Livin on HD

[Drunk-N-Smurf]

Do you live on HD? Do you spend most of your day refreshing the "unread posts" page to see what's new?

I'm not sure if I should admit it, but I do. I have my ipad with me everywhere I go, and refreshing the forums is as second nature as checking my Facebook now....

It's not that I have no life, I'm just hooked - there should be an HD anonymous. I'm a service plumber by trade, and in between jobs, you'll find me in my truck reading posts from the hour I was working. Lunch...on HD. Wife goes to bed at 9, I'm on HD till I go at 2....do I have a problem? Lol


Anyway, if your like me, might as well be talking to someone right?

DS

[Boda Getta]

Yes, you have a problem! You need to get off Facebook immediately!!

BG

[Drunk-N-Smurf]

That's what I thought!

Lol

[Drunk-N-Smurf]

It's getting so bad, I've spilled into the AD forums now too...quite a difference between the two.

[LakeLover]

Same here 3 distilling forums and still able to keep up. The good thing is I almost never have to ask questions it's all out there just read. I don't believe in talking down to people but when I read some of the posts here I think oh boy this poor guy. I wonder if there could be an hour meter rather than a post count for this forum. Then you could only post after 30-40 hours of log on time. I think that would make life so much easier on new members.

[Drunk-N-Smurf]

Or some way of locking the rest of the forum out until the reading lounge has been read.

[Drunk-N-Smurf]

Oh. I got it! Lightbulb moment!

There needs to be a script that runs when you submit a post (like the one that checks for new posts on a topic and offers the chance to edit)

The script should only run if user group =novice

The script should scan the newbies post for the ? Character, and then pick a few keywords from the sentence before.
The the script would perform a search for posts based on the "guessed" question, and spit out the first ten or twenty results.

Sit out a message like "we noticed you were asking a question. Perhaps some of these post can give you the answer" and then disable the submit button until the list has been flagged as read.

Maybe?

Thoughts?

[Bushman]

[rad14701]

Drunk-N-Smurf, your ideas do make sense, in a way... Unfortunately, from a programmers standpoint, implementing the logic you have proposed is far more complicated than one might think... It would require more artificial intelligence and fuzzy logic than would be practical, not to mention the additional processing burden on the server...

The biggest issue at hand is convincing newcomers that this craft/hobby is far more complicated and labor intensive than most would like to believe... There's a whole lot more to it than slapping together a ghetto still and magically producing decent spirits from a piss poor recipe... Yet people get mad when you point out these things and burst their bubble...

Unfortunately, we live in a world where people have come to expect instant gratification rather than working towards future rewards... Today we are seeing college graduates expecting everything their parents have worked their entire lives for, and want all of that and more - right now...!!! They want it all and they want it now, thinking they can figure out how to pay for it down the road rather than working towards and saving for the good things in life... Therein lies a majority of the problem and it carries over into virtually every aspect of their lives... Or maybe they are just used to having everything handed to them...

Trust me, if there was a way to have newcomers be required to pass a test before posting questions it would already be in place...

[Uncle Jemima]

For the past three weeks I damn near live here. Been off work from knee surgery. Used to spend all that free time on orangebloods.com message boards getting my Texas Longhorns fix. It's so much doom and gloom over there after a few sub-par seasons I can't hardly stand to read it anymore. So here's my replacement fix.

[okie]

Hook 'em Horns!!!

Uncle Jemima one of my best friends is from Austin and a die hard Texas fan. I totally understand.

I like the three forums and I'm hooked. I check them daily. Hoping to be cured when I finally build my ner pot still.

[rad14701]

You just might be hooked when you fill in the return address on an envelope in the following manner...

<your name here>
homedistiller.org/forum/
search.php?search_id=active_topics

[Drunk-N-Smurf]

I'm definitely past the point of no return now... Was watching speed limit signs on the way home....110, 110, 110, 80, 80, 60, 60, 50.....anyone gander a guess as to what went through my mind?

[Ribrob]

To the issue of having a test before being able to ask questions.

1.) Create a usergroup for newly registered members ("Newly Registered"). (or probably creating a usergroup for people who have passed the questionnaire.)
2.) Create a forum ("Pre-Questionnaire") only visible to "Newly Registered". Do not let the "Newly Registered" post in any other forum except in "Pre-Questionnaire".
4.) Create a questionnaire that reflects what the "elders" of this forum believe should be known before posting in other forums.
3.) Indicate to the "Newly Registered" they must read the "New Distiller Reading Lounge" and "Safety and Related Issues" forums and pass the questionnaire before being moved to a usergroup that can post in all forums.

Extra work for admins would include reading the questionnaires and moving new users to usergroups.
Alternative would be to create a standalone questionnaire page that did all this automatically working with the existing forum database.

[rad14701]

Ribrob, we do know HOW to implement what you have covered but it's the manual labor part that is the issue... The HD Management Team has had several discussions on how to best deal with this issue... A phpBB module could be written but, again, that takes time and effort... Husker and I are both well versed in PHP so, while we could do it, it becomes a matter of when... It's hell having a real life outside these forums...

[Ribrob]

...
Trust me, if there was a way to have newcomers be required to pass a test before posting questions it would already be in place...

LOL. Sorry. It was more of a response to the quote above. I also dabble in PHP and I have all the time in the world so maybe I can help?

[rad14701]

...
Trust me, if there was a way to have newcomers be required to pass a test before posting questions it would already be in place...

LOL. Sorry. It was more of a response to the quote above. I also dabble in PHP and I have all the time in the world so maybe I can help?

You would have to play with an independent install of phpBB... I have it installed on my own personal servers for testing purposes only...

[Ribrob]

Already done, I assumed it was the latest version. (Sorry for hijacking this thread.)

[Ribrob]

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/ ... tion_form/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow - This might be worth looking into.

[just-a-sip]

To the issue of having a test before being able to ask questions.

1.) Create a usergroup for newly registered members ("Newly Registered"). (or probably creating a usergroup for people who have passed the questionnaire.)
2.) Create a forum ("Pre-Questionnaire") only visible to "Newly Registered". Do not let the "Newly Registered" post in any other forum except in "Pre-Questionnaire".
4.) Create a questionnaire that reflects what the "elders" of this forum believe should be known before posting in other forums.
3.) Indicate to the "Newly Registered" they must read the "New Distiller Reading Lounge" and "Safety and Related Issues" forums and pass the questionnaire before being moved to a usergroup that can post in all forums.

Extra work for admins would include reading the questionnaires and moving new users to usergroups.
Alternative would be to create a standalone questionnaire page that did all this automatically working with the existing forum database.

im going to come off like a jerk with this but please know that is not my intention. and i want to make the side note first that although you have been a member for only 2 months i have no clue as to our experience level without searching through you past posts. and the same goes for any new member

however i will say far to often this site is filled with new members such as yourself and smurf who are constantly trying to sound as if they are above other newer members. (again im not saying you in this moment) trying to come here and post like crazy to raise their ranking to seam knowledgeable. I myself have been a member for several years and still feel that some of my advice is not the best, so i don't post it as often as i should. i find it funny how members come here and preach after just a few months that newer members need to read before posting however they themselves have over a hundred posts in just a month or so.

again i don't mean to sound shroud and as if im pointing fingers because you may be a new member here, but a master distiller in real life. i will say it often seams like we have many small pots calling the kettles black.

ideas of locking people off the site until they read certain parts is just stupid. there is much knowledge outside of just the new distillers reading lounge. and creating a test before you can post only drives members away. the point is to spread the knowledge to better the hobby and raise awareness, not driving off new members to go and learn through you tube rather then coming to the place with the answers.

my advice would be to just let the mentors handle the newbs and not worry about it as much as others do.

[Ribrob]

Apologies, I didn't mean to come off that way. I understand I've only been a member of this community for an extremely short amount of time, and I by no means are a master distiller and hopefully my posts don't come off like I'm trying to sound like one. Actually, I've stopped posting questions here for the most part. I have a tech background and when I read that thread that was quoted earlier, I figured I would offer some help since everyone here has been so helpful to me, that's all.

*Takes a step back into the shadows and starts lurking again.*

[just-a-sip]

Apologies, I didn't mean to come off that way. I understand I've only been a member of this community for an extremely short amount of time, and I by no means are a master distiller and hopefully my posts don't come off like I'm trying to sound like one. Actually, I've stopped posting questions here for the most part. I have a tech background and when I read that thread that was quoted earlier, I figured I would offer some help since everyone here has been so helpful to me, that's all.

*Takes a step back into the shadows and starts lurking again.*

like i said by no means did i want to attack you. it was more of a generalization about many newer members as a whole. by all means if you have something to contribute please do. i would never tell a member not to post, i just notice many newer members posing a bunch and then making comments about how much other members post rather reading. it just comes off strange and hypocritical to me that's all.

i was a newer member once and just wanted to fit in and help others as i was helped. but some members need to remember they are not the end all be all that's about it.

[Prairiepiss]

Post count. Who looks at post count.
Hell it says I'm a master distiller. And I'm far from it.

[Richard7]

Post count. Who looks at post count.
Hell it says I'm a master distiller. And I'm far from it.

I would say your "better than your average bear!" (that is a Yogi bear quote, no reflection on HolyBear!)

[just-a-sip]

Post count. Who looks at post count.
Hell it says I'm a master distiller. And I'm far from it.

that's exactly my point it doesn't matter one bit. but guys come in and post like crazy just to not have that novice title under their name. heck ive been here almost 3 years and still have under 600 posts. that's a 18 posts a month average. but many times i see guys with 100-200 posts in a month or 2 that's just insane. and if you look at the past posts its pure dribble, just to get the post count up. its lame if you ask me

[Bulletproof]

Yep, i am finding myself here every day. Just reading and reading. They told me i couldn't look at the internet at work anymore on their computers, especially prohibited websites regarding alcohol, so i went and got this tablet. Now they shouldn't be able to trace me at all. But yeah, i'm here. Recently, it occurred to me to me that this is probably the only and the safest place to even talk about the subject, which i'm so fascinated about. I cant tell anyone. My girlfriend is laying next to me in bed, sleeping right now and doesn't realize there is a 4 ft reflux column hiding under her side of the bed. At times it just kills me keeping my mouth shut.
I was ripped a few weeks ago and told an old friend that i was going to be doing this. Woke up the next day all paranoid. Used an android app called Fake GPS and gave myself a fake location in the mountains and posted it on facebook after i secretly told her i was dumping everything at an old fraternity brothers house because i'm too scared to do it now... whew! Apparently it worked
The reason i'm sharing that story is because, whenever i'm going to run a batch and i need to mis-inform people as to where i am, that app helps to post fake locations of my whereabouts to keep any other random visitors away and make my bullshit more believable. In case that helps anyone as well. Also, if it does anything to gps stamp me on any unknown other things in this electronic age, the more the merrier... well, we always gotta stay one step ahead of everyone else.
But i digress, my answer is, i find myself here quite often.

Bulletproof

[Drunk-N-Smurf]

I in no way am trying to increase my ranking by posting more.

I try to Help where I think I can. No one corrects me, so.....whatever.

Obviously there is a lot of repeat questions that by reading the forums the answers can be obtained, and as someone who continuously reads the old and the new posts, I (as the seniors on this forum do) get a little tired of the same basic queries.

If you want to insinuate that I feel I'm above other newbies, go for it. I will keep my fingers to myself and not TRY to answer questions (alleviating some of the repeatedness from the senior members)

Whatever.

I don't need to get into a pissing match.

[Theo]

First off , let me say that you guys have your hearts in the right place. You enjoy the hobby & try to help others enjoy it safely.

When a new person posts questions that would be answered with 5 minutes of reading, then has the balls to get belligerent, I have no sympathy for him. In fact, it caused me to learn how to put them on my foe list.

There will always be those that don't want to hear what is right & good for them. I can sleep good at night & just ignore the malcontents.

Just a Sip said it rather eloquently, let the mentors handle it.

On the subject of forum members who haven't been around very long, we all bring some expertise to the table. Even our limited experience of distilling should carry enough weight to say that if we can do it, so can you!

Maybe I have low tolerance for unwarranted ranting & arrogance. Punctuation & spelling would be appreciated, too.

Thanks, guys.

[Uncle Jemima]

Well said all around Just-A-Sip.

*dribble post count goes up by 1*

[just-a-sip]

I in no way am trying to increase my ranking by posting more.

I try to Help where I think I can. No one corrects me, so.....whatever.

Obviously there is a lot of repeat questions that by reading the forums the answers can be obtained, and as someone who continuously reads the old and the new posts, I (as the seniors on this forum do) get a little tired of the same basic queries.

If you want to insinuate that I feel I'm above other newbies, go for it. I will keep my fingers to myself and not TRY to answer questions (alleviating some of the repeatedness from the senior members)

Whatever.

I don't need to get into a pissing match.

smurf again i was in no way trying to say you shouldn't help. i did not say that you were a problem, just read back through your first posts. you can here and when you started posting there was relevance. i was merely using your new membership as an example of many who come here and have no clue whats going on, start to try and preach to newer members about something they themselves did.

but if you want to be on the subject you did suggest locking out a member until they read the new distillers reading lounge. and although i think this is required reading to get started, there is also some great info buried within all the other threads, so locking them out is a terrible idea.

i don't want to get into a pissing match either, like i said i was gonna come off as a jerk but that was not my intention by any means. i respect anyone who wants to assist rather then just blowing off a question. i just feel often some of the questions should be handled by the mentors

do i try and help out, yes.. do i answer questions and try and aid in finding the solution to problems, yes.. but often i just leave it to the pros. that's the reason i only have 500+ pots in almost 3 years.