Before I knuckle down and assault you with my compelling arguments, let me first apologize to Dan Bortz for completely hi-jacking his article. He and I seem to use Untappd in very different ways, so find what works for you. We don't all like the same beer, so why should we like the same things about Untappd?
Anywhos, Dan mentioned that he uses Untappd to help remember which beers he's tried, and I totally agree with that! That's one of the main reasons I started using apps for keeping track of beers I'd tried. And when you start getting into variations of brews, such as Evil Twin's lovely "Even More Jesus" series and New Holland's Dragon's Milk Reserve, whether or not you've tried a particular beer can become very confusing, very quickly.
My memory is probably a little shakier than Dan's though--I don't just have trouble remembering if I've tried a beer, but I often have trouble remembering if I liked the damn thing! Adding a rating and glancing at it later is much easier than deciphering whatever tasting notes I might have added at the time. (And I have to admit, my tasting notes can often be confusing: "Dusty" "Rounder than I expected" "Cribbed wood" Like anyone I haven't been married to would assume that ?Cribbed wood" was a way of expressing a beer evoked pleasant memories? Or for that matter, that I'd even remember I considered that a pleasant taste and not just a horrid memory of horse spit and sharply fresh pine. Put a number next to those notes, though, and I can likely recall both the taste and the story behind the memories that taste evoked. Just seeing the "your rating" on Untappd is often all I need, especially if someone is asking my opinion while building a six-pk at a bottle shop.
Dan went on at length about subjectivity as it applied to his ratings and how it likely applied to others ratings. And all of his points are valid. My own ratings tend towards the high side if I'm having a good time, and I'm sure most people's ratings tend to do the same...so who cares? It happens, we know it will, and sometimes we'll get a bogus "wow this was the best" when it was just so-so. Or someone pans a beer that was actually ok. But it's usually not a huge difference...we don't pan 5s or give horrid beers a solid 5. Even the least objective among us still stay within certain boundaries, or their friends learn not to pay attention to their ratings or let them influence their decisions. Unlike many rating systems, on Untappd you can see your friends' individual ratings, and make reasonable decisions based on how those friends' rating correlate to your own.
In a similar vein, Dan noted the potential for bias based on others ratings. Personally, I am terribly subject to influence, taste-wise: if your notes mention cinnamon, i may very well taste cinnamon where it doesn't exist! OTH, I'm a disagreeable asshat, and faced with my favorite beertenders loudly exclaiming "ooooh, this tastes like the cheap kerosense" I will still insist "it kinda grows on ya." Personally, if I think a beer deserves a really poor rating, but general opinions differ, that is when I'll leave no rating at all. I will assume the fault is mine and not the beers. If I'm in danger of ranking a beer higher than it objectively deserves, who cares? Nobody on earth will decide a crappy beer tastes good because I said so.
If I want an objective, considered and educated opinion regarding any particular beer, I'll look to an expert like Kevin Patterson, GM at the World's Best Bottle Shop, His reviews on BeerAdvocate are excruciatingly detailed, informed and accurate. To achieve this, they are also fairly lengthy...Exactly what you want when you're researching your purchases at home BEFORE you hit the bottle shop, or deciding on a flight before you get to the tap room, but prolly not what you need while standing in front of the shelves,
I have a pretty good idea of what beers are gonna work for me and why. I don't ever use my friends' ratings to help me decide if I want a beer or not (ftm, I'll drink some pretty crappy beers just to snag a badge on Untappd!) I do use my friends' ratings to decide between beers: for example, if I'm browsing Beer Trappe's Cellar Reserve and have narrowed my choice to two or three different beers, I'll often take my friends' aggregate rating and go with the higher of the two. Same thing if none of the friends' whose palates I know and trust have checked in a particular beer.
When I started using Untappd, I actively selected "friends" whose palates matched mine: when I found a beer I thought deserved a 5, I looked for others who agreed and sent friend requests. Many of these friends, I'll likely never meet in person, but I am very familiar with their palates, and how well those palates correspond or disagree with mine. I trust them implicitly, and know how their tastes agree/disagree with my own. They have led me to some absolutely delightful beers, and steered me away from some ot their own regretted tastes. I can't begin to thank them, and I hope they never stop!
I don't think we need to fix anything about the rating system in Untappd (unlike many of the ux issues added by the last updates...but that's another post entirely!) Just remember, everyone's rating is inherently subjective....if you can find a way to use Untappd to help you enjoy those tasty beverages more, go for it, If it seems an unhelpful chore, drop it in the Uninstall box soonest!
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