Changes to the Forums

I feel your pain on the first one. We really (REALLY) struggled with where to tuck Sustainable Living, and while that is not a perfect fit, it seemed better than all the alternatives we considered.

And yes - I also was happy to get all the ID & photo forums grouped together for much easier referencing for everyone :-).

Tony, have you gone to "My Info" and searched through your old posts? I realize there would be a lot of pages, but since the years are in order counting down, if you can narrow down the range of years it might have been you might be able to find it.

Each post also shows which forum and thread it was in. It's worth a shot, anyway.

Would it be possible to put a link at the top of the page, similar to what's done for the photography contests, that tells people about the merges? That might help. Or, leave the old forum link, but put a note and link to the new forum for those who might need it?

Another thing to consider is possibly having a universal home page with a place where messages from admin can be posted so we all see them.

FWIW, I'm not resistant to change or to streamlining things when it can be viewed as logical, but I was really surprised to find the Container Gardening forum gone and "specialty gardening" in its place with threads about cottage gardening, xeriscaping, rock borders, ground covers, dry shade, wild flowers, .......

It's difficult to imagine that fora with titles like 'Morning Glories', Ohio River Valley Gardening, and International Trading, should have stand alone status while something so widely practiced as Container Gardening gets relegated to a status equivalent to also ran.

The frequency of my visits to the site had been slowly diminishing due to a general decrease in activity on the forums I most often frequent, but even though the changes might have been born of necessity, I don't see the restructuring as being an enticement to a net increase in the number of site visits.

That's the view from here. YMMV.

Al

I miss the Compost and Soil forum. That taple and others put so much work and knowledge into. I'm not even sure where it is. The threads were in sequence but now there are other topics mixed in. I didnt post there a lot but I lurked....I really think it needs to be its own forum.

Threads are always in reverse chronological order. Stickied threads are still stickied, although they may be now shown with other stickied threads. Those are also in reverse chronological order.

In retrospect, MG should probably be merged into annuals, and we may make that change as well. The threads that were not merged were generally due 1) to their activity level, 2) their privacy settings (subscribers-only or open to members) and 3) the nature of the forum, which didn't always lend itself to being combined.

We realize the decisions we made don't necessarily seem logical from the viewpoint of all members - especially if you have a particular interest in a forum that was merged into something else. But I can promise you that every forum was carefully reviewed and we weighed the pros and cons of merging it or leaving it intact.

Thanks , I did check my posts [ there are 43 pages of them ]
I should have posted it was a Salvia [ in that family ] I only went back to 2006 .
It started raining and hear in Mexico - when there is lightning , you turn everything off - and I like to watch the lightning .
Anyway when I get home I will post if I have any seeds left . Several people have already asked if I found any . Being part of the thistle family they are great along fence line . Mix with the purple ones [ common in California ] and the purple and orange really look pretty [ at least to me ] and while consider a weed here , it is not invasive . I have a small 5 hectare place and so far they won't grow a long / below bare wire [ maybe the zinc in coating of barb wire ? ] The purple ones do grow tho .
The plants all seem to produce seeds at same time and if you are early or late - no seeds .

Tony ~

See if this is the thread and post you were looking for. I found it by using the Advanced Search for forums.

Your post is #2785803 on Oct. 4, 2006. This is the link to the post:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=2785803

Here is the link to the entire thread:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/592965/?hl=

Hope this helps.

Terry, I know they are in reverse chronological order. But now that stuff has been combined they are spread out, amongst other stuff that is also in reverse chronological order. Where is the Soil and Compost Forum, anyway. Lol

I didn't realize DG had a Beauty and Fashion Tips (or something like that) forum. This is still stand alone.

This message was edited Sep 5, 2015 11:42 AM

Soil and composting is included in organic gardening.

I think Beauty and Fashion is one of the forums that is slated to be archived due to lack of activity, and a lack of anywhere that was a good fit for it to be merged.

Ok....that's definitely not where I would have looked for it. That was where tapla wrote that a plant can't tell if N, P or K is synthetic or naturally produced a long with MANY other things. I'm afraid so much info is going to be lost tbc it's just not in the correct place. There was so much to that forum that had nothing to do with Organic Gardening.

Terri,

Thought I would check in to see if there were any solutions to our lost threads and forums we didn't know we should "favorite" or "follow" or "watch" due to upcoming changes we weren't informed about, and I read where some have said there were posts that were "abusive" to you. At least one person was insinuating mine was, by what they said. I want to be clear - NOTHING I said was personal to you or Melody. They are my thoughts about the changes and the inability now to locate threads we were reading. I respect your work. I know it is a lot to do. Heck, when I bought my first computer in 1988 it was a box or parts from a computer show that I put together and had to learn to write code to get things to "talk" to each other. My deep disappointment, and yes, frustration, is not with you personally, it is the changes themselves. If you somehow took it (like it seems some did) as anything personal, my apologies.

I stand by my posted opinions about the changes themselves. I also want to say I agree, it would have been impossible to get all members inputs to make the changes, so I get that...there is no way to please everyone.... BUT I think at the very least there should have been an announcement prior to the change informing us to "watch" the forums we were reading. Now they are impossible to find for many of us and an announcement would have solved a lot. I still don't think newbies will know where to start to learn things when it seems one must have a pretty good knowledge base to figure out the forums as they are now.

For fellow DGers - please understand what a critique is and realize if Melody and Terri were not interested in feedback about the changes they made, this forum would not have been created. By posting what is good and what is bad, they may be able to help us. They made the decision to change things as they saw fit. Like it or not, it is what it is. There is no way to go back and "watch" threads now and so we have to live with that loss - BUT who knows? If they know it is a problem and are able to find a solution, I am sure they will create that. How would they know many of us just read them without posting to and watching them if they didn't ask via this forum? Don't be so quick to call anyone who disagrees with the changes and stating so, as being abusive, when that is the point of posting opinions. I read no post where there was name calling or any abusive behavior - except ironically, from the ones calling other members abusive who simply disagreed and stated why, with what problems it caused to them.

I honestlyi don't know where to go so posting here. I have sent Melody various Dmails TWICE and they aren't appearing. It occurred to me that I have over 100 pages of dmail and the systems is just too full to handle more correspondence. Is there a way to delete the last 100 pages in one swoop? I can't sit doing a page at a time, but need to have dmail space.

Hopefully dmail space is not being limited, towards the effort to improve the site.

You can go down through a page of emails and click in the left-hand column to move them to your trash bin. And no, dmail space isn't limited :-).

Questions and constructive criticisms are always welcome.

While we don't have any way to help you find the specific threads you would like to watch, you can start fresh - you can "watch" any thread whether you post to it or not by clicking on the link at the top of the thread. If you started a thread, or you posted to it, it is already on your watched thread list.

I don't see a trash bin. Do you mean click on move, then put in deleted Folder? I did a large portion like that and excruciatingly tedious

Why are my dmails to Mel not posting? If not my prob. Is her box full? Msgs too long to type a third time w/o knowing problem.

You know, this whole mess reminds me of favorite TV shows which, when viewership declines, writers start concocting outrageous, ridiculous and pointless changes to script. And surprise! It always fails b/c
1). New writers are not connected to entire script
2) don't listen to viewership who is usually very vocal about their shows
3). Change stuff to justify their jobs rather than to truly improve the show

Also reminds me of overhybridized plants. The more they change to "improve" the plant, the more problematic it becomes. I bet you my favorite rose that all posters here will understand these analogies, will the "they" understand? Sure doesn't look like it

Are the "they" reading this stuff? I truly feel sorry for your spending hours and hours justifying the "they" actions, that had to be the lousiest job,?with no pay, no pay, no less...

Yes, sorry I meant deleted folder.

When did you send the messages? If you sent them over the weekend, she will most likely see and respond today. (We don't always take weekends and holidays off, but sometimes we each unplug and do other things :-).)

If you are sure you hit "send" then they should have gone to her inbox. If something happened to it before you hit "send" then they may have not been delivered.

Re: Deleting D-mails

I've also been curious about deleting D-mails. When I try to delete them it appears all I'm really doing is just adding them to a folder called "Delete". But then if I click on "All" messages, all the D-mails I thought I just deleted show up again.

Isn't there any way to actually get rid of D-mails you no longer need?

She always responds, I mean they do not appear on my dmail list--like they were never even composed. I am positive I clicked send, absolutely sure

@nutsaboutnature. Exactly, more like shuffling rather than clearing space

I'm sorry you feel this way, but I am among those that are glad to see us making some changes (and yes, I would consider them improvements :-) to the site.

The analogy I would use is to liken it to the changes/strides we've made since personal computers hit the market 40+ years ago. They've gone from being big, clunky machines that were extremely limited in their programming and memory, and had non-existent graphics, to being sleek, small machines capable of being a phone, a computer, a television, alarm clock and flashlight all at the same time.

Those of us who used (and loved/hated) with first-generation PCs haven't always agreed with or liked every change in operating systems and hardware, but those changes have allowed us to become more mobile and communicate in a variety of methods unheard of just a few years ago. Technology marches forward whether we want it to or not, and generally speaking, eventually we all come around to seeing the changes as an improvement over prior versions.

There isn't, and there's a reason why.

When you send an email, both you and the recipient have a copy of that message. You can delete your copy, but the other person can choose to retain theirs if they want to.

When you send a d-mail, it's more like a private message: you and the recipient share the same version of the message. If you could delete it, the recipient would no longer have access to it either.

That's why we created the "deleted" folder to pitch the ones you don't need/want any more, but they are still accessible to you if you ever need/want to go back to one of them.

Thanks Terry!

I guess it makes sense (?). Sure seems like a lot of extra stuff to store with the huge number of members we have.

On a lighter note, you mean I could've been ordering make-up and clothing for my veggies? I never knew that, LOL!!!

I know and I agree that it is a lot of "extra stuff" to store. We've talked about replacing the dmail system with some type of private messaging that would still give you the security of conversing privately without revealing your email address, but would allow you to delete the messages. If we can find one that meets those criteria, we will work on a plan to integrate it into DG.

PLEASE, don't change it without giving some warning bc no matter how well it's done there will be glitches.

Thank you 1lisac. I was sitting on my hands so I wouldn't type. LOL

My mouth is taped shut but my hands are free. Lol

I don't want to get into the discussion of what has occurred, except that I would like to make a suggestion which I think might help some of those who are trying to find lost threads. This is merely offered as a possible work around. It won't help all of you, but I think it would help some.

Those who are frustrated by their efforts to find threads which were previously sequestered in in one specific forum but which are now intermixed with numerous other threads may be able to find help through the use of tags. Here is my idea/suggestion:

If the threads you are looking for fall under a specific name, for example Composting or Winter Sowing, search the global tags for entries with that name or keyword(s). The global tags are like a giant index with entries created by DG members. You can use these tags as a sort of search feature.

It is very likely that others at DG have previously tagged the threads you are interested in, corralling them as a group under a keyword or words very close to the name of the original forum. If so, you should be able to find that group of threads in the global tags. Once found, you can either continue to access them via the global tags or mark them again with your own personal tag/keyword to make them visible from your personal tags. You can use a new name/keyword or the same one used in the global tags.

I gather that many people are more comfortable with bookmarks. Here at DG tags and bookmarks are really the same thing, the only difference being how you choose to view them. If you want to use them to keep threads specific to a particular subject together in one place (i.e. Composting), you will need to view them as tags. Viewed as bookmarks, all of the threads you mark will be in one giant list regardless of subject. In the tag or cloud format, items previously marked with a particular keyword/subject can all be accessed by clicking on that keyword in the tag 'cloud'. If you think about it, accessing all composting threads by clicking on the "composting" tag is not unlike accessing them by clicking on the "composting" forum.

I hope this suggestion might be helpful to some of you, both as a way to find lost threads and as a way to keep those threads grouped together. If you need more help with this, you can dmail me, and I will answer as time permits. I don't want to clutter this thread with copious explanations on how to use tags in the manner suggested.

This is offered purely in an effort to be helpful. Please don't flame me. As I said, this won't help everyone. It won't help those who don't know the 'subject' of lost threads, for instance. This is not intended to fix problems or assuage your anger over recent changes, only as a possible way to help you find and re-group lost threads.

If at some point admin decides to get rid of the current dmail system, I would greatly appreciate it if we could be given advance warning just so that we can make copies of those dmails which contain info we need. Since DG dmails have always existed in a format which cannot be deleted, I have become accustomed to thinking of information contained in them as safely stored. I'm guessing others probably also view them this way. Thus if at some point you decide to get rid of the existing dmails, please let us know in time to save our information.

I'm not asking to be given input into the decision, nor will I complain about changes. I would just like a chance to copy important information if changes are coming.

Advance notice of pending changes might be a good idea in general. It may be difficult to foresee the ways in which members are using existing systems and structures to store information important to them. Advance warning would allow members time to do what is necessary to preserve that information.

Agree 100% and if/when we do migrate to a different system, I will be pushing hard for us to keep the old messages accessible to members for a reasonable amount of time so everyone can print, copy, start new conversational threads, etc. to transition from old to new :-).

Thank you very much, Terry!

DreamOfSpring
I can't find tags - global , global tags - If you mean - type in tags in search box 81 pages show up

tonyjr,

Thank you for calling attention to my erroneous terminology. On DG bookmarks and tags are the same thing, the only difference being how you choose to view them. If I recall correctly, Dave set out to create Tags and then added the bookmark option to satisfy those who preferred the latter.

Depending on how your home page is set up, you may have a box labelled "Recently Tagged Pages..." At the bottom of that box are 2 options, 1 to view your own tagged pages, what I called "personal tags" and one to view ALL tagged pages, what I called "global tags". The list of your own tagged pages is visible only to you. The list of ALL tagged pages is visible to all DG members, so that's why I think of it as 'global'. To visit what I called "global tags" from this box on your home page, click on "View ALL tagged pages."

You can also access tags using the menu system under Communities/Tagged Pages which will take you to what I referred to as the "global tags" or ALL tags displayed in cloud form. In cloud form, the tags (tagged pages) are in alphabetical order; however, at the top there are a bunch of numerical entries as well as entries which begin with quotes, so you will need to scroll down a ways to reach the words which start with the letter 'a' and so on. If, for instance, you want to find threads which relate to composting, you will need to scroll down to the general area of words beginning with 'c' and then find the word 'composting' or 'compost' or other similar words. Click on these entries to see associated threads.

Hope this helps. Sorry for the confusing terminology.

It would be nice if at the top of all the forums it says what forums were put in there. Still not sure why Speciality Gardening has Container Gardening as its heading?

Before I posted my suggestion, I tested it by searching "ALL tags" in cloud form for "winter sowing" and similar words like "winter sow", etc. The 2nd tag (keyword) I clicked on contain what looked like the full list of all threads from the prior Winter Sowing Forum. It may not always be this easy to round up lost threads, but I think most of them can be found in this way, but only if you know the general subject (i.e. keyword) to look for.

Since the cloud list of ALL tags allows you to search for things by keyword or words, you can use it like an alternative form of search engine.

DOS, that post deserves a thumbs up!