The psychology of wine board non-participation?

[Bob_Hughes]

So I’m sitting here semi-bored sucking on a glass of the 2006 Nikolaihof Riesling Vom Stein Federspiel on a dreary weather day in the Philly burbs, and for whatever reason I took a look at this site’s members list. (BTW, off-topic, but is there are more underappreciated great wine region in the world than the Wachau in Austria? I’ll see 20-40 threads on Cali Chard or pre-moxed white Burgs or whether one prefers the Mosel to the Nahe for every one thread that might mention a Hirtzberger or Pichler or Nikolaihof. I wonder if most folks are even aware that world class riesling/white wine is made on the Danube? Hell, I see more threads talking about frickin’ Finger Lakes riesling on this board than Austrian riesling! Okay, I feel better now that I’ve spilled my guts - what was i saying ).

Ar any rate, I note that we’ve got 757 members who made the effort to actually join the Board over the last year and have never bothered to post? I mean, if you just want to lurk and absorb the collective wine wisdom of the various board participants you can just visit as a guest, no? Why does someone sign up for a board and then never bother to post? I mean, did Posner’s constant Parker-bashing scare them off? One would think that if nothing else, the stunning beauty of Bill Landreth’s avatars might elicit a comment of appreciation at least once in a while? So why does one take the trouble of actually signing up to be a member and then never say hello? Help me out here, people - explain yourselves .

[Jeff_Fish]

Hello. Kidding.

Maybe it is because they just want access to the NSFW section.

[Brent_C_l_a_y_t_o_n]

I think this board invites that as you have to be a member to access certain forums.

Even “over there” has a huge list of folks who have signed up and either never posted or only posted once or twice. Sometimes folks get inspired to come on over a certain issue (shipping, xx vintage futures campaign) and then never come back. Stuff happens.

[Eric_LeVine]

It’s pretty standard that there are always many more readers than posters.

[ToddFrench]

@Eric LeVine

It’s pretty standard that there are always many more readers than posters.

Yes, and in wine, our ratio is actually VERY favorable.

[john_holdredge]

I prefer to blame Posner for everything and anything. But since he will have a tough afternoon today, I’ll wait.

[Gordon_Fitz]

A few answers;

1. They don’t understand the definition of member vs. guest as you defined them.

2. They may want to post sometime, just not currently.

3. The “real name” policy.

4. There are those on this Board that have been banned on other boards. Some of the people I know just observing here, were sometimes the victim of scathing rages by those people and don’t want to give the same the opportunity to start the process all over here. Especially with #3 above. (That is why some people ignore #3 above, as a side).

A quick story. An old counterpart of mine from corporate days, now has his own business. He came out of the ER side of the business and had many contacts within that industry. His company runs background investigations , on potential new hires, for companies that don’t have the resources to do so in house. Beside police bloggers and credit reports, you would be amazed at the amount of info he digs up on Facebook and blogs such as this. With his software, if you are posting with your real name, he will find you.

So say your resume states that you work for ABC corp. Todd makes it very easy for him to look at all your posts that you make during supposed working hours. So Jim reports back to his client that the prospective made X number of posts during business hours on WB, which meant he probably was reading 4-5 times that many posts. Then he looks on similiar boards such as WS to find any other possible activities.

In the last couple of years, Jim will tell you more of the people being investigated are current employees, in lieu of potential new hires. The companies are looking for who best to lay off. People in today’s time need to be very careful of what they blog and where they blog it. Especially if they are on the company computer.

[John_Morris]

Bob – Perhaps not everyone is reflexively contentious, consumed by the need to nitpick the posts of others and driven to display their vinuous erudition. That seems strange to me personally, but I suppose it’s possible.

[Brent_C_l_a_y_t_o_n]

@Gordon Fitz

A quick story. An old counterpart of mine from corporate days, now has his own business. He came out of the ER side of the business and had many contacts within that industry. His company runs background investigations , on potential new hires, for companies that don’t have the resources to do so in house. Beside police bloggers and credit reports, you would be amazed at the amount of info he digs up on Facebook and blogs such as this. With his software, if you are posting with your real name, he will find you.
So say your resume states that you work for ABC corp. Todd makes it very easy for him to look at all your posts that you make during supposed working hours. So Jim reports back to his client that the prospective made X number of posts during business hours on WB, which meant he probably was reading 4-5 times that many posts. Then he looks on similiar boards such as WS to find any other possible activities.
In the last couple of years, Jim will tell you more of the people being investigated are current employees, in lieu of potential new hires. The companies are looking for who best to lay off. People in today’s time need to be very careful of what they blog and where they blog it. Especially if they are on the company computer.

[Shaun_Crowley]

I’ve been religously reading this board, as well as the others for quite some time. I’m not entirely sure why I signed up to post last week. I’ve been ITB for nearly 10 years, and I have tasted/do taste a lot of incredible wine.

I’m not scared of being flamed. I think I just feel like the collective braintrust here sorta has most comments covered, and aside from me piling on top or +1 ing things. I don’t know what value I can truly add. I agree and disagree with things often… think that a bunch of people are simply insane, bored, or seriously hitting the swill while they post. And offline I enjoy emailing close friends who also follow the board, some of whom post often. I enjoy the Springer-Fest that some threads become and while very sad for people re: VF last week, I must admit it was hilarious to read. So I lurk. Maybe I’ll post, maybe I won’t. I have no clue.

I will say this: There are some wildly intelligent and savvy people here that provide a lot information and I say thank you a million times over… you know who you are and what you contribute.

So, I’m going to refrain from saying something about this post… something like… “Who friggin’ cares about who posts and who doesn’t?”

Oops.

Shaun

[ToddFrench]

If you guys are about your real name - use spaces and substitute characters, such as @ for a, 0 for o, etc…you should be safe.

Gordon, while you think I ‘make it easy’ for others to do research on individuals on this forum, I also ‘make it easy’ for them to minimize or eliminate it with the aforementioned tactics. Don’t suggest or presume I do it on purpose, as if I’m trying to get people into trouble.

[Bob_Wood]

@Brent Clayton

@Gordon Fitz

A quick story. An old counterpart of mine from corporate days, now has his own business. He came out of the ER side of the business and had many contacts within that industry. His company runs background investigations , on potential new hires, for companies that don’t have the resources to do so in house. Beside police bloggers and credit reports, you would be amazed at the amount of info he digs up on Facebook and blogs such as this. With his software, if you are posting with your real name, he will find you.
So say your resume states that you work for ABC corp. Todd makes it very easy for him to look at all your posts that you make during supposed working hours. So Jim reports back to his client that the prospective made X number of posts during business hours on WB, which meant he probably was reading 4-5 times that many posts. Then he looks on similiar boards such as WS to find any other possible activities.
In the last couple of years, Jim will tell you more of the people being investigated are current employees, in lieu of potential new hires. The companies are looking for who best to lay off. People in today’s time need to be very careful of what they blog and where they blog it. Especially if they are on the company computer.

[Stu_Fishler]

I had decided never to post here again after meeting Whetstone at Pinot Days So Cal last weekend; then I met Franks and French at the event, who both took the time to essplain to me what Chris was all about…now I am happy to post here again.

[Richard_T_r_i_m_p_i]

@Bob Hughes

I wonder if most folks are even aware that world class riesling/white wine is made on the Danube?

Boats or barges?

Lurking can be informative. I’m too dumb to post on some boards, so I don’t.

RT

[john_holdredge]

@Shaun Crowley

I will say this: There are some wildly intelligent and savvy people here that provide a lot information and I say thank you a million times over… you know who you are and what you contribute.

You are quite welcome.

[Gordon_Fitz]

Todd;

I wasn’t suggesting nor assuming anything dark. I was just using WS, since we’re on this board, as an example, of how easy it can be. It’s a very useful tool for posters that can have a darkside. Won’t even suggest that you limit or change it. It just is what it is. Keep up the good work!

[Bob_Hughes]

I will say this: There are some wildly intelligent and savvy people here that provide a lot information and I say thank you a million times over… you know who you are and what you contribute.<<<<<<<

How do we know until you post, Shaunski? For all we know, you might think Serge is one of the wildly intelligent ones .

Man up, and give us an opinion every once in a while.

[Lance_Smith]

@john holdredge

@Shaun Crowley

I will say this: There are some wildly intelligent and savvy people here that provide a lot information and I say thank you a million times over… you know who you are and what you contribute.

You are quite welcome.

Wait, I thought he was referring to another John…

[Chris_Presutti]

@john holdredge

@Shaun Crowley

I will say this: There are some wildly intelligent and savvy people here that provide a lot information and I say thank you a million times over… you know who you are and what you contribute.

You are quite welcome.

Damn, beat me to it.