RATEBEER and InBev

Recently it was announced that Zx Ventures some of shoot of InBev took a minority stake in Ratebeer, now i have to say that im not wholly comfortable with it, but ive never understood how Ratebeer stayed afloat, and have seen many threads in my times where someone complains that feature X is premium only. This where premium member ship rocks in at a Whole $13. So i can see why Joe decided to take some money when it appeared.

I had intended to just keep my thoughts to myself until i see how it all panned out once the dust had settled. But Yesterday Dog Fish Head called for all their reviews to be deleted.

Now as far as i'm concerned DFH can get Fucked. It's not their data to be removed, removing this will just cause a flood of other requests and suddenly ratebeer is of no use to me.

In fact the more I think on this, the more i'm convinced that what DFH (and others who have come out and said the same) are doing is no better than what they are trying to fight against.

What they are doing is interfering in another's business and setting out to Destroy it. Because have no doubt if Ratebeer were to remove DFH, they're would be a flood of other brewers asking for the same thing, and Ratebeer would cease to be useful to those who use it.

As i said I've got serious concerns myself about this investment, but we all make compromises in our daily lives against what we believe in, be that using the likes of Google, Facebook or Amazon, Shopping in Walmart/Asda(with their control over what's acceptable in the music industry)  or buying Nestle product we all make our own personal choices. What DFH have set out to do, is remove MY choice to decide for myself if I am happy using Ratebeer now that InBev have a share.  No one asked DFH years ago if they wanted to take part. Thats not how consumer reviews work.  If it did im sure INBev would have wanted they're consistently low scoring product removed.

Now i am almost totally convinced that DFH have no legal leg to stand on and that Ratebeer choosing to remove brewers who ask would destroy the site/business. So don't see it ever happening, but by doing so Dog Fish Head have shown themselves to be no better than InBev.

I will continue to use Ratebeer as a site that has brought : YEARS of Joy,  has brought me countless friends, some of who i count as close friends, has brought many beers to my attention, and has the best online community I've ever been part of. Of course I will keep an eye on what happens now and if i ever think that me or my ratings are being manipulated for InBevs gain, you can bet I will shout about it.  But its my choice, Not InBevs and not DFH. Mine and Mine alone.