Option to remove photo?

I know there's away to edit text, if you hit the wrong keys or simply want to add to or clarify something without adding a new post...but I see that we sometimes post the wrong photo and there's no way to remove it. This recently happened in the plants database...where someone had posted a picture of their kids and it was obviously supposed to be a plant...lol Not picking on anyone, because I've done that myself. I've posted the wrong plant in the plants database too, by accident or not realizing I had the wrong plant until later and had no way to fix it without reporting the error. Can we have the option to remove and/or possibly replace a posted photo?

That would be great and save a lot of time as well for the people that have to delete/remove them.

Not only that but I have a lot of stuff that needs to be removed and fixed, and I have not heard from Terry. I am getting discouraged. I realize that the entire plant data base is down right now. But, it would be much simplier and faster if we could remove our incorrect photos rather then have to report them and then have someone else spend the extra time to do it. For example I wanted a flower removed because it was added to the general entry, but not by me, I don't know who did this and I do not like the photo any way.
I have reported it a couple of times and the wrong photo was removed, and I reported it again. Plus other incorrect ids are left in as mistakes.

The thing is after a while one tends to forget about removing the mistakes in the desire to get on with ones life and put the past behind them. Therefore since no one is removing them they stay wrong. If the data base is filled with errors, no one who may happen upon it, can trust the photos to match the entries. The whole system falls apart.

I'm almost positive that there was a long thread on this several monthis back and there were good reasons dave didn't want it this way. Just because you don't like a photo is not a good reason to have it taken out.

I did not put the photo in the general entry. I had mine in a specific entry and it was repeative to have the same photo twice. I think if I don't like a photo, that is a good reason to have it removed. It is my photo. Plus, I never put it there. I did not like the photo and I had in fact replaced it with an improved photo of the same plant.

Another example, I had an entry for something in which the photo was removed without my knowledge or consent and that happened twice. Furthermore, the photo was correct both times.

I was thinking more along the lines of, someone accidentally submitting a photo and then catching the mistake, going back and replacing it with the proper photo. The example of the kids being posted in the database for plants was a good example of that. Accidents happen...and I just thought it would be easier on everyone involed for the poster to be able to change it themselves...if they had the chance to.

I guess I didn't see the post in the past about this. Seems like there may be high emotions and strong opinions about this subject (although I can't understand why that would be)....so I'll just leave it alone. But before I do...I'll end it on this observation. Having seen what's happened on here in the past with certain photos (or types of photos) and knowing human nature...I have this feeling that one of the reasons you can't remove your own photo is because if you post something you shouldn't be posting (whether by mistake or not), there's a chance for the 'proper authorites' to see it before the orginal poster can remove it and claim ignorance. I suppose that may be a valid reason for not letting us remove/change posted images. Maybe even for legal cover?...don't know. Either way...no big deal I guess. I'm easy to get along with ;)

You have a point there Jon, but can I just put in my 2 cents? I'm wondering if Dave is thinking this:

Let's say, over the years, someone has posted almost 300 pictures to DG. They've shared those pictures with everyone, and in return they have gained the wisdom and knowledge and pictures of everyone too. But something happens ... whatever ... and they decide to leave DG, but they want to take their pictures with them, in spite ... which leaves us with 300 less pictures to reference. Is that fair?

Edited: Or, in spite, they may start changing all their photos, etc. (unfortunately, there are people like that :0)

I don't know, I may be way off base ... just a thought.




This message was edited Sunday, May 4th 9:17 AM

No, I think you have a valid point. I'm sure that could be one of the reasons...and it's a good reason. I suppose when I originally posted this, I was thinking of myself...knowing that I wouldn't do something like that, but maybe someone else would? Who knows.

Someone undoubtably would, unfortunately. Considering the relative rarity of accidently posting the wrong picture, individually contacting Dave and co. with the report an error link makes sense.

I was not thinking about that earlier, and that is good point. It is just that it is a huge amount of work for someone else to change things that I could change. I don't mind making more work for someone else provided that they are paid, or else they really love plants enough to want to work for free.

Here is another example, someone posted a photo to the data base, only because they wished an id for it, but did not wish to spend extra money to join the forums. They did not care or bother to remove it, once it was proven to be an incorrect id. Even if they did report it wrong, the editor is missing, and did not remove it. At this rate, things can go from bad to worse, unless someone is constandly at work changing things.

There is another data base where no changes are made, but I believe the idea is that eventually someone will go back and delete all the mistakes, but it will really take a huge amount of work to change all of them plus, while the mistakes remain it looks bad. Just my opinion.

The plant world changes frequently, it can take years for those changes to filter down to us gardeners and the PDB is an ongoing work by many people. In this light, there will always be some errors in any work of this kind (to err is human...). We do a lot of research in the helpdesk and sometimes have to write to experts in particular fields to solve a question.

We do appreciate being kept informed of possible errors in the helpdesk and work to keep the PDB as current and correct as possible.

Not being a computer guru, I can only guess, but I believe that the removal of photos and the larger files they require is a difficult process that can bog down a systems speed so that limiting the ability to remove photos to an administrative level can prevent that sort of possible overload...like I said...just a guess! Since Dave does not claim to own the copyrights to the photos we post I am assuming it is a technical problem that limits our access to their removal. And since we can preview our photos and posts relatively few are entered in error when you compare that to the number of typos and wording changes we need to make.

Bug_girl, I may owe you an apology? I haven't received any messages from you since (I think) we got the Cosmos images straightened out. While the PDB is down, we can't access the helpdesk queue, so the messages that are in there will have to wait until the PDB is back up and running.

Any other messages in my personal inbox are in the same boat, assuming I got them (the DG mail system was also on the fritz for a few days in there, I believe.)

There are two different issues regarding removing images from a forum thread and the PDB, at least from a technical standpoint.

Moving or removing an image within the PDB is relatively straightforward. However, since Dave added the feature that automatically creates a corresponding thread, it's also necessary to edit the thread to repoint the hyperlink to the correct entry, or delete the thread if the image was deleted. IMO, to remember and follow the steps of this process are far beyond what most of our users would be willing/able to tackle in a "self-service" environment.

Removing or deleting an image from a forum thread is virtually impossible for me to do, and probably difficult for Dave and/or Trish (who obviously hold the highest level of security access.)

If someone is reading this and thinking "why doesn't Dave just make it easier for people to do it themselves?" I'd encourage you to set up your own personal website with multiple pages linked together in various ways. Then try to edit it - I guarantee that most of us would quickly throw in the towel - it's a lot harder than Dave makes it look :~)

As Baa mentioned, I'm glad that people use the "report an error" feature - it's great to see the number of users who help spot questionable or erroneous information and images. Sometimes it does take several weeks to resolve an issue, as it isn't as straightforward as we'd like it to be, so please don't think we're ignoring a report if we don't respond immediately.

Hi Terry, I actually thought you had quit or gone on vacation, did you get my email about the monkey flower? I like to go to my page on the plant data base and see everything looking perfect, this is a character flaw, I guess, obessive complusive.

To the best of my knowledge, the mimulus/salvia question is still in the helpdesk queue; I didn't get a chance to do anything with it before the server crash occurred.

Like most of the folks here, this is a really busy time of year for me, since I have just a few weeks to get the vegetable garden in, create a new woodland garden, and clear out my greenhouse by planting and/or selling my extra plants.

My DG time gets cut back a LOT during this period, ususally online only in the early morning hours or late at night. (I often find I take my first cup of coffee outside in the morning, and the next thing I know it's time to start dinner, lolol!)

Oh that sounds so nice, can you post photos of it all?

I miss the data base so much, I went out and got some garden software to create on of my own. I hope it works out.

I just wanted to add that is nomenclature software with a spell checker for latin names, so I can organize my plants by taxia. I going to put that in earlier, but I could not spell nomenclature and I had to go look it up.

I just read that will be a few weeks till the database comes back, so this will give me something to organize until we get going again.


This message was edited Tuesday, May 6th 12:28 PM

My feelings on someone removing all of thier photos are if they really want to take them away, then they should be allowed to. However, if the option was only to remove one photo at a time, and they had 300 photos, they would have to suffer and remove each one at a time, so they would be less likely to do it. Yet this would allow for the easy removal of the occasion mistake. Removal is an option on the other database.

BG, what is the other database please?

Well, I guess it ok, for me to say the name Hortiplex. It is also a free data base and anyone can upload any photo, but no one checks them, however, I was able to remove the salvia from the monkey flower entry on that one. I only have about 30 plants there. Many plants can not be added, since one can only add to the entries which already exist and are precreated. Also the file limit is 60k, which means they don't look as lovely as at Daves. I use the same name bug girl so you can also look at my member page there. Bug Girl is my online name, and the name of my public access show.

From what I can tell, Hortiplex is more or less a photo gallery, rather than a true database, so I don't think we can compare them, especially from a technical standpoint.

Let me take another stab at explaining the problem. When we upload an image to the Plants Database, a corresponding thread is also launched by the system.

Unless that thread is removed when the image is deleted, the subsequent images and threads are thrown out of sync.

Images that need to be moved must also have their thread's hyperlink redirected to the entry where the image was moved.

These are each multi-step processes that cause a lot of headaches if not executed correctly each and every time. Unless Dave is able and willing to automate these processes, I think it's easier on everyone to continue having everyone submit a request to move or delete images when needed. I apologize if our response time isn't as instantaneous as we would all like, but I promise we're doing the best we can to keep up ;~)

The Hortiplex is actually a database of sorts. One may rate a plant on a scale of 1 to 10 and give a short piece of information if they want. However, most people prefer just to upload a photo. There are in some cases links to websites. There is no standard fact/culture sheet for each plant, like on Daves.

http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/alphaa-f.shtml

I am posting a link for another database I found called Plant Finder. People can't add to it, but it has a huge amount of great information on plants that sometimes you can't find anywhere else on line.