A few extra thoughts and just to clarify a few things. This will be my last, direct post on the matter for now, then it will be back to beer.
1. Thanks to everyone that has voiced support (both privately and publicly), it’s truly appreciated. The overwhelming majority of those comments have taken the, “I didn’t always agree with you but have respect for your tenacity and knowledge”, stance – thanks, it means a lot. I think the positive comments and general agreement with my assessment of BA outweigh opposing views at an approx. 45:1 clip.
2. I think that BA has lost its way BUT I really have no quarrel with Todd or Jason per se. It’s their web site and they can do what the hell they like. Those of you who have expressed anger toward them are voicing your own opinions that do not (necessarily) reflect mine. Honestly, that’s the truth. Todd can be prickly, but it would be rich for me to criticize THAT too much! Candice on the other hand has just been thoroughly obnoxious toward me (and so many others) in a spiteful, mean, ignorant and profanity laden manner. Unlike Todd & Jason, she has rubbed me the wrong way and I am convinced that her role in the way that BA has changed for the worst is a VERY substantial and significant one. A shame.
3. All my reviews were purged a few hours after my post of last night – coincidence? I doubt it! I doubt that all of the photographs, places and beers that I added will suffer the same fate, but I guess we’ll see.
4. BA cannot control the preponderance of banal posts in the forums such as, ‘help me to decide if I should drink an IPA or a porter, tonight‘, or ‘let’s have a bracket of one brewery against another‘, BUT keeping the old school, super-knowledgeable BA’s around WOULD help!
5. I remain colossally proud of all the contributions, impact and knowledge that I imparted at BA over the years – that will never change.
I’ll be hanging around The Beer Spot in the future, with perhaps a very occasional appearance on RB, but reviews will stay here on dingsbeerblog.com
Thanks all, and a big ‘ole less than 4%’, CHEERS!
Sad days!
Actually I AM a little ‘sad’ – sad that BA is not quite what it once was.
Sorry to hear about the total bannination of your account. It sucks to see someone who is obviously knowledgeable about beer shunned for a few completely harmless differences of opinions.
I am curious if you had a backup of any of your reviews though, or even if you care about them. I’ve only got a few hundred but If I was suddenly cut off and didn’t have a way to grab those reviews from the site I would be very sad, I couldn’t imagine losing 2600+
Like you mentioned previously, I may not have agreed with you on all topics but I respected your passion. I’m glad you started this blog and will be following in the future.
I also want to mention that there is something wrong with your RSS feed. For some reason it redirects.
That’s why I had missed a few posts.
Thanks for heads up – I *think* that I fixed the RSS feed.
It looks fixed to me, we’ll see if it updates with your next post.
Beer reviews all safe!
DING
I owe you an apology – we publicly disagreed a few times in the forums (at one point I called you pedantic and self-righteous). But I think it’s a shame that you are gone on account of administrators flexing their muscles.
I’ve been on BA for a couple of years and while I heatedly replied to some of your session posts in that time, it would be silly of me to hold any sort of grudge – I do not know you and you seem to be a very reasonable man. [For the record, I do believe you are right about session beers, though I also believe my point is valid in that there can be multiple definitions that allow for an american interpretation… your definition being the historically-correct one].
In any case, I do echo most of your sentiments about BA. Beer is a hobby of mine – I do not mean to take it as seriously as some people do. And as much as I enjoy BA, It’s disappointing they don’t respond well to suggestions or criticism. The members I have met and interacted with personally have been great, and I think the site is an incredible resource, but the community as a whole seems diluted of intelligent discourse. Anyway, all the best – keep doing what you’re doing.
Thanks, but no apologies are needed really. I bring it HARD, and when one does that, one has to expect a little ‘push-back’ – it comes with the territory! I take pride in remaining civil and consistent but at the same time TRULY believe all that I say. Cheers.
Was really surprised to hear about all of this in the beginning and just as surprised today. You are a prickly fellow Ding, no doubt, but I truly believe there isn’t a hint of troll in you. you’re countless beer reviews and contribution to BA should be celebrated instead you have been made an example of for reasons most of us don’t understand. Certainly makes me question the integrity and direction of BA when things like this are happening. As stated in your post there is allot of things I have disagreed with you on, but yet allot I did agree with you on, but never the less there was also a respect there because to be frank, you know your shit and that goes a long way in this community, or so it would seem! best of luck, I’ll be following your blog
Hey Ding,
I’m *so* disappointed that you were banned from Beer Advocate. It was always a pleasure having discussions with you whether we agreed or disagreed on *any* subject and, looking back in the past, there weren’t very many that we disagreed on. I’m going to add your blog to my favourites. I hope you don’t mind. ;^)
Bill
Bill – my (current) sadness is largely motivated by the fact that I will not be interacting with great people like you so much as I used to. Be well!
Yes you will. Right here. ;^) And thanks for the uber compliment!
As a follow up, BA has major issues again regarding their servers. I come home from a hard day at work and I keep on getting the white page of death. This has been going on a lot lately…
Even more reason to consider this – https://sites.google.com/site/mybeermanager/
Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.
Btw, I just joined TheBeerSpot.
Hey Ding, if you ever need something from Chicago area you can hit me up and i’ll do my best. You are still part of the greater beer community as a whole.
Thanks Bud. Nice.
I noticed your reviews were gone today, and just found this site. I’m sad to see what has happened, you were always one of my favorite BA’s. It was always nice to message back and forth back when I still lived in Carrollton. Thanks for setting up this blog, I always hold your thoughts and reviews with high regard. Think about that – I think everyone I know who ACTUALLY knows you shares the same respect!
As an aside, I wouldn’t be surprised if the turning point for you was a comment some time ago regarding women drinking beer, where one of the brothers responded saying something along the lines of “join the 21st century” (at least that’s roughly what I remember the exchange being). The only comment I have ever had deleted was one that could have been considered sexist, even if it was really just a joke. That is clearly an issue where they[Candace?] isn’t willing to respect other opinions
Hope to see you around the city soon, and cheers to you!
Good point, but all I said in that exchange (in response to some BA’s saying that they found beer drinking women ‘sexy’), was that I found it EXACTLY the opposite! It was just a matter of ‘taste’ – like preferring blondes over brunettes. I also wrote that I am sure that they wouldn’t find me ‘sexy’ either so it would cut both ways!
I agree with Joseph. After reviewing some of cfahooligans tweets and other postings around the internet if you posted anything about a woman she would take exception and cuss the hell out of you using words I don’t care to use.
Hey Ding,
This all seems so bizarre to me. I don’t think we ever had an exchange on BA, but I enjoyed your posts. Like many, I also learned both the history of and meaning of a “session beer” from you.
Although, I, as an American Capitalist and Patriot rarely agreed with you (on politics rather than beer), I have to quote Voltaire from 1770 ” I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write”. You should have NEVER been banned from BA, that fact that you were reveals a rather sordid underbelly of BA and a sad reality with regard to the website, I guess.
You will be greatly missed in the “community” that is (or perhaps was) BA, even by those who “hated” you, even though they may be too ignorant to realize it for the moment.
Best of luck to you, I’ll follow your blog, and I hope BitterBill doesn’t get banned from BA for posting his support.
Thanks man.
I could not have said that better myself. I’m starting to wonder if Ding isn’t just remembering how great session beer is the same way that I remember Point Break as the best movie in the history of cinema ;_.
I’m glad I found you here. Someone posted a link to your blog and I bookmarked it before the post was deleted. I don’t have the history on BA that many do, but I have been drinking craft beer for 20+ years, and wish topics there were more substantive.
I have always appreciated your honesty and the fact that you hold people accountable for what they say. The bar has been raised in Georgia when it comes to beer and respecting beer tradition. Your work on BA has had a lot to do with that. Let me know if I can help with your new site in any way. Your comments and knowledge will be missed! Cheers, Lee
Lets get together and share a nice 7% Session beer sometime!
Cheers Lee – kind words indeed, and much the same could be said of your work in GA (albeit with a different emphasis and angle), too.
Ding:
You were one of the most knowledgeable BA’s ever. It goes to show you how pathetic BA has become that they banned you. Believe me, Candace was the one behind your banning and she is the reason a lot of the first users of BA have moved to other websites. Candace reads private messages daily and lurks on other forums and bans people for saying negative things.
90% of BA users are 21-25 years old and have been on the site less than 2 years. I rarely go on there anymore because of the incivility and lack of perspective of the user base. I will drink a beer in your honor tonight,
-Mark
i’ve never heard someone say anything positive about candace
I’m sure you could find SOMEONE to….after all, the world is filled with liars….
Ding,
I’m somebody else who also didn’t necessarily agree with all your posts, but still enjoyed reading them. I just found this site and looking forward to reading your thoughts here.
Cheers!