wine-bulletin boards? Well given the reach of that site, comment will now be all the poorer for erp members (subscribers); passing winemakers and ‘experts’ in general will no longer be able to contribute. Comment and info will certainly be diminshed for the subscribers by this, though perhaps other sites will be strengthened…

Please note that the Bulletin Board will be closed until Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at approximately 6:00 p.m. EDT in order to convert the forum to subscriber-only access. Please note the statement released by eRobertParker.com today:

—————– Back in November, 2001, we launched eRobertParker.com with the goal of creating the world’s best wine information site. Our objective was simple. We wanted to provide independent reviews of the best wines in the world and encourage open discussion of them to the benefit of the participants. Toward that end, we invited Mark Squires to bring his Wine Talk Bulletin Board over to the site and offered it openly and freely to all, subsidized by our subscription revenues. Virtually overnight the board became the Internet’s premier forum for wine discussion. It has grown dramatically in size and stature as the population of wine lovers grew. At the outset, we asked Mark to maintain his philosophy of insisting on real names and email addresses. This approach sought civilized, non-commercial discussion of wine. Over the years the Internet and the board have changed. Supervising the huge volume of posts has become increasingly time consuming and expensive. At the same time, we’ve noted that the subscriber-only forums we created some time back are increasingly popular and much easier to manage. Moreover, we’re committed to providing even more functionality and greater coverage of wines for our subscribers in the near future. This will require us to spend wisely. We are a small company with limited resources and, after months of deliberation, we’ve come to the conclusion that it is in the best interest of the people who count most – our subscribers – that we change our policy with regard to the bulletin board. On April 27, the entire Mark Squires’ Bulletin Board on eRobertParker.com will become a subscriber-only forum, open only to subscribers of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate or eRobertParker.com. A notice to our print subscribers on how to continue/gain access to the subscriber-only board was sent with the April print edition. Once an eRobertParker.com subscriber is logged onto the site they can access the BB but they must logon to it in order to post. Change is always difficult but, like this action, often necessary. We are sorry to say goodbye to those posters to Mark Squires’ Bulletin Board who are not subscribers, and who have made valuable contributions. We will miss you, but our overwhelming goal is more focused support and assistance to our subscribers, who are our bloodline of support and make all the fascinating features of the bulletin board possible. We look forward to better serving our loyal subscribers through a more focused effort on them. As always, we wish each and every one of you all the best in wine and life.

Maybe it’s back to the paywall debate or perhaps the erp winos were just too tough to handle. Anyway wasn’t it clever of them to shut everything without warning, so that I can’t delete all my old posts!

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

There are 11 responses to “wow – erobertparker…”

  1. Thomas Blach27th April 2010 at 10:23 amPermalinkReply

    A forum is a brilliant idea, Bill!

    • billn27th April 2010 at 11:33 amPermalinkReply

      Are you sure Tom?
      Reason: I had the ‘my.burgundy-report.com’ pages running for over one year. The cream of burgundy report readers and winemakers and so forth – nearly 500 people registered for this ‘mini facebook/social media experiment’ whatever I should call it.

      It was, effectively a forum, but nobody talked. I closed it down after 8 months of inactivity…

  2. Ray Walker27th April 2010 at 5:53 pmPermalinkReply

    Bill, that would be a brilliant idea! I would visit, post and I believe others would do the same!

  3. Thomas Blach27th April 2010 at 6:58 pmPermalinkReply

    Did people notice it , Bill? anyway the time could hardly be riper for a relaunch.

  4. bmcq27th April 2010 at 10:02 pmPermalinkReply

    I thought I was missing something: didn’t you try this and terminate it just a couple of months ago? Have I been Mad Hatted?

    With regard to chatboredz, I do tire of the potential for self appointed experts to hold forth becoming kinetic.

  5. Rick Dalia28th April 2010 at 12:26 amPermalinkReply

    I think a healthy exchange of ideas and experiences is never a bad thing, but then again, I’m no expert…

  6. Ned Hoey28th April 2010 at 5:20 amPermalinkReply

    This may be an opportunity. That board sucked up a lot of wine posting oxygen in that it was very active, attracted many prominent posters and for that reason, many chose to devote the limited amount of time they had available for posting to do it there.
    However the moderation was truly toxic. A space has opened.
    I think that most Burgophiles would be fine if they did not have to wade through vast postings on CA cabs and Bordeaux, even if they occasionally read a thread. I don’t know what would be required effortwise.

  7. billn28th April 2010 at 6:44 amPermalinkReply

    I have to say I’m not a ‘seizing the opportunity’ type of guy in this context. With this site I do my own little thing, just like I always wanted to and I’m gratified if some people are interested enough to make a regular trip here and comment – it’s basically fun, not work.

    I do find it sad there was a kind of community spirit for those burgundy enthusiasts on that site, most of whom it seemed were not erp members. I will have a look at co-opting a forum, but if it’s too much work it will be consigned to wherever you consign things to if you know you you’ll never get around to to doing – the garage? – certainly not the cellar 😉

    If it will work, maybe I will have something running next week – otherwise not at all…

  8. Antoine28th April 2010 at 12:57 pmPermalinkReply

    We need a Burg’s site open to everybody…whether you want to put it up is up to ou and would be convenient to me since I already visit.
    Antoine

  9. Alex Goldstein28th April 2010 at 9:29 pmPermalinkReply

    I posted on the eRobertParker forum for 8 years. It’s unconsionable that they yanked the forum away from the public without any warning whatsoever.

    I feel the worst for people who had transactions going on Commerce Corner. Most people exchange via PM, and if they don’t have the other’s email or phone they are out of luck. I wonder how many people will be left holding the bag?

    I think closing the forum to the public was a bad decision, but I KNOW the way they handled it was wrong.

  10. Howard Cooper28th April 2010 at 10:53 pmPermalinkReply

    If you start a burg board, I would love to participate.

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