Review panel?

[Hop Bomb]

Can someone send me a blichmann auto sparge to review please. 

[LordEoin]

Grand Job.
I've put some time into making this simple, quick and fair for everyone involved.
Here's what I was thinking about freebies/raffles, any further feedback or comments are welcome.
I would also love to hear the thoughts of any homebrew suppliers

Eligibility
- Full members only
- Must have at some stage written a decent review/guide/article/wiki/how-to/etc for the forums or frontpage.
- Must have all required equipment (eg. an all-grain kit will require an all-grain setup)
- For delivery reasons, must be resident of The Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.

Disqualification
- If anyone fails to review a product they received FOC, or does an obviously sub-standard review for the sake of getting a freebie, they are blacklisted from all future raffles until the review is completed, or they pay the cost of the product to the supplier.

Administration
- If someone wants to provide a product for review, PM me and I'll start a raffle on the appropriate section.
- Winners will be chosen at random from eligible/interested members
- Supplier ships directly to the winner. Cutting out the middleman will get the product to review fastest and ease strain on the NHC express
- In return they will get the product reviewed honestly within a reasonable timeframe, and the review will contain a thank you and a direct link to the product on their site
- Where possible, helpful reviews may be adapted for the frontpage.

Expectation
- product reviewed honestly within a reasonable timeframe, and the review will contain a thank you and a direct link to the product on their store
- The subject should begin with the tag [Review]
- Products should be reviewed as 'standard', with as little alteration  as possible
- Reviews should be honest and constructive
- Post any follow-up comments, tasting notes, etc. Collect and post feedback you get from others (eg from swaps, friends, club meets)

[Will_D]

Those look a fine set of guidlines.

well Done!

[Eoin]

+1 nice work Eoin.

Sent using a complex system of semaphore and ninjas.

[LordEoin]

You might have noticed that I've kicked off a round of raffles with 1 Liquid Kit, 1 Extract Kit and 1 All-Grain Kit.
A big thanks to HomeBrewWest and GeterBrewed for their generosity.
There won't always be this concentration of freebies going around, this is just to kick things off 
Best of luck to everyone who enters!

For anyone who's currently not eligible because they've never written a review or guide, get cracking and write something.

• Review your favourite piece of equipment, you favourite beer kit, your favourite beer.
  
• Write a guide on how to build or use something brewing related.
  
• Submit an article for use on the frontpage.
  It doesn't really matter what you do so long as you demonstrate that you have the ability to write something legible, helpful and honest 
  
  For anyone that's currently not eligible because they're not a full member, Become a Member it's only a tenner for the year and gives you discounts from NHC affiliates

[delzep]

I'm assusing that if an article that has been written and saved in the wordpress account thing but hasn't been published yet by whoever does that, then that counts as being eligible?

[Garry]

There was a bit of controversy yesterday about the above rules required to enter a raffle. Personally I think the rules are good but I would like to see more member's names in the pot. It's not fair that the same bollix's are winning the free beer all the time  :

Yesterday, when the raffle was announced, the list filled up in a few hours. It usually takes a few days to get 5 names on the list. The rules are turning a lot of people off putting their names down. The main requirement for getting a free product should be that you write a review.

There are 10 beer kits up for grabs at the moment. So what do you think of loosening the rules a bit?

Could we let all full members enter the raffles? Then if they win, and don't meet the above requirements, they must agree to do a review within a certain deadline? If they miss the deadline they would be given a forfeit or something? Make a donation to the club to the value of the product or kick Bishop Brennan up the arse??

[Garry]

It's very easy to write a review of something relevant like the craft beer you had last night, and I think it's a very low barrier to entry.

I agree, but it's still turning people off! But if they got something for free, they might be more excited about writing the review?

[Garry]

It is easy to write a simple beer review. There are so many beer blogs out there, you could copy and paste one together in a few minutes. Then add a photo! Most people won't bother because they don't have to.

I think they'd be more inclined to write a review if they got something FOC, and were given a deadline? Maybe we should give them the benefit of the doubt?

[LordEoin]

I don't see any reason to lower the bar.

The raffles were only posted last night and there are already enough entries to cover the reviews.
Because there are relevant criteria it filters out people who enter because "feck it, i like free stuff and I'll just write three or four lines after".
What's the benefit of having 100 people enter? None, it just disappoints 90 people.

If people want to have free-for-all raffles, that's fine. Go source products, post a raffle, and work out distribution.
For now, I have an ongoing dialogue with homebrewwest, homebrewcompany and geterbrewed.
They've all been very generous to the club and I'm not going to disappoint them with sub-standard reviews.

[Garry]

For now, I have an ongoing dialogue with homebrewwest, homebrewcompany and geterbrewed.
They've all been very generous to the club and I'm not going to disappoint them with sub-standard reviews.

Touché!

[ColMack]

To enter a raffle you have to buy a ticket first...

Isn't that the membership fee?

[Rossa]

How can we encourage newbies to write a review of a product when they can't even enter the raffle?

Are these products not aimed at beginners?  Would their advice not be welcomed by other newbies?

From the outside it looks like free stuff for the lads. That is something we must consider.

[Rossa]

How can we encourage newbies to write a review of a product when they can't even enter the raffle?

The idea is they show they can write a review, by reviewing a craft beer or something else relevant that they have already. It's a very low bar.

I think craft beer reviews are more for our friends across the road!

Whether they can write or not is surely fairly irrelevant as it's not a novel they are embarking upon!

That they  want to do the review should be more to the point I would have thought. That person may find an aptitude for it that they hadn't thought they had.

There does need to be a certain criteria but as alluded to perhaps the rules don't need to be so cast in stone.

After all someone could start another bloody poll!!

[Partridge9]

Lads,

I appreciate that we dont want people chucking names in and getting stuff and not bothering to review but I think the current system is a little exclusionary towards older members (like meself!).

I think a 'slight' amendment should be ..

- On winning you undertake the responsibility of reviewing the product on the website within 10 weeks.
Failure to complete this review will automatically exclude you from all future raffles.

This is no reflection on the current system, which is a sh*t load better than the old 'first come, first served' - which was rubbish, it just sometimes things need a little tweak.