New here...lost

I still don’t know how this site works!!! I’m new here, stumbling around, figuring some things out by exploring, but still frustrated! WHY can I not search for people I might know? How can I search for others in my area? Why can I not change a beer from my wish list to show on my haves list without deleting first? Why can I not add a beer to any list directly from that beers rating page? Why can I not add Deschutes beers at all? I found the faq, it doesn’t really help.

Does a premium account get you access to features that work better? If so, I’m in, otherwise, I’ll continue to fumble my way around and see if I can figure it out...

I’ll ask you to not consider this a flame, but a genuine request. I like a lot of things I see here.

Thanks,
John

First off, welcome.

To search for people you can just search for their screen name in the search bar. It will match beers, places, brewers, and screen names. I don’t think there is a way to search by email address unfortunately so you’d have to know their screen name. Or go into your profile and set your locale and then use the Local tab at the top to see who’s doing what near you. There is no easy way (that I know of) to search for people by city/region. The best I could offer would be to do an advanced search on Google for various city names in the domain http://www.ratebeer.com/user/ . Or look at some of the lists that might include these people.

http://www.ratebeer.com/places/mylocal.asp
top raters in Alaska
http://www.ratebeer.com/Users/TopStateRaters.asp?StateID=2&Letter=a
most Alaskan-made ratings
http://www.ratebeer.com/Users/TopRatersBeerByState.asp?StateID=2&Letter=a

First, welcome aboard!

(1) You can search people by username using the advanced search box (it also searches beers and places, so you have to scroll around a bit).

(2) moving a beer directly from wants to haves without deleting is something a lot of us have asked for. It seems like an obvious convenience feature. However you need to remember that the site is maintained by volunteers, and as such we can’t really dictate anything. :)

(3) adding beers is another good one. From the beers page you need to click on the "Distribution" link and you can add yourself to wants or haves on the left side of the distro page. Two clicks, instead of one. Not sure about deschutes, i didnt have a problem.

(4) I would not say features work better when premium; its not like the intentionally FUBAR stuff for the free members. You just get more of them. Access to the Off-topic forums, more lists if you are a stats guy (like I am), stuff like that. Plus, if you go premium right now you will be entered in a raffle that might get you free beer!

http://www.ratebeer.com/forums/free-beer-premium-membership-drive_243279.htm


In general I would say that there is a lot of great functionality here, but sometimes it is not obvious how to access it. I still stumble on "new" features every once in a while. Plus it is actively updated, so there are actualy new features that show up.

Hope this helps, and enjoy RateBeer!

The above posters lift!

Welcome furthur, enjoy the stay! I will say that going premium is totally worth $1 a month, and you might even get free beer for it with the contests people have mentioned.

First welcome here!

Here’s some answers:
For searching people click on Advanced search located in the top right.

To change a beer from your wishlist without deleting and adding beer to lists, you’ll have to go to the beer page and click on Locate Sellers, than on Have or Want.

And yes, premium account is the way to go, plus you might win free beer!

Cheers

Welcome! Eagle River seem awesome.

A good way to find out who is in your area is to post something in the regional forum. Even better, attend a local gathering, and if there aren’t any, then start one.

welcome!!

My local http://www.ratebeer.com/places/mylocal.asp doesn’t have anywhere in Alaska listed.

Top alaska raters links are premie only.

Distribution page doesn’t even show Deschutes available in Alaska, though I know it is, having bought it here recently. Maybe it’s Alaska that’s missing from locations, etc.?
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/distribution/65832/

Also, looking up Deschutes Brewing, and looking at the list of beers, I have no red hearts. This is true of other brewers beer lists accessed from the browse Brewers page. http://www.ratebeer.com/browsebrewers-D.htm

Lotsa good beer up here, strange it’s so hard to find...

Red hearts only appear when using the search bar for some reasons.

Originally posted by bytemesis
(2) moving a beer directly from wants to haves without deleting is something a lot of us have asked for. It seems like an obvious convenience feature.