View Full Version : Increasing membership participation
harveyc
04-29-2009, 09:40 PM
Tog brought up the question in another thread about why so many forum members are inactive. Among other reasons, I think it's a common "problem" with many forums. Unless someone is looking for information, they might not think of checking out bananas.org. One very large (several hundred thousand members, I believe) sends out an e-mail about once or twice a month with the subject line of something such as "Hot Topics at Bananas.org". This obviously is being done to increase participating by members and I know it must be somewhat successful as I'll often see something in the e-mail that interests me and then I get browsing there and get involved in the forum for at least a while.
I just thought we might want to try that out here.
Best wishes, peace, love, happiness, etc.*
Harvey
* No Sam, I'm not doing dope! :P
momoese
04-30-2009, 12:23 AM
When the subject of the common thing that people post about changes on a daily basis you will have more of the membership getting involved. The problem here at Bananas.org is that banana plants just don't change fast enough. I'm a member of a few message boards that have so much traffic I have hard time keeping up, well actually I can't keep up. I'm not so sure we can do anything to bring out the lurkers and keep them posting unless we start creating more drama. People love drama!
Hey Harvey, get a clue would ya!:ha: :drum::drum::drum:
harveyc
04-30-2009, 12:29 AM
Are you picking a fight, buddy???!!!! :ha:
momoese
04-30-2009, 12:35 AM
Oh don't buddy me, I'll buddy you!! :nanawhopp:
harveyc
04-30-2009, 01:14 AM
oooh, drama!
:twonanners: :lurk:
austinl01
04-30-2009, 09:36 AM
Let me eat my popcorn and watch this fight! :lurk::lurk:
I got my feet up for this one too:nanadrink::nanadrink:
CookieCows
04-30-2009, 11:20 AM
Maybe some members just joined out of the need to solve a problem they were having. I don't think you can really get in depth in the threads unless you're a member and possibly they weren't interested in anything else. But they'll remember to come back to where they got their information.
I'm hoping my mother will join sometime this summer. She lives across the US from me in Oregon and I talked her into buying her first nana at the end of last summer and she never took it out of the pot. She's got it sitting outside in the shade now and said she'll plant it in the ground so once it takes off I think she'll be really impressed and get interested. I need to move my cannas and will send her some of those also. I bought those from a member here. I know she'll love them and will compliment her nana.
Another idea... maybe if we do some PMing to some members that we might have had some contact with in the past with buying, selling or whatever that hasn't posted in awhile... to just say hey, how is your garden growing it might brighten their day and get them going again. Sometimes, life just gets in the way!
momoese
04-30-2009, 11:30 AM
Another idea... maybe if we do some PMing to some members that we might have had some contact with in the past with buying, selling or whatever that hasn't posted in awhile... to just say hey, how is your garden growing it might brighten their day and get them going again. Sometimes, life just gets in the way!
That's a good idea!
Tog Tan
04-30-2009, 01:23 PM
One very large (several hundred thousand members, I believe) sends out an e-mail about once or twice a month with the subject line of something such as "Hot Topics at Bananas.org". This obviously is being done to increase participating by members and I know it must be somewhat successful as I'll often see something in the e-mail that interests me and then I get browsing there and get involved in the forum for at least a while.
I think this is a great idea and on top of that maybe a We miss you at the Forum Mass PM when a member is inactive for 6 months or so.
As it is, the regular members who login are having a lot of friendly fun meeting whenever they can for the company and knowledge. Taking this point into account, we should build up the group further by being more friendly towards the new members who try to participate in the forums. I am saying this cos when I first joined, I found it hard to break in to the action but being thick skin and persistent I finally did. However, when someones gets into a friendly group and tries to be too much, I feel we as a friends thingy should tell that person off nicely or through a moderator.
Being a large group is great, but then as in the world, it takes all kinds to make one. Some of the kinds will also try to break one too. We can't please everybody as we can see we do get some friction every now and then. So it boils down to the people who want to learn and have fun here. Let's just have fun and see big it will get. :ha:
saltydad
04-30-2009, 05:00 PM
Interestingly, a local garden group I'm in that focuses on growing trop and semi-trop plants here in the Wash., DC area was started as a Yahoo group. Now it is growing substantially, and even with people applying from Indonesia! So there is the opposite problem of trying to keep the group manageable in size and focused on our home location.
Tog Tan
05-01-2009, 03:37 AM
Here goes my big mouth - do you guys know what is the main problem from this whole forum from an international point of view?
Here's my initial experience when I first joined;
I was looking for info on the Ensete genus, the forum looked real good up front. When I really dug in, I found not much which I can use. Besides this, all the talk is about cold growing, wintering and technical stuff on the actual fert feeding. No, this is not bad. But, it will not appeal to the people from the far east where the musa species and cultivars originated.
Did you notice that whoever joins from my region just comes and peek-a-boo and not seen again? I guess, they find it too orang puteh and not so friendly when they try to get into the discussions. This is my observation from the various posts. Fyi, this is the only forum I am with. Did try 2, but gave up. I find myself repeating what I have said/shown here and on the selfish side, I am not learning anything from them. So I went MIA. I like the camaraderie here and being a loyal kinda person, I am too lazy to start all over again at some other place.
Look at the members' activity here, what do they really do? It's a bad habit that I will put the cursor on the ones logged in and see what interests them. Hey, no invasion of privacy here, it's part of the forum's public access. Here's what I gathered the people do;
Go to photo - I guess visuals do interest people and we have a huge bank of pix.
Searching Forum - By referring to the name, I know these people have an interest to learn more by searching the older threads.
PM - Friendly chat, but mostly looking for opportunities to get stuff thru trade or what not.
A quick assessment of the above activities shows that the members like to See, Learn and Acquire. That is what a society is all about rite, to see new things and learn about them and hope to get new things. If these basic needs are met and kept well, the membership should take care of itself.
Look at this thread, there's only a 110+ views even though it should be an important thread for the benefit of the .org. But not many people are interested. Some take a peek and see the normal guys in it will just go away after reading a bit as it looks like the gang's chat house. The average member only have 1 thing in the head, amuse me not defuse me.
No forum can whet the needs of all the members. So coming back to my earlier post about the friends thingy, it's a great place to hang out and learn. All we can do as the current group of active members is to be responsible towards any untowards incident which may crack this beautiful fabrigege egg.:ha:
harveyc
05-01-2009, 11:02 AM
Doctor Guru Tog, you are correct. :)
Doctor Guru Tog, you are correct. :)
Agreed .......except that it's: Faberge'
Tog Tan
05-01-2009, 11:35 AM
Agreed .......except that it's: Faberge'
Give me a break, Orang Puteh....that's why people from SEA run away...
Ask Lorax to make you a new spell check editor job, you'll do fine. You can even use me as a ref. I think since my Fruiting Drawf incident, you been putting me on spelling surveillance... Time to get out and join another Bob-less forum. :ha:
Ueberwinden
05-01-2009, 11:53 AM
Tog you are not allowed to leave, your kind of like the gene in the bottle.
Michael
Give me a break, Orang Puteh....that's why people from SEA run away...
Ask Lorax to make you a new spell check editor job, you'll do fine. You can even use me as a ref. I think since my Fruiting Drawf incident, you been putting me on spelling surveillance... Time to get out and join another Bob-less forum. :ha:
The funniest is I got a super dwarf cavendish recently to keep in a pot and really did label it "super drawf". It kind of sticks.:ha::ha::ha:
Tog Tan
05-01-2009, 01:02 PM
The funniest is I got a super dwarf cavendish recently to keep in a pot and really did label it "super drawf". It kind of sticks.:ha::ha::ha:
Better patent it and gimme 50% on it. :ha::ha::ha::ha::ha:
lorax
05-01-2009, 01:37 PM
In keeping with not derailing an important thread like this one so obviously is - I love the mass PM idea (although it has to be one of the Mods or Jarred who does it) and I also love the idea of sending emails to inactive members. I think the key will be try and engage them on what they're currently growing - you know, come for the bananas, stay for the community, kind of thing.
Tog Tan
05-01-2009, 02:15 PM
In keeping with not derailing an important thread like this one so obviously is - I love the mass PM idea (although it has to be one of the Mods or Jarred who does it) and I also love the idea of sending emails to inactive members. I think the key will be try and engage them on what they're currently growing - you know, come for the bananas, stay for the community, kind of thing.
Not me! It's Orang Puteh! Ok, I have vented and I am cool..now to serious business..
Beth, the 2 things you mentioned are doable, let's keep that in mind for the proposal to Jarred when he's free to come back.
The other thing I have noticed is that being this is a polite, non-vulgar site, the folks here are very polite. So polite to the point that even though they know a couple of folks in a discussion, they won't join in cos they feel they don't know the others. Now, this idea is a little difficult but it can work;
Each of us do have our own circle of friends from the different forums where we are active. We can use PM to alert them to get into a topic. This will increase the participation. On another level is that we should have spotters who think which are the new members we can get to come in.
I am saying this cos, there was more than once I PM Beth to join in an ass kick. I did PM others too for similar reason, and it worked. This takes a bit of work, but if each does a little, it can go a long way.
In all, it should be our responsibility as the regular core members to do it. Besides roping in others, it goes for the regular gang too. PM each other to join in if a particular person is missing. So...in future, if there's even a very tiny opportunity of a Thread Wreck, don't bloody forget me! :ha::ha::ha: I just had to say it. Can't let things get too serious cos the room will seem to get darker.
Bananaman88
05-01-2009, 03:04 PM
This may be a little off of the main point of this thread, but I'd like to bend everyone's ear on being a little more active with contributing something to the magazine. Please at least consider it. We are currently working on Issue #2 and already it seems like we don't have enough folks working on articles. Beth, correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't we use a little more participation? We're all busy, but if we don't get enough help to spread the workload around a bit, the few who are assisting may burn out quickly and I certainly don't want to see that. Other than that, I love all you guys and think this is the best forum ever-even if Tog is a part of it!
lorax
05-01-2009, 04:17 PM
More is most definitely a good thing! Cīmon folks - contribute!
bepah
05-01-2009, 09:30 PM
Attempting to steer this topic back on course.......
Tog brings up a point which is typical of other forums with regard to climate.
For example, if you live in a tropical climate, you have no interest or expertise in topcis genally focused on cold hardiness or storage over winter. I suppose that I am lucky, as my growing season last about 9 months. I salute anyone who tries to grow tropical plant in climates colder than mine, but to be honest, I have no input when the topics is when should I put my corms in the basement.
If you live in colder climes, tropical talk is only a dream unless you have a hothouse that is climate controlled.
Beginners sometimes can be intimidated by those who have so much knowledge that when they post they may as well be speaking Ancient Greek. thids is not the fault of the poster, these terms may be required in order to convey the point.
To attract more participation, some forums have redone their sub-forums in order to allow readers (and posters) to put a more focused set of topics.
I try to read much of the topics here, as I continue to try to learn something every day.
There are a large number of members here and I agree with Harvey, too little participation. There are also seasonal factors at work here as well. As summer creeps up in the Northern Hemispere (and I am discounting our tropical friends on this point) we spend more time in the garden, using the evening for more social activities in the good weather, which last only a few months a year.
I do have a minor suggestion. It is minor to me, of course, as I won't do any of the work :woohoonaner:
Our webmaster and moderators probably should get together and review the subforums that may direct people to specific areas in which may may have an interest. I do not mean to exclude anyone from any topic, of course, but this may help those who are only interested in specific areas to go to those forums and work in those areas. Here are my suggestions that I provide free of charge.
Tropical and temperate bananas
Cold Hardy Bananas
Newbie Corner (I'll be reading this one all of the time)
Sales and Trades
Other Tropical Plants
Other Plants That Look Tropical
Tiki Hut (non-plant oriented talk)
Thick skinned Forum (for religious, political, and other inflammatory speech)
Meetings and Get Togethers
Recipes (we already have this one!)
I'm sure there are others, but I think a reorganization of the topics might help.
I'll still look at all of the new posts myself, as I am a frequent visitor and less frequent poster.
Now,....go ahead and tear this idea to shreds!!!!!:goteam:
I'm sure
Tog Tan
05-06-2009, 12:41 PM
I feel that what Ante aka Dalmatiansoap's idea on the European Members is a good idea. This gives them the networking to get the plants they want due to their import restrictions. In this way, we have a sub group who will enjoy the sharing of their growing experience more. If you check on the old threads, these poor fellas are always trying to get in or they are just hanging around hoping to get into a decent discussion. With them building up an European sub group, it does enhance the International image of this board. I have suggested to Ante to talk to Jarred about making it one of the permanent forums so that the European newbies can be directed there from the start instead of digging or trying to dig up the thread. They can call it Banana Discussion - European Section. Too bad I can't have enaf blokes from my side to start a Tropical 'Naner Growers sub group to talk Pisang, Kluay, Saging and what not!
Thick skinned Forum (for religious, political, and other inflammatory speech)
Well, bepah, very good suggestions but I feel maybe we can live without the one on politics/religion which may lead to inflammatory speech! :ha:
Tog, I've been thinking about this since you brought up the point without any result till you answered your and my question. How to get more tropical growers posting. Why don't you at least start a thread(not one of your personal experiences necessarily but a general SEA thread or at least one for growers in the tropics. . Then at least when someone does pop in they can be refereed there and maybe feel more at home and stick around. Maybe I'm wrong but it couldn't hurt and maybe will help. At least you and lorax could qualify. Every ball starts rolling somewhere. I'd just like for this to be a real international org. that includes those in warmer climate who don't have to try as hard to get their crop but maybe have other things like culture and disease,etc questions that wouldn't come up from here. Oh well enough of the novel......
Tog Tan
05-06-2009, 02:19 PM
Tog, I've been thinking about this since you brought up the point without any result till you answered your and my question. How to get more tropical growers posting. Why don't you at least start a thread(not one of your personal experiences necessarily but a general SEA thread or at least one for growers in the tropics. . Then at least when someone does pop in they can be refereed there and maybe feel more at home and stick around. Maybe I'm wrong but it couldn't hurt and maybe will help. At least you and lorax could qualify. Every ball starts rolling somewhere. I'd just like for this to be a real international org. that includes those in warmer climate who don't have to try as hard to get their crop but maybe have other things like culture and disease,etc questions that wouldn't come up from here. Oh well enough of the novel......
Hey Bob, I think that if we divide the 'naner growing regions, it should be;
1. USA
2. Europe
3. South America
4. SEA
If you look at it, each area has its peculiar growing conditions and cultivars. The thing is not me or anybody starting a thread on a region. If it's a regular thread, it will get buried after a while and someone has to be on the watch to dig it out. Did you notice me popping the European thread on the newbie, Patrick, and he immediately went in and registered? What I am saying is that someone has to be on the lookout all the time to do this, and it is not practical. It has to be visually there for the new members to notice.
Maybe we should have a question in the membership application asking where the new member is from and asking him/her to register in their respective region. This is a record which also will gives the members confidence in numbers of their own type/kind.
Then there should be a distinct forum for #2, #3 and #4, where the members can ask questions pertaining to their region. Others can also participate and learn from the discussions of that region's problems or interesting subjects. Well, they can talk some in their own language if they feel more comfy cos as I have noted from one of the active members here on personal comm, he says he would like to join in the threads but his English holds him back.
I would love a forum on my region so that I can do a data base on the cultivars' similarity.
damaclese
05-06-2009, 02:25 PM
Not me! It's Orang Puteh! Ok, I have vented and I am cool..now to serious business..
Beth, the 2 things you mentioned are doable, let's keep that in mind for the proposal to Jarred when he's free to come back.
The other thing I have noticed is that being this is a polite, non-vulgar site, the folks here are very polite. So polite to the point that even though they know a couple of folks in a discussion, they won't join in cos they feel they don't know the others. Now, this idea is a little difficult but it can work;
Each of us do have our own circle of friends from the different forums where we are active. We can use PM to alert them to get into a topic. This will increase the participation. On another level is that we should have spotters who think which are the new members we can get to come in.
I am saying this cos, there was more than once I PM Beth to join in an ass kick. I did PM others too for similar reason, and it worked. This takes a bit of work, but if each does a little, it can go a long way.
In all, it should be our responsibility as the regular core members to do it. Besides roping in others, it goes for the regular gang too. PM each other to join in if a particular person is missing. So...in future, if there's even a very tiny opportunity of a Thread Wreck, don't bloody forget me! :ha::ha::ha: I just had to say it. Can't let things get too serious cos the room will seem to get darker.
But Tog why would any one need to PM you LOL just kiding! some times i just such a smart ass i cant help it!
Dalmatiansoap
05-06-2009, 02:27 PM
Folks, I belive this kind of "threading" can raise a bit of internationall spirit here. Most posters here doesnt go for the fact that many members here arent from USA and that there is a big bunch of "stupid" problems that is hard for us to solve. Look only at naner growing culture, my luck is that midlleages are fare back behind us now, couse many peoples here will done some wich hunthing :ha::ha: U cannot imagine looks on faces whan I told my neighboughs that im planting naners:ha::ha:
Wierd? Not to me.
:woohoonaner:
Tog Tan
05-06-2009, 02:35 PM
But Tog why would any one need to PM you LOL just kiding! some times i just such a smart ass i cant help it!
Paulo, the known Thread Wreckers;
Scot is often absent minded and forgets about me.
Lorax gets so involved, she won't do it.
Bob thinks he's not one, so he won't PM me and get legally linked as one.
Howard, he just like to sit on the side and watch though itching to get in but won't since he's in the good guy category.
Well, I would love to go on and do a little wrecking here but this little is enough to lighten things up on a serious discussion....:ha::ha::ha:
So back to business!
damaclese
05-06-2009, 03:01 PM
Hey Bob, I think that if we divide the 'naner growing regions, it should be;
1. USA
2. Europe
3. South America
4. SEA
If you look at it, each area has its peculiar growing conditions and cultivars. The thing is not me or anybody starting a thread on a region. If it's a regular thread, it will get buried after a while and someone has to be on the watch to dig it out. Did you notice me popping the European thread on the newbie, Patrick, and he immediately went in and registered? What I am saying is that someone has to be on the lookout all the time to do this, and it is not practical. It has to be visually there for the new members to notice.
Maybe we should have a question in the membership application asking where the new member is from and asking him/her to register in their respective region. This is a record which also will gives the members confidence in numbers of their own type/kind.
Then there should be a distinct forum for #2, #3 and #4, where the members can ask questions pertaining to their region. Others can also participate and learn from the discussions of that region's problems or interesting subjects. Well, they can talk some in their own language if they feel more comfy cos as I have noted from one of the active members here on personal comm, he says he would like to join in the threads but his English holds him back.
I would love a forum on my region so that I can do a data base on the cultivars' similarity.
Tog this is not a criticism but isn't that kinda complicated? if you look at for example Dave's Garden forum one of the largest gardening web sites out there that i know of the way they Handel all of this is they have a news letter sent out two times a month in it there are short 1/2 page essays on varies topics nothing to involved any one can contribute but it is edited and controlled by there board of volunteer moderators i know i Waite every two weeks for it to come and most of my participation in the board is based on the things i see in there news letter I'm not saying that is the way we should go but its something to considerer i find in life that nothing is ever one way its mostly a mix of all sorts of facts
O and i only just found this thread so i would have participated sooner but i must have missed it there was a period of a month or so i took a brake from the org its was getting to be monotonous to me that was during the spider mite faze no offense to any one passionate about spider mites there a B$%^ i know!
Iv kinda skirted around this but it applies to this thread i think one of the reasons i go threw not participating is that some times people are merciless with the need to pin every fact and dot every eye and in doing so they make those of us that are interested but trying to be some what light hearted feel like we are criminals for getting something wrong or making a mist step those are the things that make people not want to hang around you cant change the subject mater this is after all Bananas.org by its vary nature its a limited subject which tends to appeal in the OCD sect which i include my self in so please don't PM me about the OCD comment i think the vast majority of people come here because it sounds interesting but after a wail they realize they have broader interest and just move on could you imagine what the ORG would be like if we had say even 500 people are making regaler comments on even 20% of the threads it would be mass hysteria so really the point is i don't believe that there need to be any thing done at all its a nice board with a pretty smoothly flowing thread count compared to other chat sites
why mess with a good thing and if you want to clear out the registry of non participating members do what the other sites do send out a Email requiring the recipient to click on a link to reconfirm there membership desire
damaclese
05-06-2009, 03:17 PM
o an even thoue my last comment was enough to put most of you to sleep or piss you off depending i forgot one last point it doesn't mater were you live if the zone fits then it fits so if i live in zone 9 and some guy in Italy is zone 9 then what I'm going threw is what hes probably going threw or will go threw this tendency to think that just because the vast majority of B.orgers are American is a bunch of bull thats being in a way racist what it dose require is that we have to learn what the difference in regions are and be sensible and apply what fits to your home growing not that all the Europeans or south Americans get to get together in some sort of segregated thread that just ridiculous and non inclusive and speaks to the vary hart of what we are about and that is that we are family and we help each other out i think are motto souled be JUST ASK FOR HELP i know some times theirs a speech problem but you cant salve ever problem some things just have to be
Pauly , you don't piss anyone off...ever..it's that personality. If you look at the one statement Tog made about someone who wasn't comfortable in English though this makes perfect sense to direct people to a forum more condusive to talking with ones peers. We can all communicate in English well enough and can do it with folks from all over. Still for my own gardening benefit and pleasure it would be nice to "spy" on what the Asians are doing ....I'd just ask Tog, I could spy on the European factor by asking Ante..I'd really like to know what people are doing in Africa and India as well. We just had a woman join from beautiful South Africa and I regret not paying more attention to bananas there. Although the native aloes caught my eye. (Anyone growing A. Polyphylla?)The more the merrier and if we can get non english speaking people to join , hopefully in great numbers it's better for us all. Not to mention the cool pictures we'd be getting. It's win/win for everyone.
TT: you may THINK I'm a thread wrecker but if you look back it's usually Cause someone's brought up food or drink first and I just can't help it. If you were a little more intuitive when you looked at my pictures posted , there is a faint halo hovering around my head!:waving:
Tog Tan
05-06-2009, 03:43 PM
TT: you may THINK[/B] I'm a thread wrecker but if you look back it's usually Cause someone's brought up food or drink first and I just can't help it. If you were a little more intuitive when you looked at my pictures posted , there is a [B]faint halo hovering around my head!:waving:
Sorry then, I thought it was some kind of stain on the pix. You know dirty camera lens sort of thing. :ha:
harveyc
05-06-2009, 08:03 PM
I personally would prefer not to see forums broke out by global regions, etc. because, as Pauly indicated, many of us have similar climates (i.e., I've been chatting with Kalabrian in southern Italy and with Dr. Parmar about the Hill Banana of India).
Paulo, as Bob said, your comments don't contain anything that should upset anybody. If I understand you correctly, your experience with the forums at Dave's Garden with their e-mail newsletter is an endorsement of the idea I started out this thread with. I think it would be worth a try if some volunteers would help write it up (maybe a hot topic or a few from each sub-forum could be covered by someone different?).
There are certainly some posts which can be offensive, though I don't know it's usually been bad enough for someone to withhold commenting, but you may be correct about that. Maybe instead of having a "thanks" button we should have an anonymous rating for each post. If someone is getting some negative ratings, that might be a clue to them to tone it down. Maybe our wizard Jarred could even program the forum to give someone a time-out (30 minute, 4 hour, or whatever suspension) if they get a specified number of negative ratings in a certain period of time. Just a thought (not necessarily a good one, I've just dreamt it up! LOL).
I think our forums run pretty well so I don't know that we need to change anything, but sending out a periodic (monthly, semi-monthly) e-mail out to folks about "hot topics" might bring in greater participation, more ideas, etc. Just more-around fun, okay??!!
Cheers,
Harvey
Caloosamusa
05-06-2009, 08:08 PM
The rating for each post would be an awesome idea Harvey! The feedback could be beneficial for all involved!! :2239:
lorax
05-06-2009, 09:33 PM
If they made a "South America" section, I'd be the only active member in it....
damaclese
05-06-2009, 09:34 PM
well all good points!
when i said that part about non English speaking i did not think that quite threw and i can see how that would be a deterrent to any one wishing to join but i would like to point out that if you are searching the net for Bananas in a different tung other then English its unlikely that Bananas.org would come up unless you have your browser set up for multi language searches but not many people do or even know how to do that but apparently thats not always the case as we do have people on the org that seem to struggle with English but and heres sorta a repeat of my previous statement not to be Calais just what are we to do to help non English speaking people I'm not sure the segregating of regions would benefit the org more then it would hurt look guy and gals one of the biggest problems in the world today are people thinking both nationally and also separately "mostly because of religion" i cant personally endorse any segregating of any kind it feels counterproductive to the concept of bring people together of like minds for the mutual enjoyment and plain opportunity to exchange thoughts and cultures of varying people i get off on that kind of thing i need it and i want it in my chat groups its one of the biggest parts of why i think we like the INTERNET to begin with don't you all think?
bepah
05-06-2009, 09:39 PM
The rating for each post would be an awesome idea Harvey! The feedback could be beneficial for all involved!! :2239:
Rating posts WILL NOT increase the number of people that will participate, which is what I thought was the purpose of this thread. In what way would rating a person's post make them want to continue to post?
People as a rule, do not like or want to be rated (how would you feel if one of your posts were poorly rated, especially if you were a newcomer).
Review your purpose before you make suggestions that will have disastrous results. The law of unintended consequences will rear its ugly head and the forum will have a tremendous setback.....
For me, ease of use, access to information I need or want, and pleasant conversation are what would bring me back. All of the other is just diversion.
This topic seems to have a real problem of staying on purpose.
harveyc
05-06-2009, 09:52 PM
Rating posts WILL NOT increase the number of people that will participate, which is what I thought was the purpose of this thread. In what way would rating a person's post make them want to continue to post?
People as a rule, do not like or want to be rated (how would you feel if one of your posts were poorly rated, especially if you were a newcomer).
Review your purpose before you make suggestions that will have disastrous results. The law of unintended consequences will rear its ugly head and the forum will have a tremendous setback.....
For me, ease of use, access to information I need or want, and pleasant conversation are what would bring me back. All of the other is just diversion.
This topic seems to have a real problem of staying on purpose.
John, I suggest you consider your comments for unintended consequences before making them.
As I mentioned in my post, the reasoning why this MIGHT work is because some people are put off by rude comments of others and then just avoid posting. Just perhaps, as I suggested, someone might tone down their comments if they saw they were receiving negative ratings for their rude posts.
I had a career in reviewing activities and cause and effect relationships daily, so I believe there is some merit to this idea.
Harvey
lorax
05-06-2009, 10:36 PM
Calm. The. Frick. Down. Boys.
All of the suggestions in this thread are valid because they are just that - SUGGESTIONS. Some may have more merit than others in the end, but the point of this thread is to float ideas, not to pick at each other. Such, your nitting and picking is serving no purpose.
This said, I like the idea of sending out a digest of the week's pertinent posts to members, kind of like the IAS does with Aroid-L. I know I sure appreciate it. However, somebody else would have to do it; my hands are full with the Magazine.
harveyc
05-06-2009, 10:44 PM
I'm calm, Beth, but good points as usual. I really don't think you're a snot, btw. ;)
lorax
05-06-2009, 10:46 PM
I'm just saying - don't make me be the voice of reason. Y'all are older than I am, and hopefully old enough to know better.
CookieCows
05-06-2009, 11:01 PM
.... the point is i don't believe that there need to be any thing done at all its a nice board with a pretty smoothly flowing thread count compared to other chat sites
why mess with a good thing and if you want to clear out the registry of non participating members do what the other sites do send out a Email requiring the recipient to click on a link to reconfirm there membership desire
Bingo! I think it's a nice, active forum that embraces new members quickly. Even though we don't hear from all the banana gurus on a daily basis, if someone cries out for some serious help they step in which means that the threads are being read. Sometimes the subject matter just doesn't require everyone to respond and people are busy. IMO I don't think there is any cause for concern. :lurk:
Deb
Tog Tan
05-06-2009, 11:27 PM
If they made a "South America" section, I'd be the only active member in it....
Well then Beth, I should be the only 1 in SEA section though, but truly my dear people, I am very frustrated in not having the networking like y'all in the US. The reason I joined the board is my genuine interest in 'naner species and then I found that it basically points back to my region as it is where they are found. I find that I can't get any info on the cultivars from my region due to nada participation from the folks here. I mean I would love to learn about my own region, but I just can't. I take peeks at the European thread and they seem happy to have found each other though most have been around for sometime.
The rating for each post would be an awesome idea Harvey! The feedback could be beneficial for all involved!! :2239:
Hey Ken, looks like all the Thread Wreckers are gonna serve time! :ha:
Growing Zones; Yes I do agree with Paulo on that it does not matter where you are as long as the zones are rated the same in clime, etc., technically speaking, that is... However, did you notice some of the posts on the FHIA-23 that even if you have a similar zone for it, it does not work out that well? I don't know what zone I am in but I think due to the peculiarities of the cultivars here, they may not do well in a similar zone over at your place. Do y'all realise that though there are some Indian and Thai cultivars in the US/European market, but there are none from M'sia and Indon? Why do you think most of the Tropical species originated from my region? Especially the Callimusa. Eumusa, Australimusa and Rhodoclamys have a wider range but not the Callimusa. What I am trying to highlight is that though zones may be alike but the micro part of it is a totally different thing.
This comes to an interesting part I would like to put forth;
There is an old thread on the pronunciation of the Chinese word, Xihuabanensis. All the Orang Puteh trying their best but none got it right. :ha:
Another is the question on the Thai Danee. It was a dead end thread.
There weren't any active member from SEA then, now, it's me, only me. Point here is where would y'all ask a SEA question if you have one? Well, I would put it as dropping a line at the SEA Section. I am not trying to segregate the board but to give the International more credibility. We joined to have fun, yes, but isn't it the quest for knowledge which brought us here in the first place?
Ahhhh....:ha::ha::ha: Oi! I just want to have a contact/networking point to learn about my own region. As you can see here, there are 2 school of thoughts here - #1 if it works, why bother - #2 doing more to improve it. Please re-read the title of the topic again, it seem to say Increasing membership participation! The point here is we are trying to increase the participation, not just let it be. Parting line is, I will not go start a SEA Banana Society cos this is the International Banana Society.
harveyc
05-06-2009, 11:30 PM
Beth, you're saying I'm not using reason and nitting and picking and I don't believe any of that is the case. I floated an idea, John didn't like it and said why, and I defended my idea. That's it. I know the point of the thread. I started it, after all.
Deb, the idea of greater participation is to get help from more people, etc. For instance, if I'm asking if anyone has seen a particular cultivar in zone 9 before, it's much more helpful that more eyes see my question. There may very well be someone growing something I'm looking for right near me but they've been absent from the forums for a bit. A digest e-mail might entice them to come back for a visit.
Paulo, I can't think of any forums I belong to which do what you're taking about (require I confirm my interest in the forum). I do get "digest" e-mails from about 3 of the 20 or so forums I belong to, with the largest and most organized forum sending me e-mails every week or two. I thought it was only once or twice a month but, since I started this thread, I think I've received two of those digest e-mails.
I also belong to about 10 or so Yahoo groups. One group I belong to is quite active and I once proposed that we convert to a forum. While some people liked the idea, some did not. The main reason for people saying that they don't like forums is that they don't bother to go visit the forum and check out what's being discussed. In a Yahoo (or other) group, all the messages are delivered right to their e-mail inbox (either individual e-mails or a daily digest, unless they've chosen to have web only viewing of messages). Sending out a periodic digest helps add some of the advantages of groups to a forum. It involves no "change" to the forum but does require someone to prepare the digest. It can be as much or little work as someone chooses.
Peace and love to all (seriously),
Harvey
harveyc
05-06-2009, 11:36 PM
Hey, Tog, I think your neighbors just take bananas for granted and they get no respect there, so they don't bother joining a forum on bananas. I would never think of joining a forum on Bermuda Grass even though I've got it growing all around me! I've also got fennel growing wild around me and I don't give a fennel forum any thought. You might be a bit lonely, but your participation here is much appreciated. I promise: if I move over there and become your neighbor, I'll not only buy some plants from you, but also chat with you on bananas.org! :ha:
CookieCows
05-06-2009, 11:42 PM
I see what you're saying Harvey.
Tog Tan
05-06-2009, 11:43 PM
On the lighter side I agree with what Harv said, here we are just floating ideas and hope by the end of it have a couple of do-able ideas to present to Jarred. Please let's not get personal here.
If the new ideas are good and implemented, we will get more hits on the net on anything involving bananas.
Forums are great if you look at the history of it. It was at the Forum where great policies and nations came into being. However, it was also at the forum where Julius Caesar had the most hits!!!:ha::ha::ha:
Hey, Tog, I think your neighbors just take bananas for granted and they get no respect there, so they don't bother joining a forum on bananas. I would never think of joining a forum on Bermuda Grass even though I've got it growing all around me! I've also got fennel growing wild around me and I don't give a fennel forum any thought. You might be a bit lonely, but your participation here is much appreciated. I promise: if I move over there and become your neighbor, I'll not only buy some plants from you, but also chat with you on bananas.org! :ha:
Couldn't have said it better. So now I'm wondering what for example would interest me in joining say an apple or pear discussion. Wouldn't have thought about it on my own except for this thread. Then it came to me: I used to be a member of the seed savers exchange when searching for heirloom tomatoes and was for a few years actually became really interested in heirloom cultivars of many common fruits and other crops because of what I learned from their journal. The only thing preventing me from more participation was a lack of growing space. In fact at the time I didn't own any of my own property and wouldn't bother with too many things that I couldn't keep in a pot or grow in a season. Bottom line though is to interest tropical growers who may take for granted what they have, maybe there needs to be some form of education/ information readily available so that people can take some special pride in certain local and regional cultivars that may have just been taken for granted. I can't do it but we can all help even if only by adding some pics and personal notes to the wiki which I guess would be a start. I forgot which post at the moment but Tog had mentioned how a lot of us should be documenting and photographing growth habits etc. so that we are more able to identify certain varieties throughout their lifespan without running right to Gabe for example. Making information available and getting it to indigenous peoples in all the tropics is key. .......... ok sorry about the novel.
damaclese
05-07-2009, 09:28 AM
Harvey
the sites that i belong to mite not been polite to discus but a number of them do this periodic cleaning of there ranks band width is exspesiv and so is data storage
Tog
i dint go in to the particulars of zone for expedience my replies tend to be wordy as it is yes just because you in zone 9 like me dose not take in to account total climate after all my zone 9 is Mediterranean so say some one in the lower coastal region of Italy would have a much wetter climate and also altitude plays a big factor i just thought you all would know this so i didn't put it in for the sake of brevity
also Tog many of the aspects of what you are talking about as far as the SEA species are already in the forum we have the section on Banana species which would cover all of the aspects of what you want in your forum also take some of those banana Bucks you all are hording and make a thread thats sticky jarred will do that if its a good thread so as i see it its not broking in the first place you just have to use the tools that we already have i think this is one of the better thought out chat sites
Beth thank you for your support LOL Kiss!
thank you all for listening to my rantings i know i sound like a broken record (for those of you to young to know what that is its way before your time so I'm not going to tell you LOL)
i was thinking that the news letter would not really have to have any articles in it some one could just pick throw the threads and make a really short one or two line synopsis of the thread thats more then enough to peak interest
Dalmatiansoap
05-07-2009, 10:09 AM
thank you all for listening to my rantings i know i sound like a broken record (for those of you to young to know what that is its way before your time so I'm not going to tell you LOL)
Well, U do sounds a bit like my last Alice Cooper LP. LOL
:woohoonaner:
Tog Tan
05-20-2009, 10:25 AM
Increasing membership participation - Let's us get back into this interesting discussion as cool headed adults. I think we should keep the topic in mind in this thread. Somewhere along the line, it was getting to the point of increasing membership(not participation) and the inability to cater to everyone's needs.
Every big corporation (even the smaller ones) have a PR dept. Countries have the Foreign Affair Ministries. Why? It is to increase the interest/participation of that particular establishment. As I have said earlier, it is up to the core members to spot eager new members to get them involved in the discussions. This I feel is a way to increase their participation which is overall participation. A few of us are the chatty and friendlier types, and we can get together and form a sort of unofficial PR dept acting as PR Officers to identify these people. It takes work, but I feel it is worth it.
I personally would prefer not to see forums broke out by global regions, etc.
I think our forums run pretty well so I don't know that we need to change anything, but sending out a periodic (monthly, semi-monthly) e-mail out tofolks about "hot topics" might bring in greater participation, more ideas, etc. Just more-around fun, okay??!!
Cheers,
Harvey
Harv, Jarred has already implemented the European Section Forum. Now the boy/gals there are happy to discuss their own problems and also to increase their networking in respect to their import limitations. With the sub sections, we can also do a friendly competition to increase membership and participation to see how well each section grows which also accounts to the overall growth of IBS.
Pauly , you don't piss anyone off...ever..it's that personality. If you look at the one statement Tog made about someone who wasn't comfortable in English though this makes perfect sense to direct people to a forum more condusive to talking with ones peers. We can all communicate in English well enough and can do it with folks from all over. Still for my own gardening benefit and pleasure it would be nice to "spy" on what the Asians are doing ....I'd just ask Tog, I could spy on the European factor by asking Ante..I'd really like to know what people are doing in Africa and India as well. We just had a woman join from beautiful South Africa and I regret not paying more attention to bananas there. Although the native aloes caught my eye. (Anyone growing A. Polyphylla?)The more the merrier and if we can get non english speaking people to join , hopefully in great numbers it's better for us all. Not to mention the cool pictures we'd be getting. It's win/win for everyone.
I like the idea of sub section as it enables the members from that area to pool their resources. Imagine, if I were to ship a variety of cultivars to the US, it will be easier for me to source out the varieties through a net work and to do it on my own. In this way, we can easily increase our material wealth of 'naner species/cultivars in a very short time.
The other point is in getting info on the cultivar/species of that region.
I agree with the point about people not having any interest in 'naner growing from my region. I am positive that there is more than just me from SEA who has an interest in this. New members from SEA are in a way shocked (like me in the beginning) to see nothing on this board which they can relate to. Everything is about wintering and cultivars which we are not familiar with.
Harvey
also Tog many of the aspects of what you are talking about as far as the SEA species are already in the forum we have the section on Banana species which would cover all of the aspects of what you want in your forum also take some of those banana Bucks you all are hording and make a thread thats sticky jarred will do that if its a good thread so as i see it its not broking in the first place you just have to use the tools that we already have i think this is one of the better thought out chat sites
Pauly, sad to say, the Species Forum at the time I joined only covered the well known commonly available/established species. I scoured through it many times trying to find out more but I only managed to skim the surface in terms of knowledge. I found the International Banana Society which is a relief to me as its name relates to me a wealth of knowledge on 'naner worldwide being International. I wanted to find out first and foremost about 'naner cultivars and species from my country and it drew a blank. Technically, it did not serve the purpose of what I had expected.
The most confusing thing is to look into the Photo Gallery for Species 'Naners. Many hybrids and cultivars are in there, not only that, sometimes cultivars were posted in the Species Forum. It only serves to confuse a beginner and to the scour of a seasoned keeper.
We have to admit that banana cultivation and species comes from your other side of the world and any information will have to come out of that area. Aren't we all here to learn and isn't it evident that questions are always the topics? I have spoken to Hakkinen and he said he went into 'naners as part of his research on food cultivars. In his course of research, he discovered many new species in SEA which were taken for granted by the locals. However with his direction, the locals like the Mainland Chinese and Kalu Meekiong have taken the research further as in the case of the most recent independent discovery and description of Musa juwiniana by Kalu.
In conclusion, from my point of view, there is two way to look at this;
Let the society be a happy casual 'naner discussion site or to take the responsibility to build it to greater heights with lots of hard work and dedication by members who are committed to it.
Ah, remember, these are suggestions for Increasing membership participation. :ha:
damaclese
05-20-2009, 11:47 AM
well if you put it that way LOL all good points Tog i don't have all the answers if people want it then let them have it Live and let Live i guess
is still rather be a casual site thats all inclusive. as far as beginners go often i feel we mis the point with them Bananas are not hard to grow as a mater of fact id say there some of the easiest plants i have i think in an effort to educate we often confuse but after all the Org is not a book of how too's its made up of vastly differing peoples from all different cultures for my part I'm going to recommit my self to listening allot of times i just don't answer post because the are simply to basic and i don't want to look like a know it all answering every post with my opinion and as iv said in the past my no nonsense approach to gardening some times has garnered me critical responses theirs just so much to say on the subject perhaps a better way of doing it would be for some one to research all the good threads and move then in to logical sections that any one could see right off the bat the how to's so so to speak
what do you all think about that its already here its just kinda a disorganized mess if you ask me
Dalmatiansoap
05-20-2009, 02:49 PM
This forum isnt any more only about naner growing. Now it has internationall touch and that is what is fascinating here. Grrrh.., hate my english, want to say much more but I just cannot express myself in the way I would like. Members do participate in all segments awaileblle, socials, cultular, even economics and all that in good will and good spirit.
I belive in people!
:woohoonaner:
Jack Daw
05-20-2009, 03:18 PM
This forum isnt any more only about naner growing. Now it has internationall touch and that is what is fascinating here. Grrrh.., hate my english, want to say much more but I just cannot express myself in the way I would like. Members do participate in all segments awaileblle, socials, cultular, even economics and all that in good will and good spirit.
I belive in people!
:woohoonaner:
That is the beauty, but in the end, no solutions (except for those banana related) are found, so it's just about social touch with people.
The problem is, that the population of people, who are fascinated by bananas is small and getting still smaller. The reasons are either unavailability of plants, plant stereotype (somewhere grow bananas naturally)... many people simply grow their naners and might not even know what it is.
The forum is just as good as it is, maybe some new sectioning and other stuff, but generally, the more you will want to press people into communication, the more will they resist.
It just must come naturally, like with us, ey, guys? ;) :D
Cheers
saltydad
05-20-2009, 03:25 PM
A suggestion to float out there. Since Facebook has so many people on it, maybe we could have a Facebook page. I have no idea how this is done (I only joined at my son's insistence), but this would increase our exposure tremendously. Some would be casual friends, but possibly some would end up joining the org as devoted members once they see what a likable and knowledgeable group we are. There might even be some folk out there who don't even know they want to grow bananas yet!
Jack Daw
05-20-2009, 03:36 PM
A suggestion to float out there. Since Facebook has so many people on it, maybe we could have a Facebook page. I have no idea how this is done (I only joined at my son's insistence), but this would increase our exposure tremendously. Some would be casual friends, but possibly some would end up joining the org as devoted members once they see what a likable and knowledgeable group we are. There might even be some folk out there who don't even know they want to grow bananas yet!
Precisely what this site doesn't need... It would just raise the numbers, but in the end, the only communicating would still be done by us. ;) The problem also is the language you know, not all the world's growers can speak English. But to make this site multilingual? It would lose the key factor - understanding. So it's back to square one. Sorry to be pessimistic, but as a programmer I've seen several forums undergo such changes and it never turned out to be good. The change must come spontaniously.
Dalmatiansoap
05-20-2009, 03:39 PM
The change must come spontaniously.
That s the point, just like my snails drinking beer right now :)
:woohoonaner:
saltydad
05-20-2009, 03:55 PM
Precisely what this site doesn't need... It would just raise the numbers, but in the end, the only communicating would still be done by us. ;) The problem also is the language you know, not all the world's growers can speak English. But to make this site multilingual? It would lose the key factor - understanding. So it's back to square one. Sorry to be pessimistic, but as a programmer I've seen several forums undergo such changes and it never turned out to be good. The change must come spontaniously.
Actually, I respectfully disagree with this point strongly. I feel we (the org) exist somewhat in a closed world, one only open to those with a demonstrated interest in growing bananas already. An opportunity to open up to new members would be beneficial. I fully expect that for every 100 lookups only 10 or so would take the next step to view the org, and maybe only half of those would either join and participate or lurk for a while before joining. I understand that this may be more about increasing the potential membership base, and that many (most?) would not be as active as we are initially. Eventually, however, I believe a 5% addition to our active membership would be beneficial. Whether it be by Facebook or some other means is certainly worthy of discussion. The goal here in this thread is discussion and the floating of ideas, and the reactions to them both positive and negative. In other words Jack, I'm glad for your reply, and solicit others, both yea and nay and new. We only stand to benefit from the discussion. Thanks Tog for pushing this out here.
The language issue is an important one. However, I don't see an obvious way around English, at least initially. As they say that English is now the international language of science, this may not be an insurmountable problem. Chinese or other languages would be fascinating to contemplate in opening up a new world area to the org, but how to do this I'm not sure, This might be a topic more in line with a subsection discussion for the geographical areas.
damaclese
05-20-2009, 05:36 PM
i know garred could add a button at the top of each post that lets you translate sounds simple enough to me
lorax
05-20-2009, 05:44 PM
Sounds simple, Pauly, but it's actually quite difficult to get a good translator to work that way. Especially with us, and our varied styles of speech.
damaclese
05-20-2009, 05:54 PM
Sounds simple, Pauly, but it's actually quite difficult to get a good translator to work that way. Especially with us, and our varied styles of speech.
well it was a thought
Scuba_Dave
05-20-2009, 06:07 PM
Until I stumbled across this site in a search I had never considered growing bananas. I have a ton of perennial plants & quite a few indoor plants
I frequent a lot of DIY sites due to the addition & work on my house. (2) of these there isn't much participation/new people - so I may not be going there too much. There is a 3rd one that has lots of people, lots of posts. A 4th is mostly for plumbers it seems, but some colorful people make it interesting to visit each day
I used to be on saltwater forums a lot. One decided they didn't like "off-topic" postings, I stopped going to their site. Another I just stopped going for a while, my tank is in limbo until the addition is completed
I'm also on a few Christmas sites, but that is now only "in-season" from maybe October (Halloween) thru beginning of Jan
I can see how this site may be seasonal as a Northern grower
But as long as I can learn the correct way to grow & take care of nanas I'll be around. I'm hoping my greenhouse will work over the winter, but I'll have to see how it goes
isn't it "sound like a skipping CD" these days ? :ha:
harveyc
05-20-2009, 06:19 PM
Harv, Jarred has already implemented the European Section Forum. Now the boy/gals there are happy to discuss their own problems and also to increase their networking in respect to their import limitations. With the sub sections, we can also do a friendly competition to increase membership and participation to see how well each section grows which also accounts to the overall growth of IBS.
I've seen that, but doesn't mean I like the idea of it and I don't believe it increases overall membership participation. You can continue to break down the forum into maybe 100 sub-forums and what do you end up with? A confusing arrangement that will likely scare off any new members. In addition, you'd have just a handful of members, or less, in many cases communicating with one another in a sub-forum instead of having a discussion in a forum which is viewed by more people and a wider variety of views on a subject being expressed. I haven't poked my nose into the European forum but would not be surprised if things have been discussed there which I could have contributed some information on, but I would feel like an intruder there. So my participation has been discouraged. Sub-forums end up excluding participation more than encouraging participation, in my opinion. We can create a sub-forum of banana growing in zip code 95651 and I can just communicate with myself mentally and never post a thing.
I realize that there can be some benefit to having sub-forums since it makes it easier for someone with a particular interest to find what they are looking for but, even then, a particular subject can often overlap into many different areas.
I like the idea of sub section as it enables the members from that area to pool their resources. Imagine, if I were to ship a variety of cultivars to the US, it will be easier for me to source out the varieties through a net work and to do it on my own. In this way, we can easily increase our material wealth of 'naner species/cultivars in a very short time.
Exactly how will a sub-forum accomplish that? I don't believe it's fair to assume you will actually attract more SEA members by having an area devoted to that region of the world. How will SEA members know what USA members are interested in if they just chat in a SEA sub-forum? How will USA members know what's available if these selections are being talked about in just the SEA sub-forum?
Certainly there will be people posting in multiple areas but very few people will take the time to visit each sub-forum and that, in my opinion, decreases overall participation. As it is, there are discussions in the Cold Hardy Bananas, Container Grown Banana Plants, and others that I never see because I visit those sub-forums infrequently since I find plenty that interests me in the Main Banana Discussion. Yet, I have interests in many of the things being discussed in those other sub-forums.
am positive that there is more than just me from SEA who has an interest in this. New members from SEA are in a way shocked (like me in the beginning) to see nothing on this board which they can relate to. Everything is about wintering and cultivars which we are not familiar with.
Overall, only a little of the discussion here at IBS is about overwintering of bananas and most of it is in the Cold Hardy Bananas section. During certain times of the year there is more of it as people face the challenges of very cold weather and then in the spring when they report how their storage methods worked. About the only banana I'll dig up and store in my greenhouse will be an Ae Ae and perhaps a few other uncommon ones that would be hard for me to replace. I have no plans to store bananas in my crawl space, attic, etc. but don't mind seeing a post about it even though its not something I can related to. Seeing such posts does not decrease my participation. Seeing a post that I am interested in does increase my participation, however. Again, if a post which would be of interest to me is posted in a forum I don't visit, my participation and that of many others is decreased.
Pauly, sad to say, the Species Forum at the time I joined only covered the well known commonly available/established species. I scoured through it many times trying to find out more but I only managed to skim the surface in terms of knowledge. I found the International Banana Society which is a relief to me as its name relates to me a wealth of knowledge on 'naner worldwide being International. I wanted to find out first and foremost about 'naner cultivars and species from my country and it drew a blank. Technically, it did not serve the purpose of what I had expected.
The most confusing thing is to look into the Photo Gallery for Species 'Naners. Many hybrids and cultivars are in there, not only that, sometimes cultivars were posted in the Species Forum. It only serves to confuse a beginner and to the scour of a seasoned keeper.
People posting into wrong sections will always happen and creating more sub-forums will not decrease the degree to which this takes place, IMHO. That can only be corrected with very active moderators to straighten things out. I hereby nominate Tog as our next new moderator!!!
We have to admit that banana cultivation and species comes from your other side of the world and any information will have to come out of that area. Aren't we all here to learn and isn't it evident that questions are always the topics? I have spoken to Hakkinen and he said he went into 'naners as part of his research on food cultivars. In his course of research, he discovered many new species in SEA which were taken for granted by the locals. However with his direction, the locals like the Mainland Chinese and Kalu Meekiong have taken the research further as in the case of the most recent independent discovery and description of Musa juwiniana by Kalu.
I don't believe for a second that any information about banana growing must come out of SEA. There are practices in SEA that will not work in my climate and the experiences of others with similar challenges is of great importance to me.
At the same time, I'm fascinated by the possibility of trying some of the 40-day bananas from the Philippines as I might be able to grow them as annuals here. There are many practices in Asia which I have also found useful and interesting. But I also find Mark Hill's comments about his tunnel growing of bananas interesting and useful.
In conclusion, from my point of view, there is two way to look at this;
Let the society be a happy casual 'naner discussion site or to take the responsibility to build it to greater heights with lots of hard work and dedication by members who are committed to it.
Ah, remember, these are suggestions for Increasing membership participation. :ha:
There are many ways to look at this and different ways to try to increase membership participation. I would enjoy more participation by growers from SEA but honestly don't believe increasing the number of sub-forums will help. I believe we have way too many sub-forums as it is.
As I write, I see that there are 45 people viewing the Main Banana Discussion, 18 viewing the Tiki Hut, 15 at Other Plants, 7 each at Banana Recipes and Species Bananas, 6 at Cold Hardy Bananas, 6 at Banana Identification, and all the others are 0 to 3. There is only 1 person at the European Section. You could very well be the only one viewing/posting at the SEA section much of the time and that would not do much for increasing participation.
I respect your ideas and information tremendously, but honestly don't believe having a SEA sub-forum will increase participation like you hope it would.
Now, for something new, maybe we should have a welcoming committee and we can have regional IBS ambassadors. You can handle SEA I can fight others for the NorCal slot. We'd have to require new members specify the region they're from so that they can be properly welcomed and encouraged to participate.
Have a cigar, Tog, and think about it some more, okay? Stay away from the hot spicy stuff that causes you anguish, though!
Your NorCal Pal,
Harv
lorax
05-20-2009, 06:56 PM
I agree with the point about people not having any interest in 'naner growing from my region.
See, and here I read this as "other Malaysians aren't interested in growing bananas."
harveyc
05-20-2009, 08:40 PM
See, and here I read this as "other Malaysians aren't interested in growing bananas."
Could be. I read it several times and wasn't sure what the comment was a reference to. It followed a quote of Bob which didn't seem to make a reference to this topic.
saltydad
05-20-2009, 10:53 PM
Beth and Harvey= I also read it as Beth did.
harveyc
05-20-2009, 11:36 PM
Okay, probably so. When reading the rest of the paragraph it comments about how there are others in SEA that are interested in naners so that's why I decided on the other meaning. I'll just delete that portion of my response above before Tog wakes up and catches my mistake! :ha:
PT DUffy
05-29-2009, 06:20 AM
Being an old fart botanically wise(anyone else old enough to remember Round Robins;>) I'm "agin" diffusing the mission becasue I've seen this wreck groups over the last 40 yrs. It's Quality, not Quantity. I want honest discussion of the subject matter, not having to scroll through miles of "____are the bomb!" type entries. If numbers and superficiality is what you want, start a "MYSPACEBOOK" group....
Cheers,
Pat
bepah
05-29-2009, 09:11 AM
......Now, for something new, maybe we should have a welcoming committee and we can have regional IBS ambassadors. You can handle SEA I can fight others for the NorCal slot. We'd have to require new members specify the region they're from so that they can be properly welcomed and encouraged to participate.
Your NorCal Pal,
Harv
Harvey,
I congratulate you on your volunteer spirit! I promise never to fight you for the 'NorCal slot'! :waving:
Jack Daw
05-29-2009, 09:13 AM
Harvey,
I congratulate you on your volunteer spirit! I promise never to fight you for the 'NorCal slot'! :waving:
And precisely for this Jarred created specialized sections, such as our... European section, so that we can localize with people nearby. ;)
Dalmatiansoap
05-29-2009, 12:12 PM
:woohoonaner:
MediaHound
08-08-2009, 09:03 PM
Just getting to this thread now, been busy with my newborn and honestly did not start reading it till this evening.
Thanks so much to everyone who participated on the thread, that's the type of comradeship that we're here for. Maintaining the Org is an art, not a science, and the feedback helps keep it all in perspective when we take new initiatives, direction, or make changes to the forum, etc. It's like being a chef with a delicate stew, one bad ingredient can mess it up and one extra good ingredient can make all the world of difference. So that's really kept at the forefront of the decision processes and everything is taken into consideration. A lot of good ideas posted, many added to our wish-list so they are not forgotten about.
:07:
mjdsinsacto
08-08-2009, 10:02 PM
Thanks for bringing this thread back up top. I happened on this thread a few days back and, as I browsed through it, got a chance to see "membership participation" in action; and a bird's eye view of the core membership. Great bunch of bananas.
Dalmatiansoap
05-12-2011, 03:10 PM
Just to bump this thread due the lack of activity lately,
some things just never change:ha::ha::ha:
:nanadrink:
harveyc
05-13-2011, 06:42 AM
I wish the weather was warmer and I'd be more excited about growing bananas. It's in the low 50s early in the morning right now and by Sunday we're not expected to even reach 60F for a high. Once my nanners start picking up steam I'll get more enthused about bananas.
Still, I think for some of us the banana hobby has matured and we're less active in seeking information. Some of us share pups with friends and I guess we need to keep introducing new hobbyists to the IBS. I've got around 20 varieties of bananas now and am probably going to scale back as I've been focusing more efforts lately on a new passion of growing pitaya (pitahaya, dragonfruit). I've got over 20 varieties of it now also and have yet to get one to flower but hope to have some this year if things warm up early enough. I had six banana flower for me last year and have a bunch hanging right now, so I guess I sort have conquered that challenge. Maybe I'll trying grafting bananas. I think I'd need a lab and a better education in science to tank on that one. lol
lmswayne
11-21-2013, 07:12 PM
Being new and looking at old treads you get to see how you got this site up and running. I would like to thank you all. You have done a great job.
Pallen
01-07-2014, 02:09 AM
Lurker here: I have not said much since I joined. I just not have felt I had anything worth posting that the pro's here do not know already. I found this thread after searching the term "Oregon" to see if I could find any fellow Oregon growers. The term was found towards the top leading me to this thread and then moving this Lurker to post.
Now, I have some pups now on my first plant, I think I will try to go find the "correct" thread to post about it. :) :2223:
I get really freaked out seeing my name as the last poster on several threads so, yes, I'll be last here again (who knows how long?) but I, for one, have pulled back from posting much. Yes, I ask stupid questions and perhaps could find my answers searching here but an active forum does tend to repeat itself with those in the know pointing newbies to good threads while we all get to know each other. I suppose we can all just join so we can read and that's that but I find that rather sad.
Abnshrek
01-09-2014, 08:17 PM
Lurker here: I have not said much since I joined. I just not have felt I had anything worth posting that the pro's here do not know already. I found this thread after searching the term "Oregon" to see if I could find any fellow Oregon growers. The term was found towards the top leading me to this thread and then moving this Lurker to post.
Now, I have some pups now on my first plant, I think I will try to go find the "correct" thread to post about it. :) :2223:
I think this is funny.. but a better way to search if the search tab isn't doing much for you might be to go the general topic that your thread would be in, and you may find your answer (for plants) by scrolling thru the various threads in that area, and if none are found create a thread listing your question, so you can get an answer.. Bananas.org - International Banana Society (http://www.bananas.org/):^)
Now on another topic related to this thread is I always notice when I goto the link above we have 5-6 times the amount of visitors versus members looking for answer to something..
I don't mine being the last poster.. :^)
I don't mind being the last poster.. :^)I do when I've ended 5 threads for a few days. That's me but I feel that I'm not contributing just talking to myself so I tend to shut up. Part of the reason I mention this is that other new members may notice this and thus not post. I could be wrong...I often am...ask my EX...;)
lmswayne
01-10-2014, 12:38 PM
It always seems that way to me as well. I think some of this is time zone
Bradford
01-10-2014, 04:59 PM
I tend to post more when I have more free time usually in winter. I've grown bananas for several years and feel I'm somewhat middle of the road knowledge wise. I like learning from others ahead of me and helping the newbies just starting out. I've learned that I'm not interested in growing 100 different varities, but am totally into growing big and hardy ones that make my yard look like some tropical place. While its cool when i get some fruit, I actually prefer no fruit due to the fact that the mother plant then dies. The winter use to really depress me and coming here always boost my spirits thinking about springtime just around the corner. Lots of cool people and stories/info here is the main reason I log on.
I just checked out the chat room. Some guy named Fred is signed in but didn't seem to notice me. At the risk of stirring up a hornet's nest...perhaps if we decided on a day for folks to meet up there it would build participation on the forum.
harveyc
01-13-2014, 02:35 AM
While I have more time in winter, my bananas look terrible at this time of year and aren't doing anything. I could do a daily report on the tone of brown my leaves appear to be!
sunfish
01-13-2014, 10:32 AM
While I have more time in winter, my bananas look terrible at this time of year and aren't doing anything. I could do a daily report on the tone of brown my leaves appear to be!
Photos please
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