3/14: Release today + bug reports here

I'm really sorry Lisa. I missed your post somehow. I guess I need to slow down when I go through posts. (I'm not too fond of emoticons, but I wouldn't mind one right now to relay embarrassment). :o)

hello,

The bugs in the photo appeared in my house, please if anyone knows to tell me from where can they be coming and how can I destroy them? I am very scared, because I do not know from where this bugs appear and I do not know how to destroy them, please help me
Thank you...

You need to post that in the forum for insect identification:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/bugid/all/

When you post to the insect identification forum, make sure you give a general location as this can help with the ID. Your bugs do not look like anything to be frightened of, just pick them up and toss outside. Bugs often make their way into homes accidentally. They likely are more afraid of you than you are of them.

Edited to say I thought I hit the quote button for eleonorateona's post. Must've fat fingered something. ??

This message was edited May 13, 2016 5:06 PM

Nuts, there is no reason to be embarrassed. I'm just glad things are getting fixed.

Ok, yes, I agree.



same here, but for me, almost all of my friends have left.

There is still 1 group; we are from the pets forum.... and most are hanging tight.
I'm still undecided. granted 20bucks wont break the bank -- but it really seems the powers that be do not even care and it also does not seem like they are trying to fix what it wrong.

SallieKR wrote

I did the same thing... I'll have to see if it is fixed, as i was just reading chatter about some forums are.

SallieKR wrote

I did the same thing... I'll have to see if it is fixed, as i was just reading chatter about some forums are.

[/quote]

Yes, it's fixed. I had to search for my post from about a week ago, then I marked it as solved. At least some things are getting fixed!

Nutsabout nature you are cool indeed!

Oh wow, are you really in Algonguin? I'm in Elgin.

Thank you everyone :)

I am registering my vote here:
I REALLY dislike emoticons. It's not that people use them instead of commenting (although they do), it's just that they are so distracting for me. (I'm thinking I would probably show as having Attention Deficit Disorder if they had tested for it back then.) For me, that is a cardinal sin, being distracting. I find it distracting when people use bad grammar, I find it extremely distracting when people use cutesy words or phrases like "luv u 2." (That belongs on a conversation heart.) And it takes away from my experience if I have to screen out the effect of a zillion flashing and waving emoticons. So I find the effect of DG more classy, more grownup, more serious maybe. Calmer. I get riled up all by myself! I just say "color me embarrassed" or or "kidding" or "heh heh." I used to once in a very long while use a smily on here to explain that I was saying something that should be taken as funny. But I don't think they work anymore. Sometimes I say *_* to indicate funny, actually the asterixes and so on.

Facebook: my daughter was about to move out for college, in 2008. I said "well, you will email regularly, right?" and she said "Mom, have you heard of Facebook?" I use it to make connections, like with people I went to high school with. I think I had kind of a "slash and burn" lifestyle, at least, I don't have friends from other parts of my life. I am not regularly in touch with anyone from my childhood, high school or college, I guess I don't have friends? Or my life changed too much? Anyway, I like the virtual friends I have here and on Facebook. I have met most of my FB friends in person, but I have not met most of my DG friends.

FB=TMI..............waaaaaay TMI most times.

I have actually had the pleasure of meeting a small handful of people from Dave's. And I have gotten close enough to some of them to exchange Christmas cards. It's nice.

Because I had the good fortune to have parents and siblings involved in education from elementary to post graduate, I am very language oriented. I didn't use contractions until I was 18. And my speech tends to be formal, so I try to loosen it up. The biggest blessing (curse) was 5 years of Latin, four imposed. I learned a lot of words others consider unnecessary. I kept being accused of using 50 cent words. The interesting thing about the English language is that it is so complex, with so many roots (German, for one) that there is a precise word for almost everything, but it has more than one syllable. It can be good to dial it down. I was lucky in terms of having parents for whom education was everything.

Have you noticed that newscasters, on a national level, commonly make grammatical errors? Or that everyone seems to start responses with the word so? I personally think emoticons result from people just not having the language to express their feelings. I refuse to go on Facebook (don't even have an account) or text, the latter on rare occasions, probably because I am naturally perverse and won't do what everyone else does. I realized this when a quite sophisticated gardener I knew said that he didn't recognize 80% of the plants in my garden. Cool! I am naturally repulsed by the 10 plants everyone has. When I bought my first single family home in 1998, and could work with a landscaper, I had as many restrictions as requirements - no black eyed susans, no purple coneflowers, no hostas, no autumn joy sedum, no barberries, no pear trees. Virtually every yard I see has all of these, and in my case familiarity breeds contempt.

I think that a lot of adults are being pushed into the communication methods that are popular now by their children. When I was in college, one of the highlights of my week in college was calling my mother every Sunday night. I have a friend in New Zealand, and we Skype. My garden clients, who are primarily in their late 50's and early 60's, got what I consider to be the vile habit of texting as much as five pages worth of material, and if they didn't get a response within 15 minutes they would text again. Although they were paying me I put a stop to that. Now they send emails unless it is urgent. There is a difference. People seem to expect an instant response to texts (my favorite is the follow up text that asks if you got their text), and I don't walk around phone in hand. In fact, when I am driving, I turn it off, because I don't want to be distracted when I am driving. I have to watch out for the person behind me who has their phone in hand. My favorite is still the teenaged girl who was tailgating me phone in hand and then apparently put it down so she could use BOTH HANDS to style her hair. That's when my flashers go on and I pull over and wave you through. I'll bet you don't have insurance and I really don't want to have to pay the $500 deductible.

But then, I'm weird. I still send thank you cards and write letters to the management of companies when their employees are particularly helpful to me, letting them know that the person is wonderful. It's selfish, in a way. I feel really good doing it.

This message was edited May 15, 2016 8:26 AM

After I was out of school for many years, I really wished I'd have taken Latin, mostly because I read SO MUCH, and it would be interesting to know just "how" some words got put together. I didn't go on to college, mostly because I didn't want to. LOL I'd like to take some classes now, but have no idea for WHAT. How's that for direction in life? I'd really like to take one of those tests that measure what you know (as an "older student") which I have heard would eliminate the need to take some required general classes. Hmmm........I'd probably be surprised to find out just how little I DO know, instead of how much I THINK I know. Bwahahahaha............

Hi Donna,

I think you meant to say "the vile habit of texting..."

I write messages by saying them in my head and transcribing what I said, and sometimes I type a "sounds like" word instead. I suspect we share that technique. On the other hand, the f and v are next to each other on the keyboard. So, maybe not.

You are absolutely correct. And everyone, I edited it. Thank you, Zen Man.

Frankly, I wasn't allowed to take typing in high school. Which made no sense to me then or now. I am a terrible typist, so I always have to correct my mistakes, but if the incorrect word is correctly spelled, I don't always catch it. And yes, I made the f and v mistake, because I certainly did mean vile.

Dear Anna, what the best colleges actually teach you (at least I think so) is how to think, how to analyze, and how to write. Then you can learn anything. I think you can learn anything. It was great then, but sometimes I think it's better now. I do believe that it is why I took university extension classes in 2012 to become a master gardener. I knew a lot (the Latin helped) but there was so much I didn't know, and there are few things more satisfying than explaining to someone, at the Help Desk at the extension office, something I didn't know five years ago, and watching their face light up with comprehension and, sometimes, delight. I finally really understand my best professors.

Your comments would likely be welcome here, too:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1424084/

Wow, VV. I just went there, and after recovering from the shock, made some suggestions.

Thanks!

I am not sure this is a "bug". The other day I was wondering... what happened to the post I just commented on? I found it in My Posts, but it was no where to be found on the forum.

I use the Insect and Bird Identification forums and to get back to front page of those forums easily, I click on the forum name up near the top after Communities>Forums...

Today I discovered the "problem". When I click on that link it hides all the "closed" threads. I found the "See ALL threads" link below the forum name. I can see the benefit for hiding Closed threads for those who want to go through open threads quickly, but I would like to see all whenever I go to a forum's main page.

In some cases, discussion continues in closed threads. I will give you an example. On the Insect Identification forum, there is a STICKY post relating to spider bites. Someone at some time past thought it was worthwhile to keep at the top because of the information in it. That post does not show up when the link at the top of the page is clicked because it was marked Closed. I found that to be true also in the Plant Identification forum. Only one sticky post remains because it was never Closed.

I am not asking to never hide closed threads, but could there be a preference in our personal settings that would always take us to all the posts?

As I am typing this, I wonder... is this a recent change, or has it always been like this? It could be I am using the site differently. I am not sure I have always clicked those links to get to those forums' main pages. ???

Chilly, maybe I'm misunderstanding your comment/question, but when I click on any of the I.D. forums I can still see all the closed threads.

Same here I can see all the closed threads but there is a place to click on if you only want to see open threads. it's on all the iD forums.

I do not have time to do a screen shot to show you (I can do it later), but it is when I am already within the forum viewing a thread that when I click on the link near the top to get me back to the list of threads that it shows only the non-closed threads.

Okay, thanks for explaining. I just tried what you said and, yes, that's what also happened to me.

I've never noticed it before, but I probably don't go back and forth that way. I honestly don't know if it's by design or, in fact, a glitch. I'd suggest sending a note to admin, but they haven't been responding much lately so it might not accomplish anything.

Interestingly, if I hit the "back arrow" instead of clicking on the link for the forum it still shows the closed threads.

I also tried the other I.D. forums and they all do the same thing. They also all work normally if I just hit the back arrow.

I used to use the back button extensively here, so I suspect this has always been how that works. ???

Back to the sticky watched threads issue:
It has been a long time since I had this trouble. A couple of days ago I had one in the Insect Identification forum. It remained there until I Unwatched. it. Now today this Plant ID thread is stuck:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1426414/

I will go ahead and unstick it, but what is it that causes some threads to do this? I will click through to it numerous times, but unless I comment or Unwatch, it will just stay there.

I've had the same issue,but I don't know the cause it doesn't happen very often. I just post that I'm trying to unstick it, I've noticed that it doesn't matter if somebody else posts I have to post to unstick it. I guess it's not stuck for everybody.?

This is a recent change/correction to an older issue we've been grappling with.

By way of explanation, across the site we have several forums that allow the original poster and admins to open/close the threads - those you typically see are the ID threads, and in the past, the co-op threads. Admins also have this ability when we are in the help desk areas, working on PlantFiles, BugFiles or BirdFiles errors, or general inquiries.

We thought the techs were making the default "see all threads" for the public forums (with the ability to filter them to see just the unresolved ones), and "see only unresolved" for the admin areas (with the option to see all threads.) That's what makes the most sense, IMHO, and that's how it did work in the past.

But it looks like something may have gotten lost in translation. If you can bear with the current situation for the time being, we'll get it sorted out with them. Hopefully it won't take too long, but since we're heading into the weekend, it could be a few days before they can return to it and get it re-tested and released again.

Where should we report spam? There is a lot I have tried reporting it but didn't get a response.

Plantfiles photos forum isn't updating - I added two photos yesterday, but they don't show up. I can find them under my info, photos submitted, though.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/pdb/all/


This message was edited Jun 12, 2016 7:02 PM

Have those photos been approved yet? Your images will not show up in the plantfile photos until they are. What I find interesting is prior to their approval the thumbnails will show up on the plant file, but clicking on them shows there's no image.

With my custom homepage settings, I have the little box that shows pending images. Most of the time it is empty.

Lisa, please report spam via the "Contact Us" link until we can get the flagging feature fixed: http://davesgarden.com/helpdesk

Terry, I have reported some via the contact us link but never heard back, like I used to. Others have said the same thing...as long as they are taken care off I'm good but I'm used to getting a response.

I assume they've been approved. I show no "pending images" (after an expected delay of a day or so when they appeared on my home page as pending.) When I go to the plant, my image appears (the only image submitted) and clicking it shows my description and the image. One example:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/235238/
"PlantFiles Pictures" forum, on my home page, shows last post as "Jun 9, 2016" even though several new images show up if I actually go to the forum:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/pdb/all/
My 2 images don't appear in that forum, however.

I am not eager to introduce a disruptive note but I have talked about the photo approval process before, during the previous administration. I realize that the admins have no time to sift through hundreds of photos. But there has been a practice of allowing "Ubers" to approve photos. I asked how one becomes an uber simply by uploading a large number of photos. I complained to the old administration because some of the ubers were using it to upload large number of their own images, and many of the images were essentially identical. Certain people would upload perhaps ten images when 3 would have served an informational purpose. It seemed to me, bluntly, simply a way of insuring that one remains an uber. And I noticed that one uber in particularly would load dozens of her own pictures, approve them immediately, and then not get to the pictures of other for days.

I sent administration examples of what I meant, and they ended up deleting a series of essentially identical pictures, but our Admin people don't have time for this. And the problem remains. I for one have a lot of images of plants that don't have pictures, but I became frustrated by the process and stopped uploading because it frankly galls me that you don't need any expertise to be an uber, just a lot of time to upload your own stuff. And some of it is of quite low quality. I always sent my best pictures. The person who did this is still here. And from being around a while, I notice that this individual uploads her pal's pictures. I don't know that the administration can do anything about this self serving process, and it's a shame.

Interesting, Donna. I was just thinking that I haven't seen the Über designation in a while. As far as I can tell there aren't any ubers.

You are right about the missing pictures. I did a couple things out of curiosity. I began watching the PlantFiles Pictures forum and it has updated to Jun 14, 2016 9:45 PM. Has this updated in your forum watcher yet?

Next I looked for my images that I uploaded the 5th and like yours, they are not listed in the forum, yet are listed in My Posts and are within the plant files. I went back to page 6 and my plants approved 24 May do not show up either. Maybe there is a bug of some sort?

About DonnaMack's statements, sometimes mine are approved quickly, sometimes a few days. I had not given it much thought except when it seems to take awhile. How many people are there who can approve the images?

Since the plant files update, it has been difficult to go through a lot of flowers when I am looking for seedheads, stem details, etc , so I agree that some amount of images should be removed, if there are others of the same thing. Removing poor quality images should also be done, but only if there are not any other pictures in that file. But what is "poor quality", how far does one want to go with that?

I don't know if anything like this could even be done. I have opinions of what I would like to see in the plant files. But everyone else will have their ideas of what would make a great PlantFile.

When I upload images for the files I try to avoid making a repeat of something. But it goes back to that issue of difficulty in viewing all the images. Sticking to the less common plants will help with that.

A good definition of "poor quality" is illustrated in the Bird Watching forum thread titled
"Appalling Bad Pictures" (now up to volume 23).

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1413594/

I agree that reps of the same daylily flower (or viburnum fruit) is not helpful, and actually performs a disservice to PlantFiles users because it makes it more difficult to find what one is looking for to understand a plant.

As noted by others: descriptive images of the separative features of a plant are of major importance. I could post a thousand Arrowwood Viburnum flower pictures, and not help anyone discern anything else about that plant. However, clear photos of buds, stems, leaf morphology, etc. will help a gardener or botanist or whomever actually identify this species and help separate it from other similar species.

The other very useful image to provide is use of the plant in a landscape setting, or many different landscape settings (human designed or natural environment).

Way more than 2 cents, but I feel better now. Well enough to add some "poor quality" image examples...

I should have taken screenshots of the original problem, but the same thing is happening again. The forum watcher shows no new posts, but when I go to the forum there are many. It seems to stay "stuck" for a couple of days, then the watcher shows new posts, but apparently (as in my case) at least some of the photos don't appear in the PlantFiles Pictures forum. According to the description of that forum "All photos uploaded to PlantFiles will automatically create a thread in this forum" so yes. it must be a software bug.

I have taken pictures with plans to upload them here after I get them on the computer. I will see if my images continue to not show up on the forum.
~~~~~~~~~~~
That issue with followed threads "sticking" to the home page continues. They also show up on the Forum main page at the top. After one showed up today, I decided to leave them alone without Unwatching or commenting (unless I have a reason to comment) and see if there is something they all have in common. I don't know if it will help anything, but we'll see.

Sallie, it just dawned on me! I almost slapped myself on the forehead. This won't help with our missing plant file image threads, but with the Plant File Pictures forum not updating, it likely only updates when someone actually comments on an image. I have followed Bird and Bug File images for awhile and that is how they have behaved. I just put a comment on one of my Dickcissel images, so it should be updated for you now. I saw you also follow the bird and bug image forums on your screenshot.)

Has the Plant file photo forum updated for you in the past whenever new images were uploaded/approved? I ask because I only followed as a test and I suspect the system to upload plants is different from birds and bugs. At least that's my thinking, since the birds and bugs do not get a link with the image to go to that species' page, like plants do.

I honestly don't remember. It's been about a year since I uploaded any images, but in the past all my photos were approved and (I think!) showed up in the new photos forum. I didn't notice any problems until this week, my first uploads for this year.