Members on whisky connsor

A lot of those members are probably just spam accounts - because you get to supply a URI to your website, they get indexed by Google and other search engines hence generating more traffic. Just a theory, I haven't exhaustively gone through the "quiet" accounts to assess what percentage of them fit the bill.

Also, I bet a fair few only use the virtual cabinet feature and nothing else as a means to track their personal collections.

The odd few graduate to adding scores to their cabinet whiskies and the very adventurous types end up submitting reviews and interacting with others on the forums.

I'm sure there are many other reasons for the apparent lack of interaction of a lot of the "members" but they're the biggest ones that come to my mind anyhow.

Agreed, with both of you, regarding participation.

As PeterG7's expressed, it is disappointing to see poor member involvement. (I expressed similar disappointment in my recent Aberlour review.)

As systemdown stated, there are some incentives to sign up, and there are opportunities to "take" from the present Connosr website/community. (For another example, signing up lets you ask questions.) But there are not mechanisms that encourage members to "give back” (aside from personal motivation). This is true for the present version of the website, and I think we all hope the Revamp changes this, ASAP. For example, it is hard to search for reviews (or discussions) here, and the bottles are not categorized well (compared to WhiskyBase for example). Therefore, you know that if you make the effort to write a review (or discussion), it will be hard for others to find it; and even if they do, there is no indication of how much your review/discussion was read or used. So why bother?

I can imagine that personal messaging, as you (PeterG7) tried, is even more difficult, simply because it is not seen publicly. But heck, I can't even get old friends to write me back punctually :-) It's not a great system unless the website already engages those members through other means. (It is worth noting that I have found Connosr e-mails routed to my gmail Spam folder, in the past. This very likely happens for others.)

Having said all that, there is a core of dutiful, kind, well-meaning, and experienced members who participate regularly. To my great appreciation.

@PeterG7 I agree, for the membership numbers and recent sign ups it's rather quiet.

Also, how much involvement does admin have? The editorial updates seem to have last came out 13 months ago and I don't see new expressions being updated into the whisky lists for reviews. Why Sullivan's Cove isn't in the database for example? It recently made waves internationally.

I generally check in here once every couple of months to see what's going on - would love to make it more but am finding time really tight, and now that we're doing 2 Whisky Squad tastings a month and also running Dramboree, there's only so much time I can devote to being active in this wonderful hobby (and that's not even including working on festivals like The Whisky Lounge!).

If people would find it interesting I'm more than happy to do a descriptive writeup of some of our tasting sessions in here? I don't want it to be a broadcast-only medium though: we work pretty hard to try to make sure we've got interesting themed lineups, which I think whisky enthusisasts such as those gathered here would find engaging to think about, discuss & comment on.

Give me a thumbs up if you'd be interested.

The best way to retain member participation is increase the quality/variety of topics discussed. Most often forums have the "What are you drinking now" and its many forms as the most updated thread. Others are turned off to relentless self promotion. There are a number of things, but when massive amounts of people start a membership but then drop off, there is a reason for it.

All wise words. I stumbled upon Connosr when looking for a recommendation for my next purchase. I was new to Whisky and had tried several Laphroaigs. Google led me here and by reading reviews I chose Ardbeg 10 as my first non Laphroaig purchase....good choice. Without asking it will be difficult to guess all the reasons so many people join but don't post. Personally, as someone who was new to Whisky I found the reviews really helpful and visited here for a while before joining. The cabinet feature was interesting but the discussions are not always newbie friendly. There can be a bit of sniping and moaning (e.g. about thumbs down postings). You may find more newbie friendly posts help get people to post. Maybe a pinned "hello" topic might encourage people to introduce themselves. Just a thought.

Thanks for your comments. You all provided reasons that hadn't occurred to me.

@ JJBriggs I, to, find some of the topics not very inspiring. I'm always on the look out for a topic that will generate lively discussion. Having topics like "Next Bottle opened" is just a passover for me. @ tjb it appears that griping, grumbling and looking for a fight is the way of the net now. It's amazing how many strangers can get under each other's skin. An example is stories from CNN. I read the story and then scroll down to the comments. The first one or two relate to the story and then someone posts a comment that has no bearing on the story. I'm convinced its done to get a reaction. Funny thing, it works. The comments go downhill pretty quickly. It is also interesting how many people apparently live in their mother's basement. This seems to be the retort of choice by many.

Last thought. I've wondered why connosr hasn't considered a real time on-line option. I think it would be great to have the ability to talk with an instant messaging feature

Thanks again for the comments

The problem is half the people who register with anything do it with no real reason other than they find it interesting at that particular moment but then forget about it after a while. They may also have certain expectations which were not met, hence, they become dormant and uninterested.

If the purpose of Connosr is for the community to engage and interact then there need to be efficient tools to do that.

I think the idea of a live chat is amazing! There are so many members I would love to have a conversation with but feel asking for their emails or skype IDs is far too personal.

Participation and engagement should be rewarded, I feel. Because a lot of times members will post reviews only to have theirs lost or not have any indication that they were appreciated. Sometimes even I think what's the point even though I have over 200 reviews on the site. Maybe a 'Review of The Month' as voted for by members? Just an idea.

Brand Ambassadors. With a close-knit community it's nice to have members (other than Admin) who can guide and help members with their questions / comments. There will always be those who are more involved than others and I feel the community can really benefit from their knowledge. I think @Victor would be on of those. I would love to know the moment I join the site I can seek help / advice from someone. Maybe a panel of 10 members who are knowledgable?

Great thread to kick off some ideas!

It was a while since i was here. about a month ago. Have been on facebook a lot instead, found a Group that sell bottles and samples and also auctions. But i really like the quality of the most answers here! So my suggestion is that if you are not logged in for six months, you get a mail, that yout acount will be closed in a month if you not login.

I agree with PeterG7, as I to was like what's with all these people signing in and then see ya!! I also visit connosr was in a while, but I get involve from time to time especially to add bottles! It's like this for me. Two jobs, a dozen different hobbies, other whisky sites, blogs forums, friends and Family. The cat the dog. Cleaning, showers. No disrespect some of you guys live here. Again No disrespect to any member. But I've been doing more tastings and talking to people face to face From some really good shops here in NY and Jersey. St Andrews bar is amazing for whiskies of All sorts. Anyways I like Connosr a lot always will.

Well, Talisker 18 and Compass Box Great King Street have been the feature reviews since last October. I think the administrators have lost interest. This site has become very predictable, still worth checking in on once in a while, but predictable and certainly not riveting up to the minute stuff. I still like it though.

@BlueNote - Based on a few personal exchanges, I think the moderators are still involved, although not as much as they once were. As you mentioned, the featured reviews have not been updated for some time--plus, the promised revisions to the site have yet to appear, and the last edition of the World Whisky Review was in April, 2013.

Still the best online whisky community, however--even if I've been among those MIA for a couple of months.

How about a reminder mechanism to review the bottles that you claim to own? That might prod some of us—me, for example—to record more reviews.

I have all my reviews on paper with a very sketchy intention of putting them on here someday. A friendly reminder might make the difference.

@OlJas I suggest you add that comment here: connosr.com/blog/connosr-updates/… even if we haven't heard an update in 5 months.

@WhiskyBee In terms of just sense of 'community', I suggest taking a peek over here: www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/ even if the review interface is clumsier.

Looks like we have a new member who has joined to help us all with our ethanol-related "men's problems"... Perhaps this member should have chosen a less obvious name for spamming our site....like @Yohimbine ...

and now @channelsea... is there a way of informing the hosts about these phishing members?

We appear to be the dinosaurs. It would seem that the owner of the site has lost all interest and maybe is satisfied to collect residual advertising revenue with little or no input. If I am wrong I apologise but I see no new input, no additions to bottlings etc, no new editorials and very very little activity from membership. Too bad as it is the one really dignified site focusing on one of my favorite hobbies. I too am soon out of here. I have been hearing of upgrades for sometime now. I am still waiting! In no way do I mean to offend regular contributors Jonesz

@Jonesz Agreed. It's reaffirming that more and more of the active members have expressed the same sentiment; for a while I thought it was just me! We first heard about an update "on the horizon" more than 9 months ago, in a Discussion here.

This is why I will probably be spending more time over at www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/ Even if its organization if very clumsy, at least there's interaction and you can be sure people are looking at a review if you write one.

Are there other forums you guys like better???? ( @JJBriggs , you seem to have some ideas?)

@vanPelt

I think even as is this is a great site. Without sounding mushy, I've met some very interesting people through it and extensively expanded my whisky experience (and sometimes both together). I exchange ideas with people all over the world. Without this site I'd never have known they existed.

It should be noted that our webmaster has in fact removed the offending pseudo-members. So this is not a ghost ship running without a pilot.

Managing a large site with heavy traffic is not easy. Look at the LCBO's troubles when they updated their site. You can't find anything anymore! I would rather this site work the way it is rather than an upgraded site where nothing works.

So I plan to enjoy this site in its present format. And if there is a reboot, I look forward to that as well.

@vanPelt Thanx for the reply. I hoped that I didn't come across as just a cranky old man. Will drop into your suggested site and snoop around

@Nozinan I agrre with what you say as well. I have also corresponded with and talked to some very knowledgeable helpful members here. I have gained far more than I have given. The site seems more friendly and intimate than some others that I have tried. I just wish that there was a little more "activity" from time to time. Seems like some of the members that I used to enjoy reading are falling by the wayside for one reason or another. Jonesz

@Nozinan I agree with what you write-- and also with what @Jonesz writes. I don't mean to dismiss any of the positive aspects of this site: above all, it has been great to meet and interact with an interesting core of members like yourself. I will continue to greatly value this core (of perhaps 20 currently-regular contributors, I would say?).

But as @Jonesz implies, this "core" isn't enough to generate substantial activity. The network activity shows ~1 comment per hour, even over the weekend (And of course, that is dominated by us 20-ish). ScotchIt has immediate response-- with more than 5x that amount of activity (give-and-take, new points of view, information leads, banter etc.). Reddit-style commenting (with voting and weighting) probably encourages this social aspect.

Happily, the searchbar is working again and it's better than ever. But I share @Jonesz's sentiment that a revenue-producing website should update much more quickly. 9 months of having an update "on the horizon" is really long in internet-time, and we've heard nothing since February. Why not give some kind of communication about progress? Some written sign-of-life to indicate enduring interest? I don't think we can't be blamed for feeling like schmucks... or dinosaurs as Jonesz says :-)

There is a saying for professors at universities doing research "Publish or Perish" Perhaps with internet sites it could be "Update or Perish"

@PeterG7

Vanilla ice cream is still the most popular flavour...

Ahh, but vanilla's just a flavor, it is not a branded product.... We're saying the Connosr brand is not even vanilla flavored, anymore. To distill: Connosr lags as a product, due to maintenance; and the lag is evidenced by a relative trickling of activity. It's not useless or inactive, it's just much less useful and active than it really could be.

To @PeterG7 's point, "self-updating" is the beautiful feature of wiki sites. Whiskybase is an example: www.whiskybase.com/community/sendabottle And here's close to what I imagine, just without links to reviews-- and in German: thewhiskywiki.de/index.php/…,54,2%25,0,7_Liter

A wiki-style database is the other essential element to keep connoisseurs here. ..and keep it from becoming Connosaur(us)...

Haven't heard a peep out of Jean-Luc and Pierre for quite some time. Have they sold the site? Moved on to other things? Anybody know what's going on with the rebuild of the site? Just curious as not much seems to be happening here lately.

@BlueNote

I received a message from Jean-Luc regarding some of the spam memberships, and it sounds like the site is being maintained actively.

While I'm all for innovation, I recognize that just keeping a site running can be difficult (look at the Globe and Mail's problems with its comments function or the LCBO and its search function - the latter arguably of more interest to this group). Bringing a new look to a site can also have a lot of problems and be very complicated, so I'm willing to be patient and enjoy what I have, rather than risk losing everything.

Good advice for this site, and for life in general.

Well said @Nozinan. I agree the site is still ticking along fine and I still enjoy it immensely. Just curious about the Thiebaut brothers and what they are up to these days. I admire them both for the enormous amount of work they have done to create and maintain this site and hope they continue to maintain and improve it. I agree, a major rebuild of the site is a Herculean task and not to be taken lightly Connosr is an invaluable resource for the likes of you and me and thousands of other whisk(e)y lovers worldwide. As you say, let's enjoy what we've got and let the rest take its course. Cheers to you and all serious and active members.

BTW @Nozinan, the LCBO can't be much worse than the BC liquor control whackos. Macallan 18 is now $300, Balvenie Doublewood $95, Ardbeg 10 $95, Lag 16 $128, Laphroaig 18 $185...the list goes on and the list only consists of 127 bottlings as of today, including many that are just different sizes of the same brand and about a dozen stupidly priced Dalmores,, pathetic. It's a good thing I have relatives in Oregon (Laph 18 $79).

@BlueNote

Maybe not a lot worse, but worse none-theless.

By the way, has anyone else discovered problems today accessing Connosr on an iPad? It keeps telling me to log in...

classic Balvenie 18 years old; Balvenie founders reserve 10 years old cognac bottle; Macallan 12 years old, matured in sherry wood 1970/80's; Glendronach 12 years old matured in sherry casks (75cl-43) 1970/80's; Glenmorangie 10 years old (75cl-43) 1970/80's; Orkney Highland Park 1970/80's (75cl-43); Bowmore 12 years old 1970/80 's and more and more

anyone interested in these nectars? if contact to see the possibility of exchanging