Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.

We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.

Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!

BA switches to A-F ratings, no + or -

Discuss beer or anything else that comes to mind in here.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

User avatar
cmadd
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:00 pm
Location: Toronto, ON

BA switches to A-F ratings, no + or -

Post by cmadd »

Source: http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/4291329

I think this was a bad move. BA and Ratebeer are a big deal; they generate lots of hype and are an important forum for exploring new beers. The community has been rating beer according to their system for years now. I know they haven't changed numbers, but I'm sure lots of people rate with letter grades in mind. You shouldn't just retroactively alter the ratings of thousands of people.

Maybe worse than that, the categories are now so broad so as to be meaningless. Sculpin IPA, Red Racer IPA, Fat Tug are now solidly in the same category as Hop Circle (no offense to Philips, but really).

So many things on that site scream of pointless elitism. E.g. the fact that the Alström Bros make their personal reviews so visible.

bufordsbest
Posts: 128
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:13 pm

Post by bufordsbest »

i always used rb instead for the points system. i would have thought if they were making a change it would be to a similar system.

User avatar
Derek
Beer Superstar
Posts: 3192
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 2:11 pm
Location: Kelowna, BC
Contact:

Post by Derek »

That 'B' range is way too big... a majority of the brews would fit in there!
Score rAvg Range
A 4.50-5.00 awesome must try
B 3.50-4.49 good / above average try it
C 2.50-3.49 average
D 2.00-2.49 poor / below average avoid
F 1.00-1.99 fail
They've reviewed the comments and locked down the thread... so hopefully they make some improvement.

sprague11
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1907
Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:37 pm
Location: Newmarket, ON

Post by sprague11 »

Derek wrote: They've reviewed the comments and locked down the thread
They seem to be quite good at that.

User avatar
markaberrant
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1664
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:28 pm
Location: Regina, SK

Post by markaberrant »

I had finally got used to their alpha ratings, I typically was only interested in beers rated B+ or higher, which equated to about 4.0+. This new system is far too broad, making them meaningless.

User avatar
cratez
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2284
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 8:29 pm
Location: Brantford, Ontario
Contact:

Post by cratez »

Derek wrote: They've reviewed the comments and locked down the thread...so hopefully they make some improvement.
They'll probably revert to the old system and simply tweak the numerical parameters of the letter grades so that high ratings are rarer, C equates to "decent" rather than "mediocre," and so on. The +/- classifications have always been a defining feature of BA and a major reason as to why I prefer it over other rating sites. Also, considering the Bros still write reviews for the magazine, I can't see them completely abandoning the old rating scale (or a variation of it). But we'll see what happens...

TheSevenDuffs
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2584
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2010 3:40 pm
Location: Mississauga
Contact:

Post by TheSevenDuffs »

I hate these changes. They are such a fundamental shift in the ratings. I can't believe that they even considered this. Sometimes I wonder about the decisions that the Alstrom brothers make. I have been on BA for a while now (instead of RB) but things like this really make me wonder why.

I don't see how this change benefits anyone.

sprague11
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1907
Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:37 pm
Location: Newmarket, ON

Post by sprague11 »

Makes the numbers completely misleading. Now virtually every beer on the site is a B. Most Ontario breweries are now a B, which understates how good some of our breweries are while bumping up a couple mediocre ones. My guess is Todd's wife came up with the change (inside joke).

TheSevenDuffs
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2584
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2010 3:40 pm
Location: Mississauga
Contact:

Post by TheSevenDuffs »

I think the Alstrom brothers have lost their way. I wonder if these guys are even impartial anymore. Every month that I get my BA magazine I wonder why they never seen to give any beer below a C+ rating. Some seriously terrible stuff is reviewed (like 3 different Keith's beers in a recent edition) and you never see a terrible review from them. Makes me wonder...

User avatar
Bobsy
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2225
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:06 pm
Location: Maple
Contact:

Post by Bobsy »

BA's relevancy declines the more the Alstrom brothers tinker with the site. They'd be better off keeping a bit of distance and let it run themselves. Either that or BA needs an Arab Spring.

It also seems to personality heavy. Frankly I don't give a shit what they think of a beer, and some of their forum posts have portrayed them in a less than favourable light. I understand it's their site and I can choose whether to use it or not, which is a reason I chose to leave as an active user despite being one of the top 100 reviewers.

User avatar
JerCraigs
Beer Superstar
Posts: 3053
Joined: Sun May 25, 2003 8:00 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by JerCraigs »

I don't really use BA except to check in on the forums now and again, but I can't see how a rating system that is less refined is going to be better...

I have always liked the overall site interface better at Ratebeer. Other people say the opposite (which I find strange), so to each their own right?

User avatar
shintriad
Bar Fly
Posts: 646
Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:19 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by shintriad »

Here's the RateBeer thread: http://www.ratebeer.com/forums/beer-adv ... 187949.htm

LOL, what a goofball move. I guess I understand the compulsion to keep things "simple, clean," but are those few pixels to the right of the letter grade hurting your user experience that much?

Personally, I'd "advocate" switching over to RB. These things always work better when you've got critical mass, and even though RB's rating system isn't perfect, perhaps you could influence its direction. There are obviously some thoughtful users on BA, but they're being railroaded by a needlessly oversimplified approach.

You can also spare yourself the indignity of seeing "THE BROS: A (awesome)" at the top of listings. What is this, some kind of frat?

TheSevenDuffs
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2584
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2010 3:40 pm
Location: Mississauga
Contact:

Post by TheSevenDuffs »

JerCraigs wrote:I don't really use BA except to check in on the forums now and again, but I can't see how a rating system that is less refined is going to be better...

I have always liked the overall site interface better at Ratebeer. Other people say the opposite (which I find strange), so to each their own right?
I am part of that other category. To be honest, I have never even taken the time to understand RB's ratings. It seems like any decent beer is rated between 96 and 100 overall and style. Are those reference points even meaningful or do RB users just focus on the average score out of 5?

User avatar
saints_gambit
Bar Fly
Posts: 652
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 2:38 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Contact:

Post by saints_gambit »

Cool. I'm a solid B brew collaborator.
saintjohnswort.ca

sprague11
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1907
Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:37 pm
Location: Newmarket, ON

Post by sprague11 »

I'm still getting the hang of Ratebeer's ratings system. I actually prefer BA's letters (pre plus/minusgate) over RB's number scoring - far easier for a first timer to understand. What I can't stand on BA was the elitist attitude of some of the people that post there, notably Todd.

Post Reply