I posted a question looking for help purchasing an espresso machine on Coffee Geek and Home-Barista. HB locked my post saying it was on Coffee Geek. So what! Why can I not ask different people the same question. Or are both sites the same? Same People? Same Thoughts? Same Ideas? So is there really any point in having a Home-Barista Site. Why don't we all just go to Coffee Geek?

It is because there is so much overlap in membership. Having similar threads on different sites results in a lot of duplication.

Jim

So....How does that affect the price of coffee in China. So...why have two sites. By your argument there should just be one site. It is more efficient. What about the advertisers. How about the customer reviews. Both sites have customer reviews. By your argument all duplicate reviews should be deleted.

They are two different sites and I know this will hurt many precious egos but there are people who only belong to one of the two sites. Should they be excluded from the conversation because they are not part of both sites.

Is there a Democratic Voice and Inclusion of all People and Ideas or are these sites personal clubs of an elite few and only people who have accounts on both sites allowed to voice opinions.

Is it censorship or is Home-Barista just too poor to pay for the server space.

See my reply...on the "other site"...

Jack

Well I guess you answered my question. If you want coffee info and advice......go to another site!!!!

If you advertise you might do likewise.

I myself really don't see a problem with cross-posting, as while there is some overlap in membership, it is certainly not 100%. We, the readers should know that we posted responses already and avoid duplication.

It all depends on the sort of question or post one is making. Most of what is cross posted is basically questions from less experienced people seeking answers from people whom they think can solve some problems they are having. This is to say that these people are looking for free information.

I have no problem with free information, in fact that is basically what I see as one of the major purposes for the existence of the internet, the ability to put your finger on a whole lot of information in a very short period of time, and spend virtually no money in the process.

Most of the sort of information that people posing these sorts of questions seek, is not all that difficult to find out, even without making an inquiring post in the first place. All you have to do is to plug a few well chosen search words into the search function of the various forums, maybe to also search through Google, and voila, there is your answer! It might not be the answer your own personal question, but rather it might be the answer to someone else's very similar question posed 4 months ago, but using a little bit of common sense one can take those earlier answers and apply them to the current problem. I do this all the time with non-coffee interests (most examples of which I am total beginner), and am reluctant to just jump into some unfamiliar online setting and to fire off what later appears to be "dumb" questions.

I don't read any of the other forums on a regular basis and I don't post on any of them at all anymore. I also don't generally respond to questions that get posed over and over and over again, since they are, to be entirely honest, boring and not worth my time. As I figure it, if the person posing such a question is so lazy and impatient that they can't spend a few minutes searching for information, then why should I give them some of my time? And I don't. This is to be contrasted with the situation in which someone has tried to find out the information for themselves but does not succeed or is unsatisfied with what they found. The difference between these two sorts of posts is usually pretty obvious on a quick reading of the inquiring post.

As to the more "worthwhile" sorts of questions, the sort that actually make you think independently, that might actually draw out unique information from people who actually have some knowledge to impart, well that sort of question really suffers from being cross posted. It is best to pick the "appropriate" website and the best forum in that situation, in order to attract the "right" people and to have a cohesive discussion in which everyone is on the same page, so to speak. Dispersing such a discussion across cyberspace diminishes it tremendously from what it could be if better focused in one location.

ken

Memberships to forums like this is not a god given right, it's a privilege that can be revoked.

By signing up to this forum, you agree to the rules of the forum, and one of the rules is against cross posting.

Telling people to go to other sites is within your rights, as long as the mods here allow it. Frankly, they have more tolerance for this type of post then I would. And, if you posted this type of post on some other sites, you could get a "strike" against you.

However, telling advertisers to go elsewhere is mean and vengeful. Sites like this take time and money to run. Dan is very gracious in giving his time to keep this place running, but it cost money to get server space. I have seen forums either ask for donations, or have sponsors, to raise the money to keep the site going. HB uses sponsors.

Trying to chase away the sponsors is basically trying to kill the site. This site is a great resource, and trying to kill the site just because they locked up your thread, which violated forum rules, to me is just spiteful.

So HB didn't help answer your thread about how to spend your money. Get over it. It is a lot of money, but that doesn't justify this type of behavior.

My 2 cents
End of rant

Randy

Hi. First post here.

To be fair and put this into physical world terms, this forum is kind-of like a gathering at Dan's house. What is happening here is akin to Dan asking you to please take your feet off of the coffee-table. Does that put it into perspective?

We are guests and it is most appropriate to act as such.