bigdog

I've been growing bananas for about 7-8 years, along with other subtropical plants. Mainly cold-hardy subtropicals that will survive in my Tennessee landscape (more than I ever would have dreamed about 8 years ago!). I have made bananas my number one hobby/obsession, and research them extensively. This by no means makes me any kind of expert though! Hah! There are some recent additions to this forum that oversee plantations, for crying out loud, or who have been or still are professors in the field of horticulture or botany. Others have been growing bananas for 20+ years. I immediately siezed on this board directly after its inception, as an alternative to the Gardenweb banana forum. It seems that on that forum, nobody wants to bother using the "search" feature to find answers to their questions. So you see the same questions, over and over and over, ad nauseum. Most of them are about how to protect their Musa basjoo or whatever. Go do a search on there on "Musa basjoo" and see how many repeat questions there are. I just think that people get too lazy to search for an answer to their questions, that have probably already been answered 100 times before. That doesn't mean I have a problem with anybody asking questions, just that they not be so lazy and use the search feature. That was part of the attraction of this forum, was that the discussion seemed to be a bit more intellectual. It has deteriorated to some extent, but it doesn't have to be that way. The three forums that I suggested, the seed germination, species, and cold-hardy bananas, were intended to be avenues for intellectual discussion. It seems that no thread is safe from being "hijacked," and posts becoming way off-topic in the same thread. That is what really irks me! I don't mind if somebody wants to post about their dogs or animals or tractors or whatever, but keep all of that stuff in the Tiki Hut or where it is appropriate. And if you are reading about a thread on Musa cheesmani, please don't ask what's wrong with your Super Dwarf Cavendish (that's hypothetical, but you get the point)! I also notice that members start "talking" to each other within threads, instead of PM'ing, emailing, or using the vbpager that Jarred set up. This is all complete dead space for the rest of us, who don't care what you had for breakfast yesterday(again, I'm making that up).

Jarred, maybe you could make a Sticky Thread in the Main Banana Discussion (or all forums) reminding users to use the search feature first before posting a new thread with a question that's been answered before. Some may not realize it is even there or how to use it. It might save repeat posts that clog up space.

I couldn't care less who is in the Hall of Fame, including me. Maybe it should just be called "The 1000 Post Club" or something like that. I agree with some others on here though, that the title of "Hall of Fame" conjures up thoughts of somebody who did something especially worthy of recognition, not just made 1000 posts. Its meaning is diminished in that respect.

I never have liked the titles. You have some members on here who should be considered Grand Pubas, but are still Junior Members because of their post count. Some folks have been on here since 2005, and still have the title of Junior Member or less. Makes no sense to me.

Moderators, you guys do a great job! I think you guys should start looking for more moderators though, since this board is growing so quickly. I've got an idea as to what kind of posts are deleted, such as ones with vulgar language or attacks, etc. Perhaps posts that have absolutely ZERO bearing on the topic in the thread, and are obviously not part of the discussion, should be deleted also. Not sure if that might cause some hard feelings or whatnot, but it would clean up some threads. I don't know if I'm coming across clearly on this or not, LOL. You know, I've probably got some posts of my own that were hijacking somebody elses thread and not even realized it.

Hope I didn't hurt anybody's feelings. I'm just trying to make some suggestions for the betterment of this forum so that we ALL might enjoy it!

Frank