I admit there was an ogling period in my coffee journey when I first found online coffee forums and saw which machines people use at their home. You know the usual story, I wanted a silvia first, then an oscar, then got bolder and jumped on a cimbali junior and dreamt of an elektra A3, then I found myself saying why not a 2 group machine and making lists. Thanks God (and thanks to my penny pincher nature) I came to my senses real quick and decided on what I actually wanted, from that point never looked back.

But in this thread, I'm not asking "that kind of influence".

Last 3 years in online coffee communities I read/faced many prejudiced messages which influenced by the poster's setup, questioning the poster's knowledge of coffee and/or knowledge of coffee equipment. Some of them were openly written, some imply, some posters choose teasing or mocking. Personally I tasted this prejudice first hand several times. Either replied to poster or resigned from the subject on purpose because simply there's no way out of this. If you have a steam toy, you're treated as if you're a steam toy yourself. If you have a pump machine then beware!! Any second a more experienced or well equipped user may appear at the corner singing "pump up the junk". Then there's the case you have relatively an expensive setup...............................you don't know how to use that machine! Shame on you!

My own conclusion is some people take "the poster's setup" way too seriously, are you one of them? Are you influenced positively or negatively by the poster's setup when replying his/her post?

Someone's equipment can definitely be a way to help judge their experience. It's far from perfect, to be sure, and has to be correlated with other data--like their self-description of their level of experience, and the way that they talk about espresso. Someone with a steam toy who comes to these forums seeking help deserves to get help, and needs to have more explained to them, or be pointed in the direction of such explanations. Someone with a steam toy who posts on these forums talking with pretension will, deservedly, get slam-dunked. People get irritated when someone enters a community dedicated to a hobby, and claims to have a better handle on that hobby than the other people of that community, before he/she gets to know the people. Such posters are (rightly) called trolls.

I strongly feel that the "equipment" field is there to help people help you, and if people abuse it and use it as a grounds to berate someone else, they should have their post deleted and receive a warning. Continued rudeness should be met with a ban. I am sure that the things you describe happen, maybe even here, and it's unfortunate, but that's just a microcosm of any human community. People can be vile, and miscommunication and overreaction are commonplace--this kind of thing is exacerbated online.

Personally, I think that taking a chill pill is the best antidote to this problem, but if you think that removing the equipment field from your profile is called for, that is quite your decision. Certainly, if you don't need any help, you don't need it to be there... Of course, if you don't need help with your espresso, I am curious why you'd read these forums.

Influenced? yes, but.... NOT being one of those with a GS-3 or an Synesso or (fill in the blanks on expensive equipment ), I try not to come to any conclusions as to skill level (Look @ the folk with Silvia, Pavoni Levers, etc. Some of them have WAY more experience than I or even many of the people WITH the very high-end stuff! Also, some of the folk with very high-end stuff are VERY, VERY well versed in espresso production...) Equipment available to the original poster is only a STARTING point... Try to figure out where they're coming from (and yes, some are "Trolls", most are not...)... and see if you can provide any assistance... Just 'cuz they've got a LOT more money than I do doesn't mean their more OR less capable than I (usually, MORE in this forum! ). Just 'cuz they've got "less" than I do, doesn't mean they're less capable either... You never know!

I think the poll is a little simplistic. Anyone who answers "no" either doesn't read the right side or is lying--everyone is "influenced" by a posters setup. It seems like the only useful question you can ask is whether that influence is negative, right?

Without an equipment list, readers may be at a loss I frequently PM members about their equipment and just recently asked Abe Carmeli to update his equipment list so readers would have a reference point for his Coffee Emergency Ethiopian Misty Valley post. He'd listed brew parameters but not his hardware. Knowing the hardware gives readers a point of reference and whether they have a hope in hades of attaining the same nirvana. On the flip side, I've been queried a number of times by readers with similar equipment. The list helps in both directions.

I recently purchased a Capresso Infinity for my sister, gave it a whirl on the Vibiemme HX and was very pleasantly surprised. Scoffed at by a few here, the grinder in Marshall's Kyle Glanville with a Silvia and $80 grinder thread is none other than a Capresso Infinity. Would I recommend one as an espresso grinder? No.

If one should happen to own a tool that gets low marks in a thread requesting advice on same, evaluate the information and use it as a guide to future a purchase.

Denigrating someone's tools is an open admission of one's ignorance. [ Hope I haven't done it ] Anyone who's sampled espresso outside their own bailiwick knows full well that the correlation between equipment and cup is all on the handle side of the group.

kahvedelisi wrote:My own conclusion is some people take "the poster's setup" way too seriously, are you one of them? Are you influenced positively or negatively by the poster's setup when replying his/her post?

The equipment listing is optional and not visible to visitors; its purpose is to facilitate discussion since the validity of many replies depends on the equipment in front of the poster. For example, I've never used a Nuova Simonelli Oscar, so I'm limited to offering generalities based on my reading and experience with this class of espresso machine. On the other hand, if the poster's equipment list includes one of the espresso machines I've used extensively, I will offer much more prescriptive advice.

I am skeptical of a new member's claims if their equipment and commentary don't match up (e.g., "My La Marzocco GS/3 with preground coffee rocks!" or "I've just acquired a Krups XP4020 and Mazzer Robur, but don't know what tamper size I need."), so I am somewhat influenced by their equipment declaration. But the truth is that everyone starts as a newbie and the majority of us have passed the same signposts along the road to espresso nirvana (my confession opens the thread Hall of Shame: ''What I did when I was a newbie...''). The goal of this site is to help each other move past the signposts more quickly.


Early days of HB's Bench included a Krups "steam toy"

shadowfax wrote:I think the poll is a little simplistic. Anyone who answers "no" either doesn't read the right side or is lying--everyone is "influenced" by a posters setup.

Good point, I've reworked the choices to allow for more gray area: Considerably|Somewhat|Not at all. Sorry, those who already voted will need to vote again.

For people to even find this site, let alone take the time to post on it at least says they...to the best of their ability...are serious about coffee.

I'm more influenced by what is said by the poster than what equipment they have listed. I've been to many a place with fancy equipment and left bitterly disappointed.

another_jim wrote:On the other hand, I have a suspicion that people who list all their equipment are somehow claiming authority.

Uncharacteristically uncharitable for you, Jim. I can't imagine what would make someone think so. In most cases, I think it's pride of ownership.

BTW, the 'authority' indicator is atop the profile. Once it's over 2...