Brand Spankin' New Roasters Guild Forum
Yep, for the reals. There is an all new Roasters Guild forum right here
http://forums.roastersguild.org/index.php
Everything is on the up-and-up, non-anonymous, and organized in order to further discussion. The board is viewable to all, but you have to be a Roasters Guild member to join in the conversation. Come on by and tell us what you think.
http://forums.roastersguild.org/index.php
Everything is on the up-and-up, non-anonymous, and organized in order to further discussion. The board is viewable to all, but you have to be a Roasters Guild member to join in the conversation. Come on by and tell us what you think.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on
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Stopped on by but can no longer tell you what I think. Nifty keen. Unfortunately at least the old Roasters Guild Forum allowed non Roasters Guild members to participate. The new forum does not allow registration without Guild membership, which I currently can't afford... paying bills keeping the doors open a higher priority at the moment. Hell home mortgage payment a month late!
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Permalink Reply by ChrisSchooley on
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Hey Mike, we'll save a spot for you. We really needed to try to revive this tool and rebuild it into a tangible benefit to membership, but we wanted to keep it viewable as resource to roasters everywhere as we see that as being important.
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Permalink Reply by Stefanie Mason on
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So that's why the login doesn't work anymore... I see.
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If you are a current RG member, you still have to create a new profile and re-register on the forum. This is an effort to eliminate the anonymity on the board and to raise the level of discourse since people will be accountable for what they post. This will hopefully make new members more comfortable and also bring back old members who have been fed up with where the old forum had gone to. There was a lot of great information and discussions on the old forum, but they were largely swallowed up by the grotesque blob of spam-bots and masked mud-slingers.
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While I understand the intent of bringing back old timer members, eliminating any and all participation does little to encourage struggling startups. Yeah yeah yeah, easy to say we can read what others post. Can't even ask a basic question... There is virtually no resource to go to ask professional roaster specific questions. Without paying a fee that is of course.
Oh well, so be it. Once I've built up up enough wholesale customers so I can afford the fees to participate I too will be able to tell someone who's put everything they own on the line, including their house and beg borrowed all they could to enter the game, tell them they can't be heard until they fork out some more cash, to even ask a question of one the old timer roasters.
Yeah, that makes sense. Why help someone who's struggling to pay the bills to succeed without making them figure out whether to pay the electric bill or pay to join. Hmmm, my roaster won't work without some electric go juice so there's the answer.
Good thing baristadom isn't so elitist or all those fine roasts would be brewed like crap. Except for those cafes supported by old timer roasters with bankrolls who can afford to give them "free equipment" and "free training" to lock them into their coffees forever...
I'll tell you one thing, when I do get around to scraping the money together and joining I'll fight tooth and nail as a PAYING member to change this type of BS elitist policy. A few hundred bucks may not seem like a lot of money, but when your fighting to keep the doors open it's a mountain of cash. Maybe I should have joined RG instead of placing last weeks Shrubs order. But I can't roast an RG membership for customers to buy...
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Wow Mike. I definitely agree that a few hundred bucks is a lot for a struggling business to pay, and that's why it is important for us to make it worth it. We aren't looking to silence the voices of roasters such as yourself, and it's not just about trying to bring back old timers. We're trying to make the board work. A lot of this has to do with creating accountability for posting on the board. The last board became an unmanageable mine-field, impossible to clean up and whose participation slowed to a drip. Before we can open things up to everybody, we need to make sure that we can actually turn it around and make it viable and lively again. Yes, you can still read the topics, and if you had a question or something to say regarding a topic, you could email the person or one of the persons who posted. If you had a question about anything or wanted to make a comment regarding something, you could email me at ceschooley@yahoo.com and if I couldn't help you then I would bust my volunteer ass to direct you to someone who I thought could. I would do all that I could to help you. There are resources, this venue (BEx) is a great one. If we hear from our members that they feel that we need to open this up, then I'm all for it. I'll even post the question there right now. At the end of the day, we needed to rebuild it and make it work again. I do hope you'll email me, if only to curse me out more, but I swear that I would do anything I could to answer any questions that you had.
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Actually no, a non-member who wanted to ask a RG forum poster a question could not email them unless the poster happen to put their email in their sigtag, which of course is not a good idea to do. If not signed into the forum, you have no way to contact a forum member, can't access their profile to see if there's an email addy, no pm option, not even a "contact us" or contact admin option, nada. Click anything and it'll just take you to login/register. If not Registered there is squat you can do but read.
Realty seems to be and has always seemed to be professional roasters in general are a much more closed and tight lipped group than baristi. In some ways understandable. In my mind Barista Exchange does not seem the most likely or appropriate place to go to seek roasting exchanges of ideas and information. But since such a place does not exist except by paid membership, suppose it'll do.
BTW, it's nothing personal. I've done thousands of hours volunteer work other organizations and know how thankless it can be. If I had a specific question I've always felt able to email Tom. I haven't, but feel I could. I'm not talking about me or what I need personally, it's more the principle in general. Sure it would be nice to be able hash out a specific beans profile in minute detail comparing ramp rates, air flows, and flame percents etc. How to slow a ramp approaching 1st via flame and or air flow. What's a good charge temp for different beans etc. to avoid scorching. What are good environment to bean temp deltas etc. etc. etc. But I've never seen that happen on the old RG forum either, questions only answered in the vaguest terms. I've only seen it in real detail done at home roasting level dialogs. And I understand! What commercial roaster wants to give away their roast profile secrets! Exactly none that I know of.
ChrisSchooley said:Wow Mike. I definitely agree that a few hundred bucks is a lot for a struggling business to pay, and that's why it is important for us to make it worth it. We aren't looking to silence the voices of roasters such as yourself, and it's not just about trying to bring back old timers. We're trying to make the board work. A lot of this has to do with creating accountability for posting on the board. The last board became an unmanageable mine-field, impossible to clean up and whose participation slowed to a drip. Before we can open things up to everybody, we need to make sure that we can actually turn it around and make it viable and lively again. Yes, you can still read the topics, and if you had a question or something to say regarding a topic, you could email the person or one of the persons who posted. If you had a question about anything or wanted to make a comment regarding something, you could email me at ceschooley@yahoo.com and if I couldn't help you then I would bust my volunteer ass to direct you to someone who I thought could. I would do all that I could to help you. There are resources, this venue (BEx) is a great one. If we hear from our members that they feel that we need to open this up, then I'm all for it. I'll even post the question there right now. At the end of the day, we needed to rebuild it and make it work again. I do hope you'll email me, if only to curse me out more, but I swear that I would do anything I could to answer any questions that you had.
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Thanks for your reply here, Mike. It is good to know that some people do indeed find the forum to be so important. I do realize that this is Barista Exchange, but there is a roasters group here with a pretty large member base and a coffee and roasting chat section. I feel like there are limitless opportunities these days for roasters to share ideas, which frankly tickles me pink.
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Permalink Reply by Matt B on
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Chris,
I joined the RG last year, and had sent Shawn an e-mail about getting an ID for the board, but it never happened. I didn't pursue it b/c frankly, there wasn't much going on there anyway. But I'd love to join now. Please shoot me an e-mail at matt@(takethisout)mattscoffee.com, if you don't mind.
FWIW, I don't have a problem with the private/public thing. And, in fact, I'd rather that there be a board viewable for members only, in the hopes that the content would be more substantial. (Folks might not be as afraid of sharing their insights/advice to a smallish group of paying, commited members, whereas doing so for the entire WWW to see might be less attractive.)
Mike, I do understand where you're coming from, but at the same time, posts about "where to get the cheapest frac pacs" and "what roaster should I buy?" cluttered the last board up. And I say this as someone who was a newb not that long ago. I think that, generally speaking, on an open board, people are quick to ask for advice without doing much research or work themselves (just looking at the archives can go a long way); the pay-to-play will nix that. (For example: Coffeed is an interesting board, I think, exactly because its membership is limited--b/c it's "elitist.") So I'm hopeful that the new RG board will have more worthwhile material, and will actually be a resource.
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