Update from Internet Brands

I always follow along on your posts & pictures. If you were about 600 miles closer, I would join in.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm finding difficulties in some things today (wish the Posts You Have Made would get back to normal) but there are many rewards still to be found here.

This site can be viewed as an encyclopedia of sorts, or an historical novel.

When current things are slow, or disrupted - or just annoying to read - I'll often burrow back into the legacy of past posts. There, often, are threads that just stopped because what was discussed was asked/answered. However, the information is startlingly germane to entirely different participants in new discussions today. I'll drag these threads forward with a new post, and gardeners today can benefit.

Don't be surprised that many involve Viburnums...

These old threads can also be instructive in other ways - conversational tone being one. I can "hear" myself typing enthusiastically (and sometimes unwittingly) about a subject - mostly not plant-related - and realize that just because I believe a certain way doesn't mean I HAVE to bluntly say so. Terry, Melody, other admins, and owners at DG may not say so, but the PREVIEW POST button is a very good thing when whaling (sp.?) away at the keyboard in a rush to post. Discretion being the better part of valor, and so forth.

I remember vividly making jokes and mocking posts that had obvious misspellings (public vs the same word lacking an "l") - thinking that this is all in fun and among friends. THERE ARE THOSE WITH WHICH YOU DO NOT JEST! One fellow not wearing the bullseye even remarked that his screen name nuanced his recognized low intelligence, and was insulted by proximity. Others lurking on the threads thought it important enough to surreptitiously notify admins of massive trouble on the forum.

I'm not sure there are enough emojis or emoticons in the world to satisfy those who will look for offense - but a little analysis of one's own contribution via preview is never bad.

I - for better or worse - wear the mantle of someone who at one time was banned from forums on DG due to my contributions and associations therein. I served my time on Elba, and like Lazarus came back to life here. Many were in a similar boat. Some came back, others never did. So be it, and life has moved on.

There's a bunch of metaphors and similes there that probably grate on some...

Anyway, the point of this post is that taking a deep breath and a detour is almost never a bad thing to do in so many situations. Stating your case is always OK. Beration and beating the horse that is already glue or dog food by now stretches credulity. I'd like to think that we all want to remain credible.

A little imagery of how far I've come while hanging around these parts - for grayer or worse...

Dear Alisonrose.
Thank you for your message, posted on the site wide banner, on behalf of Internet Brands.I particularly appreciate that all further design changes on this site have been put on hold and will be thoroughly live tested before they are implemented. Bravo on the making noticing all members a priority. I think the default watch Site forum for all is a good move.
I do have one request . While the problems encountered with the roll out of changes to the Forums are being addressed could the Forums please be restored to their status on 12/6 before the roll out?
Thank you in advance for your consideration. I am looking forward to your response to my request.
Respectfully,
coleup (Judy)

All the photos I add now load sideways!!' Very aggravating!!! They loaded correctly before the "improvements".

We always had a preview if we posted pics. That isn't new to most of us. The arrangement is different- because its all on one page instead of loading a 2nd page to ck the preview.

nutsaboutnature:
Thanks for the instructions and trying to help computer handicapped me. Again, I just wish the site is as user-friendly as "it used to be". I haven't tried your instructions but will soon. I do appreciate you taking the time to help me.

Pricking out seeds Dino. Yes, when I wrote "pricking" I thought that is how people used the word, but then, I lost my confidence and put "pricking" into google for definition. It's there. Also, when I put Pricking Out Seeds Dino in a google search, lots of information came up.

I wish this website could be turned around, and it may, but it will take months and maybe more. I wish the members that left would return--maybe they will.

Kinda splitting the hair on that preview button aren't we? I knew about the old preview button on pic uploads before. I can go weeks or longer without posting a pic. Some people never posted pics before.
I'm sorry I sound like a doomsayer.

I am wondering if lost posts (thot I had several tonite) are actually further along in the threads. Our posts can be on page 1 but show up on page 3...and posts are usually lost when you don't wait for the fulll upload to finish. This isn't the site. This problem is your access to internet. There were once programs that helped your devices reach out and snag that signal. But an overloaded internet still takes awhile to get the upload to fully load. I notice DG is not the only site nor internet using company to be forced to change everything they have been doing over to whole new programs. I do hope our Plantfiles get some attention, some dependability back.

I think you are so right Kittriana. Now you can use the posting box on the bottom of every single page in a thread, not just the last one, the most current. So if you do not make your post on the latest page unknowingly, but on a page already gone by, you may look for it on that page without realizing it is really posted on the latest page. LOL, if all that makes sense! I did this and was convinced my post was deleted. I think if you could only post on the most current page, it would help with some of the confusion.

I would love someone to go back to the PlantFile changes that were made awhile ago and fix them too! I was surprised that the PlantFile fixes gone awry were not fixed before DG was off and running to make huge changes to the forums.

I will not even complain about many changes I so dislike (the new too small photo size, the way comments now effectively crop the photos thus negatively impacting them, or no longer being able to see all the photos at once in each plant entry but having to click one by one thru them to find what I want), but instead comment on changes that may have a chance to get fixed because they make common sense.

The search is still hit and miss. The ways you can search is very limited and therefore limits the worth of PlantFiles. Alphabetical search results would be helpful.

We still cannot edit though we could pre changes, our own description that we add when we post pictures; "Please give a short (20 words or less) description of this picture:" Now I just have to let errors I made sit there.

Awhile back the system did not post the descriptions I had written. A transient glitch I assume. I posted 6 photos not realizing my descriptions were missing. At the time, I used the error notification. I also wrote what info needed to be added as the description and asked that Admin do so for me. I was and still am very unhappy that no one has ever acknowledged my request much less did it. The photos are not mine and the description would credit the real photographer. As it is now, it appears that I took the photos. How can I ask gifted plant photographers to allow me to share their photos here if I do not give them credit and worse let it appear that I took the photos myself?

Also the way the names now appear in PlantFiles is very peculiar. I have mentioned this before but no one has bothered to explain it to me. Why was it changed that the cultivar name no longer comes after the genus and species names but after the common name? How can this be correct?

Example. As written in PlantFiles http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53223/
Species Rose 'Lutea'
Rosa banksiae

Isn't the correct name Rosa banksiae Lutea, not Species Rose 'Lutea' ?

And I am endlessly annoyed that there is no green color to check under Set all details; Foliage Color. Since we can't check green as a color since it is not listed as a possible color and since green is the most common color of all foliage that means that on most of the plants in PlantFiles, the foliage color comes up as "Foliage Color: Unknown - Tell us" I so want to tell you, it is GREEN but there is no green given as a possibility to check!!! How does this make sense?

Tonight I went to notify admin of an error in the name of a cactus on that cactus page and the "report an error" is gone! The whole box is gone where "Report an error" was listed as the last option. I looked and looked. I know I just used it the other day. I see it still is on the page if I click on a picture to make it bigger, the box that contains "Report an error" is to the right of the photo. But that is of no help if the error is on the plant entry page.

I know these issues are not that important to many members here. However to those of us who post so many pictures to PFs, it can get very irritating. Since I have to search for the plant entry for every photo I post, having to try 3 different ways to get to the correct entry is beyond annoying. And often that does not even work, but finally after I go to all the trouble of looking up on google the family name and the common names to add the plant as a new plant, after I type it all in the spaces, and hit enter then and only then the system finally tells me it won't add it as a new plant as it is already entered and then it finally gives me the link to it. 15 minutes or more wasted.

I am sure other frequent PF posters have more changes they would love to see. I would think making it easier not harder would encourage others to share their own great photos and also encourage people using PFs.

Thank you.

Birder ~
I wonder if these links have any of the info you were looking for.

The first one is a compilation of info from assorted threads put together by TwinLakesChef. It was so popular that even though it started in 2002, people kept "bumping" it until 2011. The next one is a post from that same thread by blomma and talks about the "Deno" method for starting seeds.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/367693/?hl=

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=8287005

Lastly...using the spelling "Deno" rather than "Dino" and just typing the one word, I came up with lots of info both in "Tagged Pages" and also using the "Advanced Search" for forums.

There was way too much to give you links for, but if you get a chance you might want to try it. Also, don't forget to use the "Ctrl F" text box I explained in my previous post as it will highlight the words you're looking for.

P.S. Sorry everybody for getting a little off-topic, but since a lot of people are having trouble using DG since the changes, I feel it's important that we help each other. Sooo, I figured it's still (kind of) on-topic. :o)

Hello Nuts,

That was great detective work, figuring out that Birder meant "Deno" instead of "Dino". Mystery solved. Congratulations.

ZM

Please put "Home" at the top and bottom of each page so that when we are done on one we can go check another forum....

OR has the process changed????

I loved the site just the way it was! Was all of this really necessary? The PREVIEW POST sure isn't!

Kell, I experienced the same thing while reporting a plant, no option to put the foliage color in as green. I just figured it was still not updated yet. I finally figured out where my journal was, to start a new one, it was kind of tedious, but hay, I learned something. I haven't heard back from admin on my last two inquiries, but I did answer those questions already so it doesn't matter.

Vibernum, thanks for your voice, great pics, I don't know if you remember me asking you about a plant being a korean spice or not, but thanks to you, I know it's not. LOL
I use Plant Files mostly to see what has been posted, and what is new, in case I want what just got posted .. so it is very important to me :) It has a hiccup, like most babies have, and I bet we'll get over them soon., as everyone usually does.

PLEASE bring back the 'old' plant files. This is suppose to be a gardening web site!! If what happened to the plant file format is 'NEW AND IMPROVED' you all have a weird sense of gardening!!

Kell is correct. The plant names are messed up and not taxonomically correct. The cultivar, variety, form, etc always must follow species, subspecies which follows the genus. It's all mangled up and it makes it frustrating when I must copy/paste a name for google searching. The 2 separate pages for the same plant is confusing and messy. In plant ID, I used to be able to see the plant I wanted to take a guess on but the thumbnails are way too small. It seems the changes were made by programmer types and not gardeners. Oh well. Here we are.

Okay, one more doomsday post, then I'll hush down on the doom and gloom. Somebody is trying to make this site like a big, valuable, social media site. This is a gardening/information site, not a site where you don't have to think. That other social media site has a whole different theme. The target membership now appears to be free visitors asking how to get the green stains off their shoes. I don't want to lose even more friends, I've met two in this thread alone, at Roundups. The central midwest roundups are nice and I'm sure anybody is welcome to come.
Oh, and my pics are always sideways too now. It's like the mobile optimization needs to be tweaked there or something.

This message was edited Feb 1, 2016 9:34 AM

Would it be helpful if we started a separate thread to discuss PlantFiles issues? I see three potential avenues of discussion:

1. Some of the topics mentioned in this thread are on the list of fixes. I can give you updates on where they are in the list of priorities so we can be sure we get them sorted out.

2. Some of the topics may just need some explanation and education on the changes. Long story short, we absolutely did not "gut" PlantFiles - all the information contributed and edited by many members (including yours truly and Melody) is still there. It may not be in the format you were accustomed to seeing, but I think we can talk through those issues and hopefully get some clarity on both sides.

3. Some issues may be suggestions for additional corrections or adjustments that we haven't addressed. It would be helpful to get that constructive input from members who know PlantFiles best, so we can continue to fine-tune the database.

Yes, start a new thread to discuss PlantFiles issues, please.

Great idea, Terry, Thanks!

For those of you with PlantFiles-specific questions or issues, here's a thread where I will do my best to hash them out with you: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1414447/

Terry, is it possible to ask for a darker font. For some reason it looks more gray than black.
These old eyes would appreciate a darker font please?

I'm asking too Linda. I can barely make out the posts.

We were fond of the bold face print, chuckl.

I could cheat, so that you only read my posts...

Thank you.

As I read through the posts, I read over and over, changes have made using this website more difficult. Well, first you do this, then you do that, then, you go here. Wow, how are those improvements? I don't get it.
Again, Nutsaboutnature, I will review your directions, and I appreciate the support.
And since people are having problems that they mention that someone else can help solve, I believe is constructive to this thread.

Vitrsna,

Forgive me if I posted this before. It disappeared, or I made an error.

I went into my Google page and changed my ad preferences. I then took your suggestion above. None of the boxes were checked, but all of the ads have disappeared. So I think it was in fact my Google preferences that erased all of the ads.

So if you want to get rid of them you might go to your search engine and into ad preferences. I still get ads in Yahoo but the gmail ones are gone and they are gone in Daves. This is great because negotiating around them, and worse, the time they took to load, was a real drag.

Are they still approving ads for the Classifieds?

All I can add is I hope you do not add any more "improvements". This was the worst thing you could do to someone who enjoys Dave's Garden forums.

Judy, we will not be reverting to the previous version. Although not readily apparent to members, the old format did have some major issues. In particular, search engines were penalizing the site because it did not have a mobile-friendly view. Instead, we are focusing on changing and fixing the aspects of the new design that are unpopular.

We are also getting the message loud and clear that PlantFiles is the next highest member priority after the forum fixes. There actually was not any data removed from the database or the entry pages, but the search, photo view and editing functions definitely have room for improvement so that will be next on the agenda.

Alisonrose.
Thank you for your quick response to my request to return to a functioning version of the site while deeper design fixes are created and tested. Is our site making it as mobile friendly now or still being penalized? Are mobile users encountering the
same problems with site functionality that many have enumerated here?

I don't want to guess, but I have my fingers crossed that 'forced Preview' is not critical to DG being mobile friendly! Seriously, when do you anticipate site navigation aides like page # at top and bottom, skip to new, quote boxes, while you were posting notices, return to post/forum/home, font and color adjustments for readability, etc might be ready?
How is the new improved beta testing coming along?

I think Plant Files is a big priority as it represents the dedicated work of so many over the years. Thanks for you and Terry picking up on that. Also, I would really appreciate it if you all would check in and post on this thread on a daily basis even if just to say 'Hi'. It is very reassuring to me at least.
Hope your recooperation is going well.

Judy

I see that the copy is in a darker color and larger too, and that helps a lot, thank you.

The site currently works fine for me on laptop as well as on Android phone. And I've gotten my ads turned off here by going to my Preferences.

Same here...both on my iPad and desktop. The issues I've had have been addressed.

Wow, I though my eyes had suddenly improved but the type face here definitely is darker and much appreciated!

Adding a Happy Birthday to Terry!

Terry, Thank you very much for the darker print.
Hope you're birthday was great!!

LOL, I can't take any credit for the darker print. Alison must have said something to the techs. But thanks for the birthday wishes!