RateBeer was huge for me for more than a decade. Before RateBeer I kept track of what I’ve tried by keeping the bottles. When I found RateBeer my crazy OCD mind was hooked. I learned about beer styles, brewers even glassware. I couldn’t get enough. I went out and spent too much money buying too many beers and searching all the “top” lists. It even developed my palate so I could find flavors in the beers and things to look for (which has carried over into my scotch collecting). My ratings dropped off once I stopped searching for new beers and just buying things I’ve enjoyed, but any time I had tried something new I was sure to rate it ASAP. When my premium membership expired, it was hell seeing the site with the ads and I scrambled to pay my membership so I could go back to using the site as normal.
After the AB-InBev news regarding this site, I started accumulating a backlog because I wasn’t as eager to submit my ratings. I used to love rating places because it seems not many do any more but now I’ve been to a few places not on here and I feel I’ll get around to it at some point. Now my premium membership has been expired for a bit and I’m hesitant to renew. I love the site, all the info and the feel of the site. I just can’t push myself to give money to an ABI affiliated entity. Just wondering if I’m just being ideally stuck in my thinking or there’s others where I’m at? Sorry for the long post. I have my card out and trying to justify
That being said can you still compile your stats and save them locally? If I remember right that was a premium only feature 
I ahvae been hesitating for about 1-1/2 year now. Hoping things will be better. So fare I still see no reason to renew. They need to improve first. So fare I have not seen any improvement, and staistics and everthing is mixed up.
Nope ratebeer has brought me massive value over the years. Yeah things are Rocky now and some changes i hate are being rammed through.
Bit the premium is a pittance, and so i didn’t hesitate to renew.
My problem is the AB InBev thing. There’s going to be bugs and growing pains with changes. I’ve hung in there for almost 12 years. I just have a hard time giving money to something affiliated with the devil. Let me be clear in saying I don’t blame joet/RateBeer for (somewhat) selling out. I’d do the same thing and there’s no fault there. I just have a hard time contributing to it. A good analogy would be a local band. You are a big fan of a local band. Not many people know about them. All of a sudden they get signed to a major label, change their look and appear in a Pepsi commercial. You still love the band but are disappointed in them selling out to a major corporation. To add an extra layer to this,though,is the major corporation they sold out to isn’t one that is hell bent on destroying the industry and community that built it up
Oh id rather rb wasn’t involved with inbev but understand why. But atbthe Same time i use Amazon, Google, Facebook etc which in many ways are just as bad as inbev, and ratebeer has added way more value to my life than any of those others have
Yeah it’s premium but it’s still broken and will be until @joet or @services deletes ticks that are stuck on aliased beers that we can no longer delete. He said he’d do it last year but here we are in April 2018 and it’s still not done.
Compiled mine not long ago when I passed 6000 rates. No issues for me. Also @services we’re really helpful with the whole ticks thing.
I won’t hesitate to renew my premium.
Oh…I don’t know. Google has given us great access to some good porn sites over the years.
Not at all, it costs less than a couple of beers, and lasts longer.
Previously, I became a premium member to help the site/Joe 1st, get rid of the ads 2nd.
Now, it’s to get rid of the ads only. Shrugs.
Also it’s such a miniscule amount.For a year.I spend more on coffee than that a week.
The dollar amount isn’t the point. It’s who’s benefitting. Love the site but detest InBev. That’s my dilemma
Still say ive benifited way more from RB, and still do than inbev will from my $13ish
This is the kind of response I was hoping to hear.
Knowing they are in part owned by AB, I will never renew premium. I still use RB as a list of what I have tried before, nothing more.
For me the issue isn’t the cost at all, I agree it’s a very reasonable price and I’m happy to pay it. The AB factor I’ve come to reluctantly accept. But my decision to renew will be on principles.
If joet and the team prove their commitment to making this site a better place then yes I’ll be renewing, it’s as simple as that, and I’m looking forward to that.
But to expand on it, this means fixing all the important bugs and broken features, including those that have been here for years, and when making improvements to existing features DON’T remove things we want. The site has become much more frustrating to use and I would bet it’s partially to blame for the drop in activity.
The new beer page for example…they’ve taken away:
- the ability to add tags
- the mean average
- the city/country
- the contract brewer (if there is one)
- dates on ratings
- also sorting of ratings is incorrect
Just because they made the page look cleaner and more modern doesn’t mean it’s ok to remove information and features. If that’s the way things are headed then it’s not a step in the right direction.
Yeah those 6 points are very important.
Not at all. I’ve wasted $13 on much worse things. Even if this site goes to hell in a hand basket (which I don’t foresee in even the slightest), I’d rather spend $13/yr to get lots of cool stats and no adds on a mediocre website rather than $13 on a mediocre bomber of beer that’ll only last 30 minutes.
