Beer Suggest FAQ

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Beer Suggest is a niche wiki/social community for beer lovers. You can read more about this website in the about section. After you've read what the site is about feel free to register an account. Browse an optimized version of Beer Suggest on your handheld device by going to beersuggest.com/mobile

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In this FAQ you will find answers to frequently asked questions on Beer Suggest. The FAQ section is always expanding, so if you think of a question that should be here please be sure to let us know so we can add it.

Beer Related

Brewery Related

Tagging Related

Profile Related

Events

Miscellaneous

How do I add a beer?

To add a beer, make sure you have registered an account, login, and then click on the Add Beer link in the navigation menu. The next step is to fill out all of the required fields. Required fields will be shown in a bold font. If the brewery for the beer is not in the database yet, you will first have to add the brewery(See How do I add a brewery?).

After filling out all of the fields that you can, simply click on the Add Beer button to save the beer. Your beer will instantly begin showing up on the website and in the search results. If you later find more information on the beer you can edit the beer and update it(See How do I edit a beer?).

How do I edit a beer?

Edit Icon

To edit a beer you must first login and then go to the detail page of the beer you wish to edit. Here you will see a toolbox at the top of the page that contains different actions, one of them being Edit. The icon looks similar to the one pictured on the right. After clicking on the edit icon you will be taken to a form that is filled with the existing information about the beer. Simply change anything that needs to be edited, or add anything that needs to be added, then click on the Edit Beer button.

How do I rate a beer?

To rate a beer visit its details page and choose the appropriate star rating by hovering over the number of stars and clicking. When you rate a beer it will automatically be added to the list of beers that you have tried. You may change your rating at anytime by choosing a different number of stars. If you wish to remove your rating, simply click on the minus icon in front of the stars.

How do I add a brewery?

To add a brewery, make sure you have registered an account, login, and then click on the Add Brewery link in the navigation menu. The next step is to fill out all of the required fields. Required fields will be shown in a bold font.

After filling out all of the fields that you can, simply click on the Add Brewery button to save the beer. Your brewery will instantly begin showing up on the website and in the search results. If you later find more information on the brewery you can edit the brewery and update it(See How do I edit a brewery?).

How do I edit a brewery?

Edit Icon

To edit a brewery you must first login and then go to the detail page of the brewery you wish to edit. Here you will see a toolbox at the top of the page that contains different actions, one of them being Edit. The icon looks similar to the one pictured on the right. After clicking on the edit icon you will be taken to a form that is filled with the existing information about the brewery. Simply change anything that needs to be edited, or add anything that needs to be added, then click on the Edit Brewery button.

What do the icons at the top of each bbrewery detail page do?

Brewery Detail toolbar

Each icon performs a different task.

  • The edit icon will allow you to edit information about the brewery whose page you are currently on.
  • The flag icon allows you to flag a brewery if you think it is a duplicate, or if you tink that it is spam. After flagging a brewery the flag will turn orange letting you, and all other users now that this beer has been flagged. An admin will take a look at all flagged breweries and determine what to do with them.

What do the icons at the top of each beer detail page do?

Beer Detail toolbar

Each icon performs a different task, some for your account, and others for the beer whose page you are on.

  • The edit icon will allow you to edit information about the beer whose page you are currently on.
  • The flag icon allows you to flag a beer if you think it is a duplicate, or if you tink that it is spam. After flagging a beer the flag will turn orange letting you, and all other users now that this beer has been flagged. An admin will take a look at all flagged beers and determine what to do with them.
  • The add icon allows you to say that you have tried this beer. This beer will be added to your profile in the list of beers you have tried. After clicking on the icon it will turn green letting you know that you have already marked this beer as being tried. If you made a mistake you can simply click on the add icon again to remove it from your list of "tried beers"
  • The favorite icon lets you mark the current beer as one of your favorites. After clicking on this icon it will be added to your list of favorite beers in your profile and it will turn pink letting you know that you have favorite-ed the beer. If you made a mistake simply click on the favorite icon again to remove the beer from your list of favorite beers.
  • The review icon will take you to a page to review the beer you are currently viewing. After you submit your review it will appear at the bottom of the beer detail page under the Reviews tab.
  • The suggest icon allows you to suggest the beer you care currently viewing to any of your friends. For each friend that you check they will receive a personal message from you letting them know that you think they might like the beer you suggested.
  • The notify icon toggles notifications for the beer you are viewing. If the notifications icon is clicked on you will receive personal messages every time a new comment or review is posted for the beer you are viewing. The notification icon will turn blue letting you know notifications are turned on for this beer.
  • The help icon will take you to this page to learn more about the toolbar

What is a tag?

A tag is a word used to describe a particular object or idea. In this website tags will be used to describe beers and breweries in order to describe the beer/brewery in more detail.

How does tagging work?

Every time a tag is added, it shows up in the tag cloud. A tag cloud is a group of words that help describe an object/idea, in our case a beer/brewery. If you add a tag that already exists the size of the tag in the cloud will grow to show that more people have used this tag then the others. In the end after many people have tagged a beer/brewery it will give you a good idea of how popular a tag is for the object.

How do I tag a beer/brewery?

First click on the Add Tags link for the beer/brewery you want to tag. A text area will appear for you to enter your tags. Simply type in your list of tags seperated by commas. You can even use two words. For example I could type in "troegs, pale ale, hoppy" and that would be 3 different tags. You must use a comma if you have two words as one tag, even if it is the only one you are putting in. For example "pale ale,". If you just put "pale ale", then two tags would be made one for "pale" and one for "ale".

How do I remove a tag?

When you vist a beer/brewery that you have tagged, all of the tags you have entered will be populated in the text area. If you want to remove one, simply delete it from the text area and click on the add tags button. Only the deleted/added tags will be saved. If you have already entered a tag for a beer/brewry and click on the add tags button again, nothing will happen.

Where can I view my profile?

After you have logged in there are two ways to access your profile. The first way is to click on the Profile link in the top navigation. The second way is to click on your username which appears under the search box on every page in the top right corner.

Who can see my profile?

Only you and any friends that you have confirmed can view your profile. Friends also have a limited view of your profile. They can only see the profile, friends and stats tabs in your profile. While they will be able to see your friends, they will not be able to view your friends profiles unless they are also friends with them, or add them as friends.

What do the icons at the top of each event detail page do?

Event Detail toolbar

Each icon performs a different task.

  • The edit icon will allow you to edit information about the event whose page you are currently on.
  • The flag icon allows you to flag an event if you think it is a duplicate, or if you tink that it is spam. After flagging an event the flag will turn orange letting you, and all other users now that this beer has been flagged. An admin will take a look at all flagged events and determine what to do with them.
  • The attending icon allows you to mark if you are attending the event or not. After clicking on the icon it will turn green and your username will show up on the right hand side of the event details page under the "Users Attending" column.

What rss feeds are available?

There are thousands of rss feeds available on Beer Suggest. On each Beer Detail page there is an rss feed for comments for that beer, and a rss feed for reviews for that beer. There is also a rss feed for the weblog which contains the latest website news. In addition to the weblog rss feed you can also subscribe to the comments for each entry in the weblog by viewing the story and then clicking on the rss icon rss icon next to the comments.

In addition to the thousands of specific beer rss feeds, there are also several other site wide feeds. They are the following:

How do I share my beer stats on my blog or website?

User RSS feeds

Each user has their own RSS feeds that they can use to share their stats on their blog or website. To access your feeds, visit your profile page. At the bottom of your profile you will see a list of 4 different feeds. They include: Your Latest Beer Reviews, Your Most Recently Tried Beer, Your Latest Beer Ratings and Your Top 10 Rated Beers. The link for each points to your personal RSS feed that you can add to your blog/website. Most blogging software like Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, etc. have their own widgets for creating a sidebar list from RSS feeds. You will have to look at your particular blogging software for more details.

How can I contact the owner of this website?

Should you have problems with the site, have suggestions on how to make it better, or need to contact me for some other reason, you can use the feedback form. You can get to this form by clicking on the Feedback link in the navigation.