As a 32 year old starting to get into wine, I think the community here is nice and welcoming. I don’t post tasting notes due to inexperience / don’t want to give any bad info on wines, but I like sharing what bottles I’m drinking + pizzas I make. Best part of this website is discovering new wineries / regions to explore, and getting to talk to wine makers, and people who’ve had them before, about their wines (has been a big negative for the budget though).
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I’m right with you, actually. I write few notes, as I’m not very good at them. Have to truly be inspired to do so.
I marvel at those who can consistently churn out quality tasting notes, love it.
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hmmm… i am so infrequently on the wine boards, that’s it hard for me to say… i suppose not responding when being called out on a wine board; aggressively defending ones opinion, despite it being in the minority of other wine board members opinions…
given your amount of posting, i would argue that you are more knowledgeable on wine board behavior… now, if we were talking about equivalents at a tasting… that is a completely different topic!
I think there are younger ‘members’ getting the benefit of WB when they ask AI agents for information, when those rely on information indexed from here. (Personally, I have set my Gemini up so that when I ask for ‘internet community consensus’ it knows to look here, and CT, plus r/wine). So the influence of WB on younger people may not be in their vocal (obvious) participation, but also in how they view the wine world through AI queries.
It can be disturbing / amazing how much information that I would spend 30-60 minutes finding in a book in my library, is now available at ones fingertips. And the accuracy rate is high; I would ballpark it at 95-98% for even arcane questions.
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My personal baggage about the nature of discussions on this board and the opinions/lifestyles espoused within it aside, I’m sure an instagram account that would post a link to any thread that gets over 50 comments would increase traffic significantly.
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80% of those comments would bleat at the intense discussion in these threads sadly.
I’m also in my early 40s and agree with your description. This thread was the original reason I shifted from “lurker” to participant a little over a year ago. In hindsight it’s been a great decision. Sure, I’ve had a few interactions with folks that felt less than awesome. There are a few loud bullies on here - but that’s just life, whether on this board or anywhere else on or offline. The vast majority of my interactions have been positive. I hope that’s in part because when I chime in on the board I try to do so with respectful, positive energy. That doesn’t mean I love every wine/restaurant/event/etc being discussed, but that approach goes a long way in shaping what comes back around.
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I joined here in my early 50s with only a year or so of “serious” (laughingly so) wine drinking experience and I don’t understand why anybody thinks it’s very intimidating. I asked a bunch of questions and made my own observations while making it clear I had no idea what I was talking about and I don’t think anybody looked down at me or treated me poorly - just the opposite in fact.
I would say to anybody who is nervous, don’t worry about it: Jump in and get started.
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I think it’s always a challenge to see how others see things or not. I love hearing stories like yours yet I know that ‘intimidation factor’ continues to exist - and raises its ugly head from time to time here.
My advice to ‘the regulars’ and ‘the newbies’ is to keep an open mind and remember that we all see things differently - and respect that.
Cheers
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I’ve participated on wine boards for 25+ years and I still remember the sting of the first few times I was flamed or “aggressively dismissed.” Such comments don’t much bother me any longer, usually just feel sorry for the psycho-emotional state of the flamer. Nevertheless, the memory of those initial stings aren’t ever going away.
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A large amount of the “is it intimidating or not” debate is just baseline disposition, like how anxious or neurotic are you, which varies massively person to person.
(Which isn’t to say there are not jerks. There are jerks everywhere humans congregate. But how you weigh the risk of someone being a jerk, and how much someone being a jerk impacts you, are highly variable between people.)
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I feel this, for sure. I’ve gotten to the point where I truly DGAF and it’s liberating
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I’m not going to read all 853 posts, so apologies if this is a duplicate.
Should wineberserkers try to attract younger members? Well, if I did that as a sexagenarian, it would just be creepy. And my wife told me she read somewhere that men are sexually invisible after 50, so I wouldn’t be attracting anything.
Oh wait, did you mean attracting younger members to the board? Sorry, my mistake, carry on.
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Quick way to notify everyone you are NOT one of the ‘younger members’
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Let her know I didn’t go full Claude Rains until my prostatectomy.
Marybeth, shame!
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Pre-op visibility… peer reviewed, or self-reported?
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And who watches films from the 30’s other than invisible old men?
Just trying to throw youngsters here a bone.
Claude in two of my top five all-time films.
Invisible Man and Casablanca? Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? Notorious?
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