I agree with the security issues cited by some.
I do not care what anyone else has in their cellar. What I DO care about, as a wine producer, is the person and notes published by someone who has posted a review on my wines. If they give a wine of mine an 88, I like to see what they rate higher, lower, or the same. What wines they typically post on. This is of major interest to me. A way to put their review and rating into some perspective.
Are you tracking your cellar on CellarTracker?
I am not a wine producer but I feel the same way. I like to see the other notes someone has published when they publish a note about a wine that I like, and they hate, or vice versa. I don’t care what they own, but when they rate, let’s say, a wine I own and like but that is a nice Tuesday pizza wine at 100 pts and the greatest wine they have ever had, I like to do a reality check. When I see that their normal notes are on Parallel 45 and Yellow Tail and Bogle, I can put it in perspective and cease to wonder what I have missed. And yes, that has happened a few times.
Responding to Merrill and Jay, I think you can always look at a person’s tasting notes, which I think serves the purpose you are both seeking. I often do that. Seeing their cellar also gives me a sense of the range of their interests and their general taste preferences (though only a rough approximation), and of course it is fun in a voyeuristic way to see what others have collected. But I get both the privacy and security concerns, particularly given how much other information we voluntarily make available to others online.
Yes. I looked at Ron’s cellar. I’m gonna be really upset if one of those 3 cases of Henri Jayer doesn’t show up at our next gathering!
I only open my cellar up every Christmas for the Secret Santa program so that my Santa can see what I have and like and send me an appropriate bottle. Then I lock it out again.
No Eric, I do not use CT to track my cellar. Too much like work. I don’t use any method to track, and it makes that part of it fun for me. I like your tool and many of my customers use it, but I do not enter purchases or remove wine consumed from any database. Just a personal preference.
Oh, um, I just made a big batch of sangria with those – tasting notes to follow…
I know that I can look at public notes and note history. I just don’t like nosy people. I have no interest in looking at other people’s cellars to see what they have. I can learn about them from looking at their notes. If you really feel disadvantaged by my privacy settings, which I set about 15 years ago and have not looked at since then, send me a PM and I will email you my entire wine list. It’s 42 pages and doesn’t include a lot of my OWCs from California that are sitting on the cellar floor or the five cases I am looking at on the floor in my office, but if it makes you happy, you can have it.
And by the way - since no one heeded my request that people use their real names on Cellartracker like I sort of do, It’s mostly gobbledy-gook anyway.
So if you do not use this to track your cellar then I am deeply confused by your statement: “I agree with the security issues cited by some.”
How are you even familiar with the security issues? Have you reviewed our privacy policy? Have you reviewed our privacy settings? What are you agreeing with?
I am sorry, but this is my business and my life. I take security and privacy incredibly seriously. And certainly when I invented the ability in 2003 for people to manage their wine collections in the cloud, I was well ahead of the curve on the concerns that people would have since in 2003 it was very rare to store lots of data in the cloud. That said, we have a very well thought through set of privacy controls.
Methinks she is using “security” in place of “privacy.” Folks have commented on why they would not want their cellars visible, and it has nothing to do with actual CT security. It’s why most keep their cellars private.
I hate the whole take my allocation or be removed from future offers crap.
I have a hybrid of a real name and handle probably like a lot of others. You’re on my friends list though Jay!
Eric - to be perfectly clear: I think your tool is amazing. I just have no desire to make use of its major functionality - which is cellar tracking. My cellar is a hodge-podge of wine from here there and everywhere. And placed within the cellar with that kind of logic. “Oh…look what I found! I forgot I had that!” Business wines, for EMH Black Cat, are handled completely separately.
And Mr. Bueker is correct, somewhat. I don’t need anyone and everyone to know what I have and where - that is security. No one has access to my warehouse holdings, shipper’s holdings, nor my private storage. Add to that the privacy issue. I just have no need to have anyone to have access to what I have and where.
If this is an issue of pay to use, please send me an invoice for how I use CT. It is to see who comments publicly - and often veiled in a non-real name - on my wines. I will happily pay you for that service.
Thanks-
Merrill
For sure this is how I took Merrill’s meaning.
I am not on CT so the OP question does not apply to me. But even if I had my wines managed on CT I would keep them private and away from the prying eyes of all and sundry.
From the discussion above it seems some are comfortable being peeping Tom ( and exhibitionist for everyone to see). I guess I like to maintain privacy.
I view it as similar to looking at someone’s music or reading selection. Do folks feel looking through those selections are different?
Merrill, Eric’s model is based on volunteer contributions from people who track their wines on CT. I don’t believe he expects payment from those who look but don’t track.
One of CT’s strong points is the transparency of the privacy settings and how easy it is to adjust them. My privacy settings are set to paranoid level for all of the reasons listed above. I suppose someone who cared could get a sense of what I cellar from looking at my tasting notes, but they wouldn’t know specifics of what is in there. I’m far from knowledgeable about cyber security but I have more faith in Eric’s ability to keep my data private than I do in most online commerce sites or the government.
+1
I think her Concern is around security of people seeing her stuff, not the system of CT.