Forum Future

[Mahmoud Ali]

Well done, thanks for stepping up Sam.

Cheers .................... Mahmoud.

[Michael McNally]

Hi Gavin

Thank you for hosting this forum for so long. It has been an invaluable site for me and an integral part of my wine journey. Some of the benfits for me have been:
- Meeting people at offlines who I have now formed close wine friendships with
- Connecting with producers that I otherwise might never have heard of (Marius, Wild Duck Creek Estate, Noon, Head Wines, The Story and many more)
- Reccommendations for cellar doors and eateries when travelling which were usually exceellent
- Developing the confidence to write and post a tasting note on a wine and comment on others' notes
- Enjoying wine I can never afford vicariously through the notes of others
- General jokes and laughs
- Very few negative comments and wankers!

I have made almost 2,000 posts. Cellar tracker tells me I bought 11 dozen bottles of wine from you over the last 16 years, which seems a reasonable price to pay to me as I got to drink the wine as well! I am very pleased that Sam is putting his hand up to take this on. I hope this works. If not - it's been great, thanks

Cheers

Michael

[I Love Shiraz]

Hi all,
I am sad to see everyone being so fatalistic about the future of the forum ... I don't think it is dead quite yet.
(and I think most of the time we all play nice, with just the occasional "handbags at dawn")

Well just to let you all know, I have been talking with Gavin and I have set up a new hosting package. We will look to transfer the site and see how that goes. It may take a little time to work out the technical details and possibly upgrade the software etc, so bear with us if there are any problems in the process!

Best,
Sam

Thanks Sam. Hopefully the takeover process goes smoothly.

[GraemeG]

That's wonderful.
I should post more in appreciation!

[phillisc]

Gavin, thanks for the delivery last week. Very prompt and efficient service as always.
Cheers Craig

[vovo]

I have been reading this post with mixed feelings. Very grateful to Gavin for doing it so long, hopeful that someone will step up but knowing full well it wouldn't be me.

So thank you Gavin, very much appreciated for what you have done and provided, it really accelerated my growth and I would feel a lot poorer for not having had access to this forum
Sam, thank you so much for doing what I was not willing to, but equally so, let me know if you need anything.

Merry Christmas all
Clive

[Waiters Friend]

I just want to add my heartfelt thanks to Gavin for providing this platform for so long.

In addition to the highly valuable information and opinions expressed publicly on the forum, I've also had several opportunities to meet wine lovers and Forumites from South Australia (including Gavin himself), Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland in the years I used to travel regularly from W.A. for work (or pleasure). The knowledge and enthusiasm shown was palpable and there are many happy memories (surprisingly) remaining from these (frequently very big) nights.

Good onya Gavin and thank you.

Cheers
Allan

[Craig(NZ)]

Thanks Gavin

I was one of the very early posters on edition 1 before I even had kids. My “kids” are now 23. Great info, and I was never shy of a bit of banter or wind up myself

I haven’t posted much if at all over the last few years, as my palate has moved more towards Europe and New Zealand and the discussions here have become less interesting and relevant (to me personally), and what I have to offer probably has become less interesting to the community at the same time. It probably didn’t help that the kiwi contingent seemed to slowly drift off and die out. Still, it looks like I still rank up there in terms of total posts

From memory I have attended over the decades two offlines in Sydney, one in Brisbane, and at least half a dozen in Auckland thanks to this forum, and personally met dozens of characters both sides of the Tasman

These days things like Facebook groups makes it easier to find groups more honed to peoples specific interest and forums are probably heading the same direction as bulletin board systems!

All the best to everyone, you Gavin, and all the people I have met

PS nice to see the “Monthly Purchases” thread still survives. I started that

Best wishes


Craig

[sjw_11]

Just an update to all - Gavin has been very patient with me being not very quick in moving things along (that is: VERY VERY slow), but I am now working more proactively to reorganize the necessary paradigms (as the politicians say) to get the forum transferred over so he can take a well deserved rest without us losing it.

Craig(NZ), I have always enjoyed your contributions and I see your point on the many different options available these days like FB, but I personally don't share your pessimism ... for one thing, if anyone thinks the debates here could be vicious, you haven't spent three seconds on FB or LinkedIn ... I firmly believe or have to hope there is a place for civilised, laid back debate on niche topics like this on the internet. In fact, I think like vinyl, or podcasts (radio anyone?), or slow food, or corduroy... forums could be due for a come back.

(edited for clarity)

[GraemeG]

Craig(NZ)'s only bitter because the reactionaries fought against the brilliantly visionary 109-point scoring system.
I'm kinda surprised Halliday didn't make an offer for it, 'cause he sure needed it!

[Waiters Friend]

Just wondering, Sam. In the transition, is there room for technological advancement; i.e. the 'like' button that has been mooted from time to time?

[sjw_11]

Just wondering, Sam. In the transition, is there room for technological advancement; i.e. the 'like' button that has been mooted from time to time?

I did have a quick look into that and there didn’t seem to be an easy suggestion how to do it but I can look more into the topic.

[dave vino]

Yeah phpBB and Like buttons are fraught with issues.

[Mahmoud Ali]

There is always the "manual" approach - click the quote button and type in "like" or maybe the more effusive "love it".

[Ian S]

There is always the "manual" approach - click the quote button and type in "like" or maybe the more effusive "love it".

+1