Update from Internet Brands

Can the issue with the Dmails to Admin not reaching administrators please be resolved? Memory Garden instructs people to write to Admin, but the Dmails don't get to anyone. The contact info thread there instructs people to write to Joan, but she passed away, too. Someone else posted a request for another member to be added to Memory Garden; it's at the tail end of one of the admin forum posts here. There have been several DG members who passed over the last couple years, but weren't added to the Memory Garden until people wrote multiple times. This is something really important to friends and family.

Gardenwife -- I'd suggest you message that in its entirety to their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/davesgardencom/

In the upper right-hand corner there is a Send Message button. I have had a monodic of success doing that.

If anyone does get in touch with Terry, please ask her how members can contact admin. Obviously, admin does not monitor this thread which members thought existed to allow us to contact admin with our comments and concerns.

It is so bizarre not to have a tried and true method of communication unless of course they do not want to hear from us. Ever. LOL

June, I've done that. Terry replied when I private messaged her directly on Facebook.

But why should members have to do that? And why should Terry have to be hunted down on her private Facebook account before she knows I was trying to reach someone at DG? Sounds like DG needs some extra supports staff to support her and Melody.

Amen to that, Gardenwife! They do manage to get in touch with us promptly when it is time to renew membership.

IMHO I think that Admin. has left the room.

LOL Anna! We are but a ghost site, adrift in the vast sea of the world wide web!

I must add that DaylilySLP who is the PlantFiles Admin, is constantly on the job. I just got 6 dmails just now from her, taking care of my piddling problems, most self inflicted, on PFs. So a big THANK YOU to her!

I have not added my orchid collection to Plant Files since early attempts were qued, awaiting approval, and no one ever confirmed approval. Nor was there indication they ever were entered in Plant Files. But if I Google some of my orchids, where photos were posted on a subscriber only forum here, I see my photos. So I've been told by Terry that photos posted are open to Google.

As for Admin issues, I logged out on all my devices to travel in May and found I couldn't log back in. The site would not recognize my password, which I had used frequently and without issue. Three months later and many attempts to contact Admin went unanswered. Several private emails resulted in folks Facebook notifying Admin they wanted something done on my behalf and then posting they were not renewing membership. I could read posts on subscriber only fora, not logged in, but could not post. That was a revelation! I finally heard from Melody with apologies.

I do not have a Facebook account, don't know what and why things are the way they are but gave away a year's subscription won in the County Fair contest because information gained has become winnowed down as well as what I have to offer.

This site used to be GREAT. Miss those days when the owners(s) actually cared. 😭

Part of the appeal of Dave's Garden has always been the "paid members only" forums where people chat together with some semblance of privacy. Under Dave's management things ran pretty smoothly. After the site was sold things quickly fell apart. For all I know it may have been sold again because there is little supervision, no management and contacting an Admin seems only possible if you go to the Dave's Garden Facebook page and send them a message.

As far as I know, now that Terry has retired Melody is the only one doing most things on the site. I don't know what happened to the person who was in charge of the photos. I can't remember her name. I've had some problems with that in the past.

Thanks for that information, Melanie. I didn't realize Terry had retired so will remove her from my list of DG contacts. I know Melody was in charge of the Memory Garden and perhaps still is.

I never have any problems contacting Melody. She is always prompt to respond. I am very happy with her. She is handling everything, and with great grace. I have corrsponded with her several times in the last month or two. I wish people would get off her back. Her work managing the writers and solving tecnical problems in beyond reproach - and it's not easy.

I am not on Facebook, because of the problems they have with privacy. Some idiot went onto my sister's Facebook page and wrote things about her that could jeapardize her future employment.

And frankly, a lot of people who I really thought were idiots went over to the National Gardening Association. I am glad that they are gone. The only contact I have with them is when they pester me to join them. There are a lot of people who seemed preoccupied with showing off what they have. Nothing would make me join.

As for posting pictures, the person who primarily does it seem preoccupied with posting her own pictures, so it can take quite some time to get yours up. This person also posts multiple similar images of her own photos so she can keep a sufficient number to remain an UBER. Not surprisingly, she is on the other site. What was really great was when she contacted me because the pictures I had contributed to Cubits were taken without my permission and put on whatever the website was that preceeded NGA. She pointed out to me that the pictures had not migrated to NGA and surely I wanted to correct this. I told her I was thrilled that they didn't have them. She didn't like my attitude.

I think that recruiting for NGA id inappropriate. If you think this is not the place for you, I am sure that you need not resubscribe.No one is twisting your arm.

DonnaMack, your post is kind of odd. How would I know what Terry retired? How would I know that Melody is doing things alone? There is no communication from the website at all. I too have contacted Terry and Melody in the past with zero response from either. Good for you that they reply to you. That does make a huge difference..but only for you.

Get off Melody's back? How is that going to happen if she is the only person to contact? The prior poster is only making a suggestion. You, on the other hand are calling people names. In reality your post is inappropriate.

Yes I have issues with this site and it will be my decision if I decide to leave. Not yours.

I agree with Elsie. Everyone uses DG differently. There are many subscribers for whom their participation is primarily in the "private" chat forums. And we pay an annual membership fee for that privilege.

You seem to have a lot of issues that are unrelated to the question that prompted the most current questions here --

-- how does one get in touch with DG Admin?
-- And these days who does what on this site?

Personally, I'm thinking that they are just hoping we go away and this site can croak. I'm here for the "Coffee........" group. It's worth the 20 bucks it costs me for a year. Nothing else is, tho. Nobody really responds to anything related to the site.

I'm Carole, not Melanie.

Ooops, my mistake! I think I've made that mistake before and I apologize.

No problem. I do the same thing.

DonnaMack,

I release images EVERY DAY, so I don't know who is "preoccupied with posting her own pictures, so it can take quite some time to get yours up. This person also posts multiple similar images of her own photos so she can keep a sufficient number to remain an UBER. Not surprisingly, she is on the other site."
It's not ME. For one thing, you don't have to maintain your image uploading, once you are a UBER, you stay a UBER.
Anyway, there are a few Admin that release images, and you are wrong about waiting for images to be released. We have to actually LOOK at every image to make sure it is the correct plant.
I am also Admin/Editor and I DO NOT get paid, I am, like most, a Volunteer!
Also, Joan and I were about the only ones releasing images for a while, but Joan passed away, so we are down a person.
Also, no need to call others that are on Garden.org "Idiots". I take that personal, as I am also
a member there.


Sandy


This message was edited Feb 12, 2018 11:35 AM

I for 1, THANK YOU Sandy!!!!  You should get paid for all the work you do.  I know you often, for years, have fixed all my PlantFile errors and fixed other people's errors that I find!  You are a volunteer!  For years!!!!

I didn't know you also were approving the photos submitted to PlantFiles.  A nonending job!  I did it for about 5 minutes and said NO THANK YOU!  I was already spending hours researching the correct ID of my own photos to enter, I did not have the time or desire to research other people's photos too.  So again THANK YOU for volunteering to do it daily and for doing it for years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you to any other ubers who do this task also.

And my last THANK YOU to you Sandy for all the great photos you have added to PlantFiles over the years. I have so enjoyed looking at them for years.

It seems DonnaMack does not understand what an "uber" is or what an "uber" did to become an "uber."  

There was a message from Melody some time ago that Terry had retired and she was doing things alone. Clearly it wasn't read by everyone. Daylily, I was NOT referring to you. I did not mention the name of the person but it CERTAINLY was not you, and I apologize if you think I was criticizing you because I was not!

I'm not telling anyone to leave. I just don't understand all the threats to leave that aren't followed by action.

And by the way, the information about what one does to be an UBER came as a direct result of an inquiry to ADMIN.

This message was edited Feb 12, 2018 6:37 PM

To get the uber distinction, you must volunteer hundreds of hours if not thousands to help build Plantfiles.  You do this in a variety of ways.  These ways include
1. Manually entering plant names; family, genus, species and common names. What you do not know, you have to look up.  Almost every plant in PlantFiles was entered letter by letter by a volunteer here.

2. You can then enter every detail specific to that plant.  If you do not know them, you look them up.

3. You search for each plants synonyms, enter them.

4. If you have photos of a plant, you enter them. Not to mention the time taking the photos.

You do this over and over and over again.

No one pays you or even thanks you.  After all this you might get an "uber" on your home page where no one even sees it.  LOL Such a thrill.

No uber entering their photos, slows anyone else's photos getting entered to PlantFiles.  Uber's photos are on direct upload into the that plant's file. They do not go on the picture queue for approval.  They are automatically approved.

All ubers can volunteer even more of their time to approve other people's photos if they so wish. 

Once you are an uber, you can stop entering plants, plant details or photos that very day and you still  stay an uber with all the many benefits I have outlined earlier.  You are an uber for past work not future.  There is no yearly quota of work you must do.

I wonder how we can get a member added to the Memory Garden? I know someone who wants a person added and she cannot get anyone to respond to her.

This is really getting frustrating. And hurtful when long time members pass away and we have no way to let others know that or to honor them. Somebody needs to step up and take care of this. Or at least be considerate enough to respond on this thread.

WHERE TO HECK IS ADMN...

so many of us have contacted adm with serious concerns and admn has not responded to anyone

Perhaps on renewal time we all are considering dropping our membership

Well, I only keep my membership because I enjoy chatting in a few forums. I would hate to lose those friendships. As far as maintenance of the DG site is concerned -- it is dreadful. The only way to reach anyone apparently is to go through their Facebook page. And that is no guarantee you will get a response.

I believe several friends have done so to no avail

Sad indeed!

I did once reach Terry via Facebook but she has retired.

Then likely nobody has taken her place

I have actually sent a message to Melody and asking that the Memory Garden be opened so we can remember members ourselves. As is par for the course there was no reply. Top of the line place when any contact link leads to absolutely nothing.

I just renewed my subscription and really thought there should be a discount since the site really isn't working well at all. Well I guess getting our money is working well.

Just wondering -- is there any reason one of us cannot start a Memory Garden thread where people can post? Melody supposedly was to do this but no one has reached her with any results.

Hi, all!

I am trying to get someone to respond here, but they don't even answer me.
I am only a low level Admin/Editor. A lot of things I can't do.
I will keep trying.

Sandy

We will appreciate anything you can do, Sandy. And we do understand that you likely have limits on what you can do.

June, Marilynne actually started a thread for Barb - the woman she had been contacting admin about. It is under General Discussions.

We cannot start a thread on the Memory Garden - only admin can. I have asked to have that changed. It does appear that there is no one to contact here at DG.

Yes m had the info for Barb so we decided that even doing the memorial this way was better than no memorial.

Sorry, I was not aware that had been done.

https://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1475577/

Hello, I introduced myself in another thread,
https://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1475577/

I'll see what we can do about memory garden. At the very least, have it updated by admins on request quickly. Here's my direct email just in case. Feel free to reach out to me anytime. tyson.yen@internetbrands.com

-Tyson