Keeping threads on topics
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The great thing about this site is the wonderful people that come here to share experiences, knowledge, friendship, and great conversation! Oh, and their garden!! I have loved being a part of it!!
With the best interest of the site in mind,,,I would like to make a comment. Many people come here for information on certain topics or to post a question they have about gardening. Often times, the thread totally changes onto a totally different topic than what the author had intended. Very often, it is us (mods) or very active members that take it off in another direction. I know it's not intentional and most of the time it's great conversation or fun talk. But, if someone were to look through the thread for information, it gets confusing searching through a lot of different topics. Many times it also leads to someone posting great information, but because it is off topic, it will be hard to find again.
I would like to encourage that we all try to keep the site a little more organized and on topic. I also think that it is in respect for the author of the thread. I'm certainly not saying that fun comments, thankyous, all the fun razzing, etc., that makes this site a fun place to be, be discouraged. I would just like to make it so information is easier for people to find, and encourage all of us to use a new topic posts more often.
Thankyou! And, please feel free to post your comment in my thread! hehe
Connie
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Connie, we also have the
Connie, we also have the Picket Fence Forum which was created just for that sort of chit chatty kind of conversation. With this site being more streamlined, I think one thing we can do to help keep things on topic is to encourage people to use the Picket Fence area for chit chatty conversation. On the other hand, we don't want to start censoring things, and I want to reserve my right to delete posts for those posts which are clearly inappropriate or which violate our rules.
I think we need to figure out a way by which all of the moderators, senior moderators and myself can encourage and help people to use the Picket Fence for chatty stuff from the start....Perhaps because we are starting out here on a clean slate, we'll be able to help everyone know from the onset what we expect here and what is appropriate to do or not do here.
Susan, the Texas Yankee and the Texas Ranger
Will the ability to
Will the ability to "search" more specifically give us an answer to some of that? Also - --will we be able to copy and post some of that stuff as a FAQ somewhere?
Blessings all -- praying for your needs. Theresa T
Theresa ~ The search
Theresa ~ The search feature works wonderful! Type in a word and it brings up all posts with that word in the content. But as the site grows, it still may give you quite a long search to find what youre looking for.
I think what I wanted to stress is this,,,On the old site, I saw many times where someone requested information about something, the topic of the thread got changed quickly, but 2-3 pages later there was more very good information. It respects the author of the thread and keeps things organized, if we try to stay on topic a little better.
We can't put FAQ's in the forums,,,they won't stay on top. But there is a section for FAQs and I like the layout!
~ Connie ~ Zone 5 ~ MN
RANDY!! I just
RANDY!! I just copied and pasted a post from the other site, including a photo,,,it worked ,,check it out,,
http://www.gardenhere.org/node/200#comment-436
~ Connie ~ Zone 5 ~ MN
I do declare! I think we
I do declare! I think we have another southern gentleman among us! You're so welcome dear Mr. Cobb!
Susan, the Texas Yankee and the Texas Ranger
Thank you for that, Miss
Randy, the lion's share
Randy, the lion's share of yours are very good and packed with great information. But the way this site is set up and with the difficulty (yes, to some extent, difficulty,) of navigating things, I think people are going to post off topic things A LOT and I don't know how to prevent it or minimize it -- and we're certainly NOT about censorship!
Susan, the Texas Yankee and the Texas Ranger
Apparently, Al thinks we
Apparently, Al thinks we will be to bring a lot of stuff over here. I would like to think that each of us should be responsible for copying and pasting our own trade lists. That would surely save Al a lot of work. I thought when we first started this that the software interfaces between this site and the old one were entirely incompatible, but tonight, Al said that we'd be able to bring a lot over here. I think that's great!
Susan, the Texas Yankee and the Texas Ranger
I agree. A lot of my posts
I agree Connie! Randy,
I agree Connie! Randy, one of the biggest places where this was a real nuisance was in the trade list area. After we specifically told people that they were not to post anything other than trade lists, we found countless instances where people would make requests for things on someone's list when this is the very sort of thing that should have been done via PM.....or by starting a new thread. You post so many really great informational posts, that I would hate to see them tainted with other people's chit chatty stuff....Speaking of which, I think I ought to create Rosie's Canning, Freezing and Preserving forum over here, too. You had so much useful information there and I hate to think we'd lose all that.
Susan, the Texas Yankee and the Texas Ranger
I saw the new forum/thread
I think you're right on
I think you're right on Lav! I would like to suggest two things:
First of all, the purpose of the Picket Fence forum is for that sort of chatty stuff. If you have chatty stuff you'd like to discuss but it's off topic, start a new thread. Confine chatty stuff to that area.
"What have you traded lately?" on the other site (don't know if we have one here, but if we don't, maybe we ought to have one,) is an area that was designated for people to share their trade experiences. This is the perfect place to thank someone and acknowledge what you've received in trade.
Lastly, when we have threads -- regardless of what the topic is, but especially when they are intended to provide information, don't change the topic. If you have something different you'd like to discuss, use the "New forum topic" option to start a new thread. If we all stick to stuff like this, then maybe we'll eliminate some of the irrelevant stuff and make it easier to navigate and find the information you want to find.
Now, with regard to the chatty stuff, how do we want to address that when people post pictures of different things? Do we want people to give members feedback about what they are growing, or do we not want to do that in these threads?
I think we need to iron all of these things out before we invite folks from the other site to come over and use this site.
Susan, the Texas Yankee and the Texas Ranger
I think I am one of the
Randy ~ I think we've
Randy ~ I think we've all done it. You are one of the ones that posts the good information after the topic has gone astray,,,and I can't find it again. But I understand how that happens. Someone asks a question,,, you have the answer, so you help them. It's what we're suppose to do. And it's great,,I've learned a lot from your posts. I just hate for all that great information to be lost. With the wonderful search option on this site it will be a lot easier to pull up information on a topic. As, Susan mentioned, too, my comment was concerning the informational threads and when the author intended the thread be about a specific topic.
Randy ~ you keep posting,,,you are a tremendous asset to this site!! Thankyou!