[steven2491]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to say thanks for all the replies and spreading the survey. Also, thanks for the constructive criticism. We'll definitely use it to help make a second survey if needed. We will be looking at the responses as well as comments soon, just wanted to give it some time to sit over the weekend while studying for other classes. If we need clarification on your comments we will reply to you directly. Again, thanks a lot!

[scottNU]

Good luck on your work

[punatic]

+1 on the drive-by.  Not even a kiss... 

[erockrph]

+1 on the drive-by.  Not even a kiss... 

Yep. Sorry, but I don't fill this kind of stuff out when you only have 1 post to the forum. Next time at least lie and say that you homebrew yourself.

[Jimmy K]

You'll have a hard time marketing anything to a homebrewer. 

I don't think John Blichmann agrees with that.

[morticaixavier]

+1 on the drive-by.  Not even a kiss... 

Yep. Sorry, but I don't fill this kind of stuff out when you only have 1 post to the forum. Next time at least lie and say that you homebrew yourself.

Why? don't you guys want your opinion counted? it doesn't cost anything and actually increases the chance that new products will in some small part reflect YOUR wants and desires.

This comes across as a little elitist on a forum that prides itself on inclusivity.

If I was this kid and I got that kind of response I would not be coming back here and might not want to become a homebrewer even if I was interested.

I'm not saying you have to answer the kids survey but take it easy. It's not like he's trying to offend you.

[punatic]

If I was this kid and I got that kind of response I would not be coming back here and might not want to become a homebrewer even if I was interested.

Bingo!

[punatic]

One of my engineering senior design projects was to design a 25MGD reverse osmosis drinking water treatment plant using brackish estuary water for the source. Our class was split into teams.  Each team had to submit their design as if it were a response to an RFP from a local municipal utility.  The professor had engineers from local utilities evaluate the proposals as if they were the real deal.  If we had done drive-by work like this we would have shamed the professor and failed the class. 

[erockrph]

+1 on the drive-by.  Not even a kiss... 

Yep. Sorry, but I don't fill this kind of stuff out when you only have 1 post to the forum. Next time at least lie and say that you homebrew yourself.

Why? don't you guys want your opinion counted? it doesn't cost anything and actually increases the chance that new products will in some small part reflect YOUR wants and desires.

This comes across as a little elitist on a forum that prides itself on inclusivity.

If I was this kid and I got that kind of response I would not be coming back here and might not want to become a homebrewer even if I was interested.

I'm not saying you have to answer the kids survey but take it easy. It's not like he's trying to offend you.

Didn't mean to come across so harshly. It's just a pet peeve of mine when someone simply makes a post to a forum to finish their homework. If you were really serious about this product/project, then you are much better off actually engaging discussion on a forum like this. You'll get much more useful and relevant info that way. Otherwise it just comes off as "here - fill out my SurveyMonkey", and that kinda rubs me the wrong way.

[philm63]

Not sure if this is the reason they finally chimed back in, but when I completed their survey, I added some comments to the effect they may want to check back on the forum to look at all of the comments as there would likely be useful input for them here. Otherwise it just felt like dropping a coin in their cup without being able to ask how they were doing.

[punatic]

There was nothing harsh about your response erockrph.  You have a well tuned BS detecter. 

A Georgia Tech engineering program senior design project? Which engineering disipline? 

If this really is about a senior design project then it certainly isn't about hobbyists teaching homebrewing 101 to a newby. 

"Lager, ale, stout or pilsener?"   Really?  Don't you think that someone at senior design level would have a bit more brewing knowledge than that?  I think they would be able to give lessons in brewing to most everyone here on this forum.

Smells like drive-by BS to me.

[hubie]

Didn't mean to come across so harshly. It's just a pet peeve of mine when someone simply makes a post to a forum to finish their homework. If you were really serious about this product/project, then you are much better off actually engaging discussion on a forum like this. You'll get much more useful and relevant info that way. Otherwise it just comes off as "here - fill out my SurveyMonkey", and that kinda rubs me the wrong way.

I didn't follow the link for largely the same reason.  They would get far better information if they participated and engaged people in the forum.  If they're just dropping these one-post links to all the homebrew-related sites, then they're spamming and/or lazy.  Even something like "hey, I'm working on a homebrew-related design project and I don't know a thing about beer making, could someone give me some advice on what to put in a marketing survey" would be much better than the approach they took.

You don't see it here because it doesn't really come up, but a lot of the computer programming language forums have explicit "no homework" policies.  There is a huge difference in the politeness and information content in the response to "PLEASE HELP!  Can someone show me how to write a bubble sort function?" (usually from an account with only a handful of posts, followed by thread bump messages every hour), and "I can't seem to find the bug in my bubble sort function.  I've made a doubly-linked list but I keep getting a null pointer error.  Here is a sample of my code. ..."

[philm63]

I spoke with one of my associates at work who is a recent Georgia Tech Grad (works in our engineering department) and asked him about this practice, and he told me this is a pretty normal practice for Senior Projects there.

Perhaps their professors could could let them know if they're going to use a forum to get information, they should stay on top of their posts so it doesn't seem so anonymous. We could really help this guy, if he'd let us.

[morticaixavier]

+1 on the drive-by.  Not even a kiss... 

Yep. Sorry, but I don't fill this kind of stuff out when you only have 1 post to the forum. Next time at least lie and say that you homebrew yourself.

Why? don't you guys want your opinion counted? it doesn't cost anything and actually increases the chance that new products will in some small part reflect YOUR wants and desires.

This comes across as a little elitist on a forum that prides itself on inclusivity.

If I was this kid and I got that kind of response I would not be coming back here and might not want to become a homebrewer even if I was interested.

I'm not saying you have to answer the kids survey but take it easy. It's not like he's trying to offend you.

Didn't mean to come across so harshly. It's just a pet peeve of mine when someone simply makes a post to a forum to finish their homework. If you were really serious about this product/project, then you are much better off actually engaging discussion on a forum like this. You'll get much more useful and relevant info that way. Otherwise it just comes off as "here - fill out my SurveyMonkey", and that kinda rubs me the wrong way.

I agree. however if I was the guy that posted that and then came it to see these responses I would RUN the other way. I would feel like some of the people on this forum didn't want me here because I was new and didn't know a lot.

Now, I freely admit that this could be some lazy kid in college who figured 'beer, that should be easy' but they could just as easily be just like any of the new folks that come on here to ask if they should pitch their yeast when the wort is at 80* 'like the instructions say'. Should they have to chat with us for a week or so first?

Certainly asking specific questions would net them more information but in what form? when the assignment is 'design a survey and gather data with it' you can't use conversations for a forum. it has to be a survey.

I'm just trying to put a different perspective out there. Let's remember when we were in school and feeling overwhelmed. Would it have helped if people we approached for help told us we hadn't earned it?

[duboman]

My two cents: I agree with both sides. I completely agree with Mort in that people should not just be brushed aside because it was their first post because the that's how we all get involved but I also agree that the first time poster should be diligent in follow up and participation and in this case, also comment on the feedback being provided.

Forums are a two way street and everyone is here to both learn and teach or mentor, which is also the way the world basically works, So to the OP, if you ever check back in, keep these things in mind as a lot more information can be provided than just simple answers to a survey, that, well, wasn't really well thought out in the first place;)

Engaging people in conversation is really the best way to gain knowledge anyways....