Mark Squires' BB to close for good - UPDATED (WA sold to Michelin)

WINE TALK
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My former online home until the fees came up and I passed and moved to here, a blessing for sure.

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Quite a bit less, actually

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I wish I could say that it’s a shame that the board is closing but I just can’t, Parker with his ego and Squires being an asshole all time made people flock here and that’s that. Guess they went the way of the shopping malls, obsolete.

Funny, my first thought when I read this headline was what would Bob Wood think it.

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You have to weigh different things. There’s a lot more people with a greater variety of wines and subjects being discussed here than there were in the early days of the Squire’s board.

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Do I have to choose between them??? [scratch.gif] [wow.gif]

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It’s an East Coast thing.

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I enjoyed it back in the day. As someone else noted, a lot of ITB posters. Learned a lot, and suddenly people started disappearing. Then they started to charge for it, and I left.

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This was his, wasn’t it? Or was it Tex’s

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Towards the end it had almost none as they had been driven off.

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That was Bob’s, so was this.

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Yes, absolutely. It would be a complete harshing of a perfectly good mellow to avoid further inciting their Abbot and Costello routine as much as humanly possible.

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Dude!

[worship.gif] “Saxon and others have willfully trashed this thread and turned it into nonsense without substance”…Mark Squires

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It’s a real shame IMO. Pretty inevitable once they went subscription only.

Many of the people I “know” from this board I met over there. And Bob used to poke in once in a while to add to the discussion, as did a number of Europeans ITB, including a number of producers, although maybe that’s just my faulty memory. Mark was never a left-wing liberal, so a lot of people disliked him simply for that, and he could be petty. As an individual though, he was funny and could be quite good company.

At some point people started disagreeing with Parker on various wines. Respectfully at first, but I think when he started adding other reviewers, that’s when the big break came. When he hired Big Jay and said it was based on the fact that Jay was a friend, that was a bit much for many people. Jay may have been a perfectly fine guy, but he commanded zero respect as a wine critic. And Mark’s pettiness grew increasingly bitter. To be sure, a lot of people started posting simply to bother him, and in fact, said as much. So Mark started banning those people, which in turn caused more criticism of the board.

And then people started outright disagreeing with and insulting Parker himself. A good deal of it was in response to his PWI rants and tweets, but he couldn’t seem to take any criticism, which is ironic for a critic. I don’t know if it was meds, hubris, age, intoxication, or whatever, but that affable guy kind of disappeared.

And I thought Mark took the hit for Bob a number of times. He started the site as a place to discuss wine, just like this place. Bob realized he should have a forum so asked Mark to host it for him. From what I’ve been told, Bob was the one who closed it down and wanted to do so earlier than he did, but Mark kept it open because it happened to be his baby, not Bob’s. Maybe Bob figured that his name and reputation would keep subscribers, but in a single stroke, he destroyed what should have been a thriving forum contributing to a thriving business.

Too bad but hey, life goes on.

Any predictions as to how long the WA itself will continue as an enterprise? I give it maybe two years. I have nothing against the folks at the WA. I’ve always liked Joe and hope he’s going to end up somewhere good.

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It did. They’re finally getting around to burying it.
Pretty fast response IMO, especially if compared to their release of MyWines.

Snarkiness aside, it was a fun and vibrant board before moving to eRP. It grew rapidly with the move and suffered some growing pains. Thin skin and a heavy hand with moderation in response to the conflicts that arose started a downward spiral.

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That BB is where I started Falltacular 12 years ago, as well as planted the seeds for the wine network I enjoy now, one I am grateful for every day. The original friends I made on that BB, created the branches to meet others, and some of the truly finest people I know are part of this WBer forum and my friends today.

I never had any issues with the leadership on that BB but it has been apparent for some time that others did. It brings me back then to one key point, and one I know is missing in our culture today, and that is the importance of respect within leadership, and why diverse POVs matter. Turning a deaf ear, not listening to an alternative POV and humiliating others can only go on for so long before people turn away.

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We sat at the same table, during the 2005 Robert Parker luncheon, in the Baltimore Inner Harbor.

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More like Oscar and Felix.

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I met many real life friends through the Squires BB. Among those, The X-Pensive Winos have been having monthly dinners together and more for close to 15 years. I’m content to let the BB die in peace, although I won’t mourn its passing.

William Kelley is a fine wine writer and I wish him well. If he ends up writing for another platform, I’ll subscribe.

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[smileyvault-ban.gif]
neener

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R.I.P.