Video did not kill the radio star. Cassette tapes, then DAT, then MP3s & CD-Rs did not stop people buying new music. Books on tape, and now books on your iPod, did not stop people from buying physical books. Betamax, VHS, rental stores, movie downloads, Netflix, etc., did not stop people from going out to the movies. Online newspapers did not cause everyone to cancel their home delivery. Printing out a copy of the Mona Lisa on your home color printer does not negatively effect the value of the original painting. Cable, home video, TIVO, iPod video, etc., is not going to kill commercial TV (just yet). |
Originally posted by SilkTork Fooey. Double fooey, even. Have times changed? Yes. You go back 15 years and Beaumont was stunningly knowledgeable about craft beer. It was still a growing movement, and there weren’t a lot of beer geeks around. I didn’t see Beaumont’s article as demeaning or insulting. He didn’t say "Oh, look at those silly internet people, why do they bother?" He commented on our best beer list, and how heavily weighted it is towards big beers and how it isn’t truly representative. You know what? He’s right. It’s not representative. The list is slanted towards big beers just as he said and you, Mr. Cask Bitter, should appreciate that Stephen Beaumont has a history of beer appreciation unmatched by ANYBODY on this site. Do we, as a collective mass of beer geeks, have more knowledge than him? Undoubtedly, as there are thousands of us. Are there any of us as individually knowledeable about beer? Hell no. Frankly, this and the other threads have been the pinnacle of Ratebeer arrogance, where people have more or less suggested that there can be no experts other than us and that it’s inconceivable that anyone should even want to talk about beer, as Ratebeer is all you’d ever need. |
Originally posted by MilkmanDan I didn’t have a problem initially with his personal thoughts on his beer blog that others had (after all there are a number of writers professional and otherwise who have passed ignorant comments about RateBeer - Rory Gibson of The Courier Mail was another recent one - and I pay little attention to them). But I did wish to pass comment on him coming here and suggesting to a community which holds to the principle of SHARED experience being of greater value and authority than that of any individual (I assume - as you are a RateBeerian - you somehow hold this view as well), that we pay more attention to the views of an elite. At which point I would then reflect back to what he said in his blog about "professional beer writers like myself, Jackson, Protz and a host of others world-wide" being compared more favourably to us "reviewers" and our apparent "anonymity". I wish to point out that I feel it was inappropriate of him to do that. I wish to point out that I feel he was arrogant to do that. I wish to point out that, whatever was the case back in Beaumont’s day, that RateBeer’s influence and authority today is huge and growing. I wish to point out that I am not here to attack him, his books, his socks, his toes or his personal and private perversions. People say he’s a nice guy and that he writes decent books and that to North Americans he’s on a par with Protz in Britain. I accept all that. At this point I’m not talking about these things. It was your final sentence in your initial post that caught my eye: "If he wants to comment on beer, brewing, or this website, he’s sure as hell qualified to do so in my book." Which I agreed with. But because the implication in that sentence is that it was OK for him to say incorrect things about us on our own website and that perhaps I was being impolite or something in querying what he said, I felt I needed to explain my position. Which I did. But it looks like you feel you need to defend his entire history. Let me make it clear - because I have always respected your views, and I don’t want you to get the wrong idea - I am not criticising the man or his books or his history; I am criticising his comments that RateBeer is less important today than Stephen Beaumont, and I am giving vivid images to back up my comments. |
Originally posted by ClarkVV I too am RateBeer. |
Originally posted by StephenB Seriously, what kind of an arrogant asshole would take the time to clarify his position that he’s not better than anyone else on a website where he might have pissed a few users off who aren’t sure who he is? What a jerk! |
Originally posted by ClarkVV I am Providence. Cthulhu lives! |
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