Hello guys, I’ve been adding a bunch of U.S. rums when I see they aren’t in the database–many of them new distilleries. I’ve noticed that months later, they are still not verified. I was wondering whether this is just a backlog problem, or perhaps there is something that I can do to help speed up that process?
On a related note, I can’t add a photo of the bottles even when I do have one when adding a new rum to the database. It just immediately crashes and brings me back to the main Rum x page on the app.
As a side note, I think all this would be much easier to do if there was some possibility to do it on a website browser. The app is great, but if you have a computer handy, a web browser version is always easier for some of this stuff.
Also, a web browser version would make it much easier to go and verify details of newly added rums, and fill stuff in. If I’m at a bar sipping some rum and just added a new entry based on whatever sparse details are available on the menu, then I can go verify that stuff on the distillery website while on my computer at work and add the missing details later. This stuff is a pain in the ass to do while on your phone for some of us.
Thank you for sharing your detailed perspective — I really appreciate the thought you’ve put into this and the comparison with RateBeer/Brewver (I also have a closer look on Untappd). Your point about placeholders and encouraging contributions from users with varying levels of detail is very valid, especially as we aim to build the most comprehensive rum database in the world.
That said, I’m convinced that simply awarding points for every new rum submission wouldn’t be the best solution. We already receive several hundred new submissions from the community every month — plus, new rums are automatically reported to us by our shop partners. The challenge is less about the number of submissions and more about ensuring the quality and completeness of the data. If we were to reward every new rum, we’d risk incentivizing low-quality or incomplete submissions, which would only increase the workload to review and correct them. Awarding points only for “valuable” submissions would require a lot of manual verification and create significant administrative overhead.
What we are working on instead is a more community-driven approach: we plan to introduce selected database administrators for specific areas — e.g., agricole rums, certain distilleries, or even rums targeted specifically at the North American market. These community members will have the ability to see, review, complete, and approve submitted rums. This will help spread out the very meticulous work of verification and take it off my shoulders alone. I believe this is the most effective way to ensure that submissions are processed more quickly and accurately for all users, while maintaining the quality standard that makes RumX valuable.
Thanks again for your input — it helps shape how we move forward with these improvements!
No worries, I don’t really care about the points per se. I think I just meant that adding rums should always be encouraged. After all, if I add a rum, then the next rater won’t have to.
Also for what it’s worth, untappd is known among us beer nerds for being something of a mess. They’ve kind of gone too far in the direction of letting everyone add everything and not verifying much. Brewver, Beer Advocate, and (formerly) Ratebeer used to have much more accurate listings for beers. That being said, Untappd always had more stuff and more ratings due to ease of use and the social media site-type layout they have for everything. When untappd showed up they really just dominated the market and obliterated the competition for that reason. The only ones of us who stayed on BA, Ratebeer and Brewver did so out of loyalty for a more discerning crowd where people didn’t rate Bud Light or Heineken a 5/5–basically the grumpy beer critics . And because the latter were more accurate.
Anyway, just some perspective. I don’t think going full on untappd is the best way because they lose a lot of accuracy. Brewver and BA stay pretty accurate due to a mix of allowing people to add, and having a lot of admins who police new additions and verify the details. There are a lot of regional admins in both who have a better idea of what’s going on in their area/country/continent.
. And because the latter were more accurate.