@happypalms - your number of postings

[palmfriend]

Hi,

With all due respect -  is it really necessary to start a new thread for every little thing that comes to your mind?

Eg.: There is already an all famous color thread in this forum, why (always) opening a new one?

There are constantly eight or nine threads from you on the front page, pushing other threads permanently down the ladder. 

I think this forum is originally made for a world wide palm loving community to share experiences, requesting opinions or support etc. etc. on a somehow rational basis - but not to tell the whole world permanently about your feelings... 

As much as I really honor your tribute to the palmy world - I would appreciate that you reconsider your posting frequency to our all benefit!

@admin 

If I get warned or punished for this comment, so be it - but I think that expressing my opinion as another palm admiring member of this forum about this situation should be legit.

To all other members: Please do not post "likes/thumb up" etc. Let's discuss it on a rational basis.

 

Lars 

[Harry’s Palms]

Honestly, I appreciate Richard’s posts . The photos are wonderful and his collection is extensive , introducing me to new species that I had never heard of. I also appreciate other posts from other members. I hope this doesn’t offend or keep others from posting their observations or thoughts while gardening. To some of us that enjoy our gardens daily , these posts are a blessing . Harry

[miamicuse]

Perhaps a happy medium is to reduce the number of total threads by aggregating the various posts together, i.e. if there are six palms being potted up that day, add these pictures to the same thread of palms being potted up and they can still be a different post for each palm with pictures, if there are several palms sprouting it can be again posted in a look what sprouted today thread, same with other subject matters and when new posts are added on a daily basis they can be appended to a previous thread, this way you also get a good aggregation of what's being potted @happypalms, what's being unboxed @happypalms, what's sprouted @happypalms etc etc etc over time instead of scattering each daily occurrence over many threads.  Just a thought, I do understand how other threads getting bumped down and out of the main page and thus getting less interaction.

[palmfriend]

Harry,

 

I do not agree but I really appreciate your comment.

Introducing a new species to the community is one thing but doing this on an almost daily basis can not be accurate -  and

I am sure you are agreeing because this is simply not possible. Furthermore, why not joining an already existing well

established thread (eg. the color thread) when posting an image about a colored leaf? Is permanently opening a new thread

really necessary and helpful? I don't think so. 

If researching other same themed threads is difficult - for one or another reason - no problem. A request to handle this will

be friendly answered almost immediately by other members - I am quite sure about that.

What I am really looking for is a bit more common sense to let other palmtalkers take their fair part in this great forum. That's all!

 

Lars 

[Phoenikakias]

I concur with Harry, if a person's activity in a forum reduces popularity of topics by other members this not own fault but a matter of interest displayed by the readers. After all one can participate in a forum also with replies in other people's topics. 

[Billeb]

I agree with Lars and Sami ( @palmfriend / @miamicuse ). Richard’s posts are pretty excessive. I think it benefit the entire forum to make a few threads of “potting up” or “sprouting”, “unboxing” etc. where these pictures can be updated what seems like daily. 
 

Does there really need to be 7 different threads of what’s potted up on a daily basis? I’m not saying don’t post as many pictures or attempt to limit your posting @happypalms, I’m saying make a few threads and update those threads how frequently you choose.
 

There has to be a better solution than the current way. 
 

thank you Lars. 
 

-dale 

[floridaPalmMan]

Neither @palmfriend nor @happypalms are in the wrong here.

There should be a place for 20x different color threads as that keeps the forum alive with new and fresh content. There should also be a place for research/identification/discussion/grow logs/general palm talk etc... that should not be buried into obscurity because of a new daily color thread.

This is more of a forum structural issue than any individuals posting behavioral.

If you look at the post distribution across the entire forum, the "Discussing palm trees worldwide" is far too general and absolutely dominates the forum.

It's post count is 8x higher than the next highest category with 682,000 posts. All other sub forums in the "Palmtalk" section only total 285k posts vs that massive 652k. That is a massive imbalance.

 

I think it would be better to break the "Discussing Palm Trees Worldwide" into sub categories, similar to how the "Exchange" section is on the site. Why can't the main thread be broken down into sub categories like the exchange section like the screenshot below?

I don't know exactly what the main forums sub-categories would or should be, but I'm sure this community of like minded people and intelligent people can figure that out.

[tim_brissy_13]

3 hours ago, floridaPalmMan said:

Neither @palmfriend nor @happypalms are in the wrong here.

There should be a place for 20x different color threads as that keeps the forum alive with new and fresh content. There should also be a place for research/identification/discussion/grow logs/general palm talk etc... that should not be buried into obscurity because of a new daily color thread.

This is more of a forum structural issue than any individuals posting behavioral.

If you look at the post distribution across the entire forum, the "Discussing palm trees worldwide" is far too general and absolutely dominates the forum.

It's post count is 8x higher than the next highest category with 682,000 posts. All other sub forums in the "Palmtalk" section only total 285k posts vs that massive 652k. That is a massive imbalance.

 

I think it would be better to break the "Discussing Palm Trees Worldwide" into sub categories, similar to how the "Exchange" section is on the site. Why can't the main thread be broken down into sub categories like the exchange section like the screenshot below?

I don't know exactly what the main forums sub-categories would or should be, but I'm sure this community of like minded people and intelligent people can figure that out.

In my experience, over categorising might risk decreased forum activity. Most people tend to not want to click through multiple layers to find what they’re after. I’m not sure there’s a big problem with having most of the overall content on the ‘Discussing palm trees…’ forum; the search function is generally easy to use and allows you to find older content as long as, for example, a species name has been spelled correctly (Richard maybe this is one area you can take a look at 😜). 
 

To the original point, overall I’m a big fan of what Richard has been doing on the forum lately. His passion comes through in what he posts, and there’s also something new on the forum that is interesting to look at most days. My activity has likely increase since Richard’s engagement, at least in terms of topic views. 
 

With the above being said, I’m not against lumping into existing topics if suitable to do so. Many members have their own topic which tracks the growth of their garden over the years (including me) and I find this a really effective way of documenting the progress of a garden. This is probably a good idea for general garden update posts not specific to a certain species or event (as mentioned the colour thread is great!). Personally, I use my mobile device to browse the forum and very rarely look at page 2 of any sub forum, so the risk of too many topics is that some can easily get pushed back and may not get seen by a lot of users (I’m thinking ID requests in particular). 
 

 

[miamicuse]

I kind of think of the "discussing palm trees worldwide" being a catch all forum if that doesn't fit into other forums.

Even if I have a question about a palm I have in a pot I don't post it in the palms in pot forum because I think of that forum being for those who grow palms in a pot because they will be in pots and never planted out.

Even if you create subforums I think they will still be specialty topics that will not come close to matching or eclipsing the general forum.  Some specialty sub forums could be: Help me identify this palm, What's wrong with this palm etc but you may get 1 or 2 a day in these.

[miamicuse]

I remember there is a bit of a parallel to similar issues in some home improvement forums as well.  As you know most home improvement sites are broken into sub forums specific to the trades, you may have a tile forum, a painting forum, a plumbing forum, an electrical forum, a windows & door forum, a drywall forum and on and on and on.  So if someone is doing a bathroom remodel, that person may seek tile help in the tile forum, paint help in the paint forum, drain and water supply help in plumbing and light fixture wiring and exhaust fans in the electrical form, wall finishing in drywall forum...and may start ten topics a day in various sub-forums and some of these topics cross over or overlap so people get confused saying hold on hold on you got things scattered all over...this started what they called "project diaries" where a poster will start a topic for example "Jason's kitchen renovation" and on a daily basis it gets new updates and pictures, everything kept together in one place and showing progression that different tradesmen may advise on multiple disciplines.  I don't know if topics like "Jason's garden diary" could help keep a chronicle of this sort of posts.

[happypalms]

Well that opened a can of worms iam all about promoting cultivation of palms and plants and if it’s with different post or pictures then so be it actually I do remember that we are all to keep this forum happy and friendly iam not an encyclopaedia on palms but I will share my knowledge of gardening and cultivation of palms and plants.

[meridannight]

7 hours ago, palmfriend said:

Hi,

With all due respect -  is it really necessary to start a new thread for every little thing that comes to your mind?

Eg.: There is already an all famous color thread in this forum, why (always) opening a new one?

There are constantly eight or nine threads from you on the front page, pushing other threads permanently down the ladder. 

I think this forum is originally made for a world wide palm loving community to share experiences, requesting opinions or support etc. etc. on a somehow rational basis - but not to tell the whole world permanently about your feelings... 

As much as I really honor your tribute to the palmy world - I would appreciate that you reconsider your posting frequency to our all benefit!

@admin 

If I get warned or punished for this comment, so be it - but I think that expressing my opinion as another palm admiring member of this forum about this situation should be legit.

To all other members: Please do not post "likes/thumb up" etc. Let's discuss it on a rational basis.

 

Lars 

My input on this topic is -- I noticed this myself before this thread was posted. It is a legitimate question. I have started scrolling past their threads anyway, because they don't use punctuation, and it's more trouble than it's worth to read content like that. 

I can only speak for myself, so I will say that if I wanted to post as much content here daily as they do, then I would just make one single thread documenting my personal palm/plant growing experiences. I wouldn't post so many different threads, true. But that's me. 

 

[Merlyn]

@miamicuse that's one reason I put all my stuff in one big "build thread."  If I dug up a bunch of queen stumps like I did today, I will end up posting some comments and photos in my build thread.  I'm not going to go and post a new thread for "cutting up a queen stump" and then next one for "planting a Caryota Mitis" or "moving my Chambeyronia triple."  That's my personal preference.  I appreciate happypalms' enthusiasm for palms, photos and knowledge, but I do find myself frequently going to page 2, 3, 4, etc to find other threads that have been bumped for 10 different "potting up xxxx" threads.  Combining all of those into a giant and running "Today's pottings thread" would be a great idea, IMO.

Edit:  In general "spamming the board" is frowned upon in most forums, even with relevant topics.  It's been that way since online forums became popular in the 80s and 90s.  The admins do a great job here of keeping out irrelevant spammers and scamming advertisers.  But flooding the board with 10-20 topics a day reduces engagement from other members.

Edited August 25 by Merlyn

[SeanK]

I rather enjoy seeing posts from @happypalms and envy all the stuff he can grow. Much of it I don't normally see.

[Kim]

Yes, our friend happypalms posts a lot. One may feel free to scroll on by if not interested. I appreciate the enthusiasm, and he does have a lot to share. I suppose if one isn't interested it begins to look like clutter. It makes me sad to think of it that way --  though I admit I have felt that way about coconut threads. 🫣

We have had other very prolific posters in the past, even a few with annoying personalities (okay, yes, that was my take at the time), but things always settle out over time.  Maybe I was in that category as well, a few years back. Have patience.

I find myself posting less and less because it feels like I am repeating myself -- "ooo, look at that orange crownshaft! Yes, here's a photo of a freshly fallen frond revealing another orange crownshaft! And here's another photo of my Clinostigma, aren't they pretty? Clinostigma with clouds! View from the tea house! View from the tea house! Another view from the tea house." 🙄

Some websites have an "ignore' feature which blocks your view of members' posts you don't want to see. I don't know if that exists on PalmTalk, as I have never felt the need, but check your settings, maybe it's there.

EDIT: Yes, I can confirm the "Ignore" setting exists.  1) click on your name and a drop-down menu will appear  2) click on "Account settings" 3) on the page that opens a box will appear on the right with additional settings, the bottom one being "Ignored Users" 4) make your selections and save

 

[tim_brissy_13]

2 hours ago, Kim said:

Yes, our friend happypalms posts a lot. One may feel free to scroll on by if not interested. I appreciate the enthusiasm, and he does have a lot to share. I suppose if one isn't interested it begins to look like clutter. It makes me sad to think of it that way --  though I admit I have felt that way about coconut threads. 🫣

We have had other very prolific posters in the past, even a few with annoying personalities (okay, yes, that was my take at the time), but things always settle out over time.  Maybe I was in that category as well, a few years back. Have patience.

I find myself posting less and less because it feels like I am repeating myself -- "ooo, look at that orange crownshaft! Yes, here's a photo of a freshly fallen frond revealing another orange crownshaft! And here's another photo of my Clinostigma, aren't they pretty? Clinostigma with clouds! View from the tea house! View from the tea house! Another view from the tea house." 🙄

Some websites have an "ignore' feature which blocks your view of members' posts you don't want to see. I don't know if that exists on PalmTalk, as I have never felt the need, but check your settings, maybe it's there.

EDIT: Yes, I can confirm the "Ignore" setting exists.  1) click on your name and a drop-down menu will appear  2) click on "Account settings" 3) on the page that opens a box will appear on the right with additional settings, the bottom one being "Ignored Users" 4) make your selections and save

 

I’d be more than happy to be repeatedly spammed by your posts of orange criwnshafts, Clinostigmas and views from your tea house Kim!

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

I’d be more than happy to be repeatedly spammed by your posts of orange criwnshafts, Clinostigmas and views from your tea house Kim!

Tim you gotta spell crownshafts with a o not a i we don’t want the palm police a knocking 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[tim_brissy_13]

6 hours ago, happypalms said:

Tim you gotta spell crownshafts with a o not a i we don’t want the palm police a knocking 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Slipped it in there as a test Richard, you passed 🤣

[happypalms]

2 minutes ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Slipped it in there as a test Richard, you passed 🤣

I have a feeling it’s going to post of week pretty quick 🤣

[Kaname-kun]

Thanks for that info, Kim! I was considering leaving the group until I discovered that setting.

[flplantguy]

I have mixed feelings about it because i want to see all the posts from people, even repeated shots of the same insanely beautiful Hawaiian locale @Kim!  But i keep my few project posts mostly together so they are organized and not all over the place cluttering stuff up. Like a forum section for "personal projects/gardens" so i can choose to see eye candy or learn from other posts or whatever else. I like @happypalms photos since we have a similar climate, and i appreciate the timeline that @kinzyjr and @Merlyn and others use so i "know" their property better (and story) too.  Maybe just a personal journal section for that stuff?

[hbernstein]

I think that the "Discussing Palm Trees Worldwide" forum should have a " Coconut Palms in Cali" subforum. 🤪

[iko.]

@palmfriend, I did post something similar in the Off Topic forums a few weeks ago and I couldn't agree more on what you have written. I'm no expert and me not using this forum won't be such loss but I have been discouraged to use or visit this web after the repetitiveness in posts. I believe that for the redundant and instant interaction, Instagram exists. 

[sonoranfans]

Ive been on the forum since 2007.  A big part of the value is interaction and people involved in discussion.  I had this same though process many years ago.  Too many redundant threads I thought.  Yet one more coconut, or my palm is sick thread.  The opposite would be to consolidate threads but that makes them so long that you wont see what is in them unless you spend an hour looking.  We do have a freeze damage section that has species specific information for those who dont know.  If you want to know about cold tolerance take a look.  There is a lot of experience there from hundreds of forum members all over and from those who came before us.   If you want information as opposed to discussion don't reinvent the wheel before taking a look with a search.   The interaction for those new to palms can be critical in them finding good information on how to best care for their palm in their climate or what palms may be possible for them.  I used to view the forum as a huge data base for palms, but all the information that can be gained in interaction has a potentially large value as well.  If you want to know about bismarckia in the desert, you can find someone who knows.  I am a data guy, big data analysis of scientific information, so I get it.  But without the interaction here my yard would be very different today.  I've come around to the place that palmtalk is about discussion, advice, and showing visuals of many species of palms.    

[miamicuse]

Could also divide Discussing palm trees worldwide into 7 subforums that will house discussions of palms in each continent.  I'll be following Discussing Palm Trees in Antarctica.

[flplantguy]

One other aspect to keep in mind is we have people from all over and from all walks of life, each one will communicate differently.  Part of a large community is varying ways of approaching things and varying viewpoints, and those have value too, even of it takes some more mental work on your part. Neurodivergent people post here from time to time too, you will see very specific posts on very spcific topics, or poor typing and spelling, rambling, etc. Thats part of being on the internet with everyone having the same opportunity to be heard, you will hear voices that don't do what you deem "proper" and thats ok too.  Its all potential info to learn from and not just about plants.

[Kim]

13 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

I’d be more than happy to be repeatedly spammed by your posts of orange criwnshafts, Clinostigmas and views from your tea house Kim!

That's very sweet of you, but be careful what you wish for. 😅

[Frond-friend42]

I have loved Happypalms sheer enthusiasm and co tributions. But I have also felt how Palmmfriend feels, that the number and frequency occupies space which could have gone into other threads. I like threads with multiple contributors. I appreciate Lars speaking up about this since I myself often lack the courage to give strong firm constructive criticism though I aspire to get better at it. 

[Navarro]

Yo soy un novato y aprecio mucho las publicaciones de @palmas felices creo que enriquecen la comunidad pero su constantes publicaciones podrían publicarse en hilos ya existentes para no dejar caer hilos antiguos muy apreciados , es cuestión de esforzarse en organizarse , por ejemplo las publicaciones de transplantes de palmas de una maceta a otra publicarlos en su propio hilo y no hacer uno nuevo cada vez que hace un transplante , cuando le llame la atención una nuevo crecimiento que lo publique en el hilo "que te llamo la atención hoy" y así con todas sus publicaciones , al igual que @Merlín tiene su propio hilo que me encanta ,@palmas felices debería hacer lo mismo y publicar ahí sus actualizaciones ,estaría el foro más organizado 

 

[Bigfish]

The solution is “ignore user”.  Problem solved.

[Navarro]

No creo que esa sea la solución , @palmas felicesenriquece  la comunidad , la solución sería que publicará en hilos ya existentes ,solo tiene que esforzarse en buscarlos o crear un hilo personal 

[Jonathan]

Hmmm...many first world problems discussed above - the burden of having to scroll down to page 2 or even page 3? Our ancestors would blush.

Every society needs disruption, it relieves boredom and staves off complacency. Richard is a disrupter by nature...a palm induced stream of consciousness, challenging you to keep up.

So keep up people.

[awkonradi]

12 hours ago, Bigfish said:

The solution is “ignore user”.  Problem solved.

For me, "ignore user" does not work at the thread level.  If I ignore a user, then I still see the threads they start, but I do not see their individual posts.  If any PalmTalker has a solution, then would you please advise?  For the record, I am not ignoring any PalmTalkers, including happypalms.  I just tested "ignore user" to see if that would be a solution for others.  Right now, that appears NOT to be the case.

[happypalms]

21 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Hmmm...many first world problems discussed above - the burden of having to scroll down to page 2 or even page 3? Our ancestors would blush.

Every society needs disruption, it relieves boredom and staves off complacency. Richard is a disrupter by nature...a palm induced stream of consciousness, challenging you to keep up.

So keep up people.

I think the word we are looking for is idiosyncrasies if we where  all the same the planet would be pretty boring place to live that will give em something to scroll through idiosyncrasies.

[Tyrone]

22 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Hmmm...many first world problems discussed above - the burden of having to scroll down to page 2 or even page 3? Our ancestors would blush.

Every society needs disruption, it relieves boredom and staves off complacency. Richard is a disrupter by nature...a palm induced stream of consciousness, challenging you to keep up.

So keep up people.

The modern world is full of people defining problems that don’t really exist then trying to solve those problems, while ignoring the real problems. Happypalms has done nothing wrong. Keep posting Richard. I enjoy your posts. 

[flplantguy]

This entire forum is first world problems, so it should be brought up if only for bettering the forum. No one was rude or demanded anything, they were quite nice. However, being all "nany nany boo boo, stick your head in doo doo" about it is not. Just ignore it and keep on keeping on. I bet they are just hitting "ignore" anyway. I only didn't because i gain something, but is that the culture you want to foster? Just food for thought.

[Harry’s Palms]

I was the first to let my observation on this known . I just caught it soon after the thread was posted. I think the discussion has gone well . A bunch of us from different parts of the world discussing an obviously controversial topic. I had stated that I hoped it wouldn’t keep others from posting observations. I noticed that didn’t happen,  I also noticed the forum has remained friendly and respectful even though we aren’t all on the same page. That’s pretty amazing , folks! I belong to other forums where that isn’t always the case. Harry

[palmfriend]

Hi,

 

First of all: Thank you everyone for keeping the discussion friendly and factual!

I am glad that my point of view was shared but it was also very interesting to see arguments against it.

@happypalms` statement speaks for itself - I do not agree, but I respect it and I will still gladly enjoy

his images from the garden. 

My concerns and reasons to start this thread are deep down probably the same as @happypalms`:

I am a promoter of palms with my heart. Every bbq we do at home includes a garden tour, I show images

of the non-indigene palms I am growing to friends and associates - I give seedlings away to people who

show interest etc. etc. - but I do it always in a way to let people approach me, not the other way around.

To much pressure/noise drives people away - they shut up and finally disappear. That`s why I started this

thread.

I am afraid that too aggressive postings will not be good for this forum that I like so much.

I had to raise my voice (Am I the disrupter...?) to find out. The discussion showed me how 

different we are while having the same interest and enthusiasm for palms. I respect that even if I do not

agree with some of the arguments brought up above. (Btw., ignoring a member is absolute no option for me!)

However, as long as this great forum prospers and we keep debating like this in a cultivated manner - I will be

part of it as long as I can. 

 

Thank you for your time and have a good day -

Lars

 

 

[LowDesertBoil]

I agree with Harry. I don't always have time to jump on the forum due to my work schedule. (11-hour shifts.. Bla..) I say if anyone enjoys posting multiple threads so be it. I read them all and enjoy most of them, no matter how far down the thread posts are. I don't see it as a race to the finish line. I hop on the thread to learn about palms from other members (mostly low desert). I also find it invigorating to see other members with so much passion that they post multiple threads or even in this case share their concerns about "said" threads. Arizona people are my heroes! Take care.

[LowDesertBoil]

"the burden of having to scroll down to page 2 or even page 3? Our ancestors would blush."

😂😂😂😂