Changes to the 'Files

Hi folks,
I tried the new PlantFiles Advanced Search and I am working to get adjusted to the changes and utilize the features correctly. It is taking awhile since I am very used to the old PF!

Anyway, I noticed a couple of things.
1. I am seeing ads for all kinds of crud (video games?? I think, Jet Blue) even though my setting is for "top watchdog only" ads. I can turn off these ads by unchecking the selections for all ad types, but would rather keep the "top watchdog ads" if I can.

2. I tried an advanced filter using Name > Common: Hosta and Foliage Color: Blue-Green and another using Name > Common: Hosta with Foliage: Chartreuse/ Yellow. The first search returned only 1 result and the second returned only 2 results. If I omit the Foliage filter, I get zillions of results. It seems your Foliage filter is too restrictive.

(Details for number 2: For the Blue-Green filter for the Hostas. It returned only 'Bright Star.' If I scroll through the files, I immediately see 'Big Daddy,' 'Abiqua Drinking Gourd,' 'Blue Ice,' 'Blue Splendor,' 'Fragrant Blue,' 'Grand Marquee,' 'Dream Queen,' and 'Aristocrat,' all with Blue-Green foliage (leaf color OR leaf margin. These should have been returned also. )

Oh! Oh! Call on me! Call on me! I know that one!

momlady:

Take a look back at those entries that didn't show up in your search. I'll bet none of them had the detail for Foliage Color (different from Leaf Color or Leaf Margin) answered/selected, so the search function would not identify it.

That tells me that all you hosta fanciers need to get in there, and fill in the missing details on all 50,000 hosta entries. That will help everyone else doing searches, and by then you won't EVER need to search again, having studied every single possible permutation available in the Hosta World...

That is a crazy Hosta set of choices in those entries, with so many leaf identifiers. It should just drop the Foliage Color detail, or tie its answer to the Leaf Color selection.

I don't see how anyone could find any of those selections reliably - you couldn't possibly link all those choices easily into a general search function.

8-) (i wear glasses)

aargh, posted twice

This message was edited Sep 21, 2015 4:53 AM

VV,
I'll betcha you are correct! I'll go in after work today and check it out more thoroughly. I didn't realize that Hostas are special. Of course, all the Hosta people out there already know that. ;-)

Oh, here's an idea. Have the software folks add those fields to the filter, i.e. add logic like this: IF (Foliage Color OR Leaf Color OR Color of Leaf Margin) INCLUDES Blue-Green, THEN include it in the results.

I ended up turning off all ads too. Like Momlady, I really do not mind ads from the top DG sellers. If you get this one fixed, put a notice here and I will turn it back on.I bet the advertisers want it fixed too...

another big problem (to me big, as it creates a LOT of work and frustration)… one used to be able to edit ones comments in the plant files… in other words, add to them, make corrections, etc… but they would still be there. Now when you 'edit' any previous comments, you lose all the previous information (was horrified the first time this happened to me, as I had many paragraphs of comments about a certain plant, only to see them all gone once I added my new comments… was so depressed, I have not tried to recreate all the old comments)… surely there is a way to fix this, too…. isn't there???

And there STILL is no way to search plants by latin name (no alphabetical listing of plants under their latin names)… is it really that hard to fix this problem, too?

pb, haven't used this feature yet but maybe it will work for you. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/latin/
i hope so as i do plan on using it or trying to at any rate!

have you seriously tried latin-look up??????????… about as useless and ridiculous a function as I have ever seen… only a dinky fraction, or NONE of the plants put into this 'search' comes up when you do it… it was like a good idea one had 10 years ago or more (been there all along) when Davesgarden builders had good ideas, not bad ones… but then got dropped or never finished when they realized it was an unnecessary addition (since the old plant files search was fine back then). NOW, however, the plant files search is all messed up and bulky, confusing, cumbersome and just plain senseless, making this 'Latin Lookup' at least something to try- but of course it is even worse than the plant search is, if you can believe that… and by a long shot. I can't say more or I will say something I regret.

Common name look up is bad enough.....

I'm having trouble finding the words, so let me agree with palmbob. The previous DG search engine for PlantFiles was wonderful for the power of its simplicity and the best of its kind on the internet, imho. I wish admin would let us have it back, while at the same time, putting all the other stuff on its own page and doing whatever they wish there.

ps - I found a way to access plants in PlantFiles from google with my dinosaur, slow dial-up browser:

-- In a google search box, search for google + advanced to access Advanced Google Search

-- In the box where it says, "this exact word or phrase:", put the name of the plant you are looking for in quotes. I use the Latin name, and if I do not get it right the first time, google treats my error like a wild card and usually gives me the correct spelling, as did the previous DG PF search. If you don't know the latin, google can usually find it for you on another search before trying this again - or see what happens with the common name - who knows. DO NOT HIT ENTER YET

-- Scroll down to the box where it says, "site or domain:" Put in davesgarden.com/guides/pf

-- Now click on Enter

Well, I searched for Salvia rubescens, and deliberately mispelled it Salvia rubesens. The result of this search corrected the spelling for me. You will see many results, but the result you want will have in its title: "Family Genus Species". In this case, the result I wanted was captioned "Family: Lamiaceae, Genus: Salvia, Species: rubescens"

This method takes me directly to the plant I'm looking for in DG PlantFiles, and it becomes simpler the more you try it. I like it because it works.

I'll be away from dg - not sure when I might come back.

Using PlantFiles, I tried to look up a list of cultivars of Caryopteris x clandonensis. I tried multiple ways. I get a list if I do it as a standard search, and if I use the Advanced Search function. The last way I tried was the Latin look up method. I cannot get any results with it as Caryopteris x clandonensis or as Caryopteris clandonensis.

I often use Google too. You put in - daves garden Caryopteris clandonensis and up comes
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/31497/#b

or type in
daves garden Caryopteris x clandonensis

and up comes
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/31497/#b

I even misspelled it as daves garden Caryopteris x clandonsis
and up came
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/31497/#b

Well shoot. I just noticed that is a cultivar. I think Google is doing what I just did. It reads them just as Caryopteris x clandonensis because for some odd reason PFs now has the cultivar name after the common names not after Caryopteris x clandonensis as it should be. So on search up comes all the cultivars. My eyes went to the second line not the first line by habit on how PFs used to be, so I did not notice the cultivar name after the common names.

So I went to DG advanced search and first put in Caryopteris x clandonensis and only the cultivars showed. Then I put in just Caryopteris under genus and though I had to look down a long list of 27 entries which took about 20 seconds, I did find it.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/206815
LOL




This message was edited Sep 28, 2015 2:46 PM

Well, my google search method is no longer consistently useful, although eventually it did give me a DG page for the species, Salvia guaranitica. However, the old search page used to give us the option of looking up cultivars and hybrids belonging to various species. There are many cultivars and hybrids of Salvia guaranitica, but it is no longer possible to simply access them on the same page that comes up first for the parent Salvia guaranitica.

Also, when cultivars used to come up with a click on the parent species, they would come up alphabetically. Now, how many thousands of years has Homo sapiens been using one form or another of an alphabet? I seem to recall reading somewhere that we have had an alphabet for around 7,000 years.

And the old DG search feature actually continued to use the alphabet.

But not now?

- - - - - - - - -
ps - Is anyone maintaining taxonomic updates on this website? Elsewhere, Salvia guaranitica has become a synonym for the currently accepted name, Salvia coerulea. Is this questionable?

- - - - - - - - - -
My subscription is running out, so I will be out of this discussion. Hope things turn out well for all users of the PlantFiles, for educational as well as for search purposes.

ps - I thought I'd try to access Salvia guaranitica from "Advanced Search" on the DG PlantFiles page. So I clicked on "Advanced Search" and put Salvia in the genus box and guaranitica in the species box, and then scrolled down the page to the box that says "Search" and clicked on that.

What happened next was that the same page upon which I had clicked "Search" came back - not good.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a search engine into which you could type the name of the plant for which you are looking, and to simply have the PlantFiles page for that page come up? Along with the option to find cultivars and hybrids belonging to that plant? alphabetized???

just had better success by searching with plain old www.google.com,

searched for "Salvia guaranitica" + cultivars"

and after scrolling around a few pages, found what I was looking for - a link captioned with "Family: Lamiaceae, Genus: Salvia, Species: guaranitica" that gave the following result, including cultivars with an option to sort alphabetically: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Lamiaceae/Salvia/guaranitica/cultivar/0/

not as straightforward and simple and dependable as the old PlantFiles search engine, but in this case, an improvement.

This message was edited Sep 29, 2015 5:02 PM

For a couple of weeks I ignored the messages that my subscription had run out. The more DG is tinkered with, the worse it gets. Bet Dave sneaks in every now and then just to check things out and gets a big laugh. Because I have so many friends from the last 10 years I finally gave in and sent my dues.

Wouldn't want Terry's job for love nor money.

I agree. I think both Terry and Melody are doing a great job of trying to appease users' complaints, while decisions are being made higher up.

Off topic: WHEN WILL THE WINNERS OF THE SQUASH CHALLENGE BE ANNOUNCED? THREAD SAID OCTOBER 1, BUT PARTICIPANTS HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING AND WE'VE MADE POSTS REQUESTING INFO AND HAVE SENT NUMEROUS DMAILS THAT HAVE GONE UNANSWERED! THANKS

I do not like this new search engine. If I click on popular plant icon like daylilies or hostas I just get a listing which is not very helpful. I was expecting to see a search screen where I could type in the cultivar. Also the Advanced search icon is not very prominent. And why am I getting ads. I checked my profile and I have them turned off. Waiting for all those ads to load slows everything down. I am paying $25/year not to see ads. I really like the old search engine schema much better. I wish you would give us a choice on which view to use.

Not sure where to put this.......
I have been uploading a lot of pics to PlantFiles. Yesterday at about 60 in, up came an ad (below) after I clicked on UPLOAD AN IMAGE on a plant page. Next a screen came up saying I had to join DG to participate (below). I have never seen this page before.

If I persisted trying to upload my photo, up came a small box with warnings of great harm to my computer and a phone number to call to unlock my computer which was now frozen. My husband got my computer free. After about another 20 more pics uploaded, it happened again with a different ad to start. If I persist trying to upload the photo, again that small box that freezes my computer came up after the DG page saying I had to join to participate.

Today it has happened 3 more times but as soon as I see the ad. I close the page before my computer is frozen.

It just happened again when trying to upload a photo to the entry Stapelia divaricata.. Since it only happens when I try to upload photos to DG, I think it must be something weird going on with DG. OBTW, when I go back 30 minutes or so later, I can upload the picture with no trouble. And I can upload my next picture immediately after it happens with no trouble too.

Here are the 2 screens that come up before the warning box with the phone numbers comes up. If I get that box again I will get a screen shot of it.

LOL My 2 photos now disappeared.

First the ad appears then the DG page saying I have to join to participate then the warning box and my computer is frozen.

It just happened again after about another 30 photos uploaded to PFs. This time I got the ad below before the page changed to the DG page telling me I must join to participate. The thing that freaks me out is the page that comes next which freezes my computer and no doubt if I called the number it tells me to call they would demand money to unfreeze my computer.

That looks and sounds like Malware. It is probably on your end...that's what Malware does it holds your info for ransom.

Hi Kell,

I would think that, as an Uber Gardener, you would get better treatment here than this. As a "regular" user (maybe sometimes a bit irregular) I expect no special treatment, and receive none. In my opinion, Dave's Garden should give you immediate support on the problems you have incurred.

Your last incident may be malware. It appears to be a notice from Microsoft to update your Preferences, but that threat seems more like malware than public relations from Microsoft. It MAY BE that this site has become infected with some malware that is infecting participants here. Or the malware infection may simply be in your computer, and not on this site.

" LOL My 2 photos now disappeared. "

That appears to be a recent bug in the Dave's Garden software. The bug is this: If you have uploaded photographs and then attempt to edit your text after the photo icons (thumbnails) appear, your next Preview will lose those photo icons (thumbnails) and, if you then post that Preview that lacks the photo icons, your post will not have the photos, as you just experienced.

I think that is a fairly recent bug in Dave's Garden software, because I have noticed it only recently. The "fix" currently is: don't try to edit your message after you have uploaded your photo(s). Hopefully Dave's Garden will fix the bug before too long. I had 5 photos in jeopardy because I had fixed an error in my text, and I resorted to the Back Arrow on my Browser to get back to a Preview that contained my photo thumbnails, and sacrificed the text fix.

Do you have any kind of Virus Protection Software on your computer? If not, I recommend that you get some. I use Norton's version. There is free Malware Protection software, but if you spend any amount of time online, I would recommend paying for what you think is the best available. Incidentally, I don't trust the online AntiVirus software comparisons, because they don't document their objectivity.

Hopefully Dave's Garden will soon give your problems their complete attention, especially because of your Uber Gardener status.

I notice that since I started typing this that 1lisac has expressed the opinion that you are infected with malware. I don't contradict that, but the DG bug is most likely a site software problem. And DG should verify that their site is not also involved with Malware.

ZM

ZM good point! I'm not very computer literate so I never realized that MW could be on the DG site. Anyway, it seems to be MW.

Hi 1Lisac,

" ...that's what Malware does it holds your info for ransom. "

That is just one of many different things that Malware can do. Some malware captures your keystrokes and sends them to a remote site. (Passwords, credit cards, identity, etc. stolen). One rather odd version makes your computer a "slave" to some group computation problem, such that mainly what is stolen is computational power. Your computer becomes a secret participant in a widespread network of similarly infected computers. There are also non-secret voluntary projects of that sort.

The TV series, CSI: Cyber is fictional and might tend to make you a bit more worried than you should be, but it seems to have valid technical information. I recommend it on that basis, in addition to some entertainment value. CSI: Cyber is usually broadcast on CBS on Sundays at 9:00pm Central Time.

I agree with you completely that Kell seems to be infected with Malware of some sort.

ZM (not associated with any product or vendor mentioned)

Thanks 1Lisac and Zen_Man for your responses.

I must tell you Zen_Man, my Uber designation has never given me any standing at all at DG. I am used to being ignored here. LOL. I try to ignore being ignored and try not to take it personally, I am sure everyone is just busy.

If it weren't for my husband, I would still have a frozen computer. He has run several scans, one for malware and nothing shows. I have 2 programs that supposedly protect me, but who knows. Odd that it has only happened when I am uploading photos to PlantFiles, no other site. I haven't done any today yet, but will start again soon. I have a ton of fantastic photos to share here taken by a well known succulent collector/expert from Holland, Mr. Cok Grootscholten. Many of them are the 1st photos for certain plant entries. Always exciting to see plants I never even knew existed.

Zen_man. you are exactly right about what happened to my 2 photos that went missing. I had hit preview to have a look and then after I hit send the pictures disappeared.

Well, I sure hope I do not have malware. If they are spying on me, they will be so bored unless they are into plants. LOL .

Wow, I didn't realize it could do all that. I have had run ins with it MW in the past but nothing lately. How does ones computer become infected? I don't click on any unknown links. I wonder if it's thru DG?

Hi Kell,

I notice you just uploaded a bunch of good plant file photos. Did you have trouble this time?

I have Windows 8.1 and it just installed 17 new update files. Presumably some had to do with upgrading security protection. Just out of curiosity, what operating system do you have on the computer that you are using to access the Plant Files ?

" Well, I sure hope I do not have malware. If they are spying on me, they will be so bored unless they are into plants. LOL "

Malware can do a lot of things besides spying. Even cars have embedded computers, and there is concern that hackers could hack car computers and do serious harm. Norton's has software to protect the computers in smart phones, but none that I know of to protect cars.

I have used Nortons 360 Premier to spot check many of the pages here on Dave's Garden, and all that I checked were safe, and received a Green rating. I included several of the Plant Files pages in my check, but I did not check the file uploading pages. More later.

ZM

I have a little window that came up yesterday that says:
Windows 7 Driver Optimizer
System Information:
Your machine is currently running: Windows 7
The Driver Update utility is compatible with your operating system

So I guess Windows 7. I need to ask my husband if I should download this Windows 7 Driver Optimizer.

My computer is a mess. It is not even old but has been a problem from day 1! My son ordered it for me with tons of space for photos. I think 6 terabytes. And supposedly with mirror drives so even if I lost a drive, I would have backup on the computer. Well that was not true! Within a year the hard drives died and no back up according to the computer shop. They put in new hard drives and now I can't upload any programs. LOL. It needs to go back to the shop. And my kid is now forbidden to help me ever again! I paid for 4 years at Stanford in Computer Engineering for naught! LOL Though I have given him enough grief over this computer, he will never help me again on his own!!!

I had to turn of my computer last night and I had 48 updates. I guess because I so rarely turn off my computer, they all were waiting for me.

Malware sounds terrible. Poor me if I have it! Well my cat just attacked my bird so I have to go. My heart is beating so hard. It scared me so though the bird is fine. He screamed bloody murder. I thought he was a goner. He is happily eating kiwi now. The cat is in big trouble!

Hi Kell,

I recommend you turn your computer off at least every night. I am about to turn mine off in a few minutes. Actually, it is good practice to have your computer on only when you are using it or about to use it. There are several benefits to that. One of which, if you have a sudden power outage or power surge, your computer isn't on to be potentially damaged. I assume you have your computer on a surge protector power strip. Some electric companies (like our KCP&L) offer an optional whole house surge protector for about $5/month. That includes insurance on damage to appliances like refrigerators and such. I went for it, and am glad we did. We have had several power outages and lightning strikes that could have been damaging.

Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 (and 8.0) users can get a free upgrade to Windows 10. I plan to do that before the deadline expires next year.

By turning your computer off when you aren't using it, you can extend your hard drive considerably. All the time you leave your computer on, its hard drive(s) is(are) spinning. What if you treated your car like your computer and left it running all the time?

Since you have a cat, there is a good chance the cat hair needs to cleaned out of your computer. Computers are a magnet for cat hair.

Oh, another thing. When you leave a computer on, you could be visible on the Internet via your IP address and if some hacker sees that, he can have a go at getting into your computer through whatever defenses that your Firewall is giving you. And if you have a Wireless router in use, it needs security protections in place (password protection and possible encryption). Otherwise, people can access your system via your home WiFi. There are long distance directional high gain WiFi antennas that could access your system from possibly a mile away.

I am turning my computer system off now.

ZM

I have been waiting all day for someone to mention the new format on PlantFiles but I now see it is on the forums also. Is just happening to me?Also on PFs there is no report an error button and though I could still upload photos I cannot enter any new plants. Is DG totally messed up? I am typing this in a tiny box about 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch. LOL

The box isn't a half-inch square, so I'm not sure why you're seeing that.

The link to add a new plant is where it has been for quite some time now - in the right-hand column. Do you see it in this screenshot?

The report-an-error link has disappeared (at least as far as I can tell) so I will report it the techs ASAP.

This page is still so wrong! And I mean so so wrong!!!

I can get to the page to enter a new plant, fill it out, but when I click to submit it, nothing happens! I can click on it 100 times and it never submits!

The box I am typing into is 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 in rectangle. I can see maybe 9 words. LOL I have attached a screen shot. The whole page is so bizarre looking.

Hi Kell,

Your screenshot proves your point. It's not your imagination. However, your screenshot is not consistent with what I am seeing on my browser (currently FireFox). So, for some reason, different ones of us are seeing the Dave's Garden pages differently. Just out of curiosity, what browser are you using?

Oh, and now this thread has been divided into 5 pages. More changes to adapt to.

ZM

Oh Lord...look at the mess the message list is now. Now, I can't even see WHEN a post was added so I can keep track of recent ones....ugh. Do web designers know what usability means any more? This site is a mess. And look at all the crap at the bottom of the page. Wow. Someone should be fired.

When I first saw this format, I thought it was a huge glitch. Then I saw the thread saying that it was an update. LOL. That this was done on purpose honestly never occurred to me.

I can only take reading the posts for so long because it gives me a headache. The pages ae all grey with no shading. The font small and not easily read. Oh dear!! LOL

Anyway, Zen_Man, I thought you should keep your computer on. I can also put it too sleep overnight which I thought was good. It also will put itself to sleep if I have not touched it for awhile. I use Google Chrome mostly.

I figured out why you need to preview each of your posts now! There is no slow scroll now to reread your post in this tiny box. I can only see maybe 9 words at a time. I have to look at preview to see it all at one time. So odd! LOL