Message 8893 of 22774 in Behind the Bar

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> I admit, I have a modicum of sympathy for those that are technically 
> challenged to the point they can't figure out how to type in a drink 
> name/ingredient and hit search (no, I'm actually not being sarcastic, 
> I know people like this).  However, I do think there are instances 
> where a rude answer is justified, usually somebody (who's never 
> posted before) asks how to make a drink that's printed in 90% of the 
> books and on every website database out there.

I find it amusing that people ask questions on the forums here about drinks 
that are in the Webtender database - considering I have been using Webtender 
as a drink reference for years and only recently discovered there were any 
kind of forums at all associated with it. I feel that the technical ability 
required to post a message on a forum is at least as much as the ability 
necessary to search a drink database...

I do consider it nontrivial to find old discussions using the forum search, 
though, so I wouldn't really expect it of anyone. Good non-structured search 
technology is a hard thing to do - Google has become a multi-billion-dollar 
force in the industry by being good at it. And searching is itself a 
specialized skill that most people don't really have. 

Obviously the existing denizens of a forum would have a strong advantage in 
being able to find a relevant thread over a new visitor. Sometimes it's just 
so much easier to tell someone something than to have them find it out for 
themselves that I would have a hard time being snotty about it.

-- 
-If