Origins

Looking at the new US members coming in on the welcome mat got me to thinking. How come there are so few of us Europeans? Is DGs easier to find on US search engines or is it just a question of there being more of you than us ?

Probably the latter. We certainly do everything we can to make our friends outside the U.S. welcome here.

Who can really say?

Dave

Its the same for Canada. Not so many of us either. Would be nice to achieve the critical mass necessary for activities such as the roundups. I read about them and am envious.

When I answer an report in the PDB sometimes a small correspondance begins and I sometimes mention I live in the UK. Many are suprised and state they thought the PDB is a US site, I explain our membership international.I also think some members who have signed up through the PDB and GW aren't always aware that DG and it's own features is available to them as well.

We could always send recommendations to our national gardening magazines that Davesgarden.com is an excellent site with an international flavour or even perhaps mention to places where internet access is available like our libraries that the PDB/GW/DG is something to put on a favourites link for gardening questions. We could also ask our nurseries who have web sites and gardening link sites to put us up as a link with a small blurb explaining what is available. I think that's something that's been happening on US sites much more than in other countries.

Dave do you have a question box on initial sign up on where the new member got news of DG/PDB/GW from? If not, it might be worth seeing if there's a trend we could utilise?

Baa, we do not have the question box that you mentioned. Several times Terry and I have discussed it, but in the end I've always not done it because I don't want to trouble folks as they are trying to get signed up.

A post-signup/post-subscription questionaire, however, seems a bit more to my liking. I've wanted to do this for quite some time. Perhaps one day...

dave

Dave,

You're very considerate! We've had several threads about how we came to DG haven't we and it seems that word of mouth was a large contributing factor, so it'll be interesting to see how our newer members joined if and when you decide to put up the questionaire.

I personally believe that there are more in the US who are
more able to get on the internet for leisure actvities. Obviously the European market is right behind us, but then after that, you must remember that there is a language barrier in many cases.

English IS "the" universal language, but many non-english speakers would not join because they are not bilingual, or dont feel comfortable enough in English, or cannot afford to pay to join.

Also, and I dont not mean this to me derogatory in ANY WAY, but many countries' gardeners are older, not organized, dont have much available printed material on gardening, etc.

They just do it for the love and enjoyment of it.

When I notice a spanish-speaking member join, I attempt to make contact with them and invite them. but there hasnt been much response to date.

Just my two cents (or dos centavos).

"Also, and I dont not mean this to me derogatory in ANY WAY, but many countries' gardeners are older, not organized, dont have much available printed material on gardening, etc."

Please don't tell Mark, Evert, Baa and Mitjo to mention a few this! and don't tell the Euro brug growers, they are 20-30 years ahead of us there.

I believe the three youngest paying members are from Europe;-)

I was talking about the whole world in general and it was a generalization. No offense meant Evert, Mitjo, Baa and anyone else! Just an observatiion about world demographics, including third word.

Just in my observation, the internet is not quite as widely used in many places,(I will only speak of turkey) for example, hardly anyone in turkey gets online just to play around, they dont know how to use search engines, they do not know what all is available on the internet.
Truly, people just dont know. I have some freinds there who do not even turn their computers on but once a month or so.....We here, turn outs on at 6 am and it gets turned off when we go to bed at 10-11, we have 4 computers in our house, we all have our own, there, there may be one computer in the house, they all share but they still dont know what all is available. some just use their computers to play games, and I'm not talking about interactive games with other people. My husband used to play Empire of the world (or whatever that game is) for hours at a time, with other people on the net.
We have incorporated the computer into our lives to such an extent that we cannot live without it, for example, my husband has our household accounting set up on it, and it interfaces with the bank, we pay most our bills online, check our bank statements etc., this isnt even heard of in Turkey. There might be a mental block about doing these things like this. Look at how many of us buy on line....
I am so lazy, that when I need a recipe, I just google it, and find what I need...
I also think that maybe they still pay for the internet by the time used, which would deter people from leisurely browsing. When I start looking stuff up, it can take me hours, cause I jump from one thing to another to another and before I know it hours have passed..
Thats my two cents (iki Kurush)

You said it better than I could, Peba dahlin.

Also in Mexico there is a charge per phone call made as well.

In Mexico, computers are much more expensive than here, and the value of the peso is much less, and people mamnke less money than inthe US. The young people learn to use them at university. When not enrolled, they use the internet cafes as I do when I am down there, and that costs by the half or full hour too.

We are just so blessed in the US and oftentimes do not realize how good we have it!

Also, in other countries many are lucky to have one phone line, much less two! In Mexico even if you can afford to have it installed, there are waiting lists of years to get even one phone line.!

Granted there are countries who's economy and normal life doesn't support what we do here. However, I believe the original question was regarding Europeans, then Canadians came into the equation and rightly so as should many other countries. Well we can hardly say the EU or Canada are poverty stricken, non internet users in the great scheme of things.

I believe that in the countries that are likely to use the internet and have the economy to support such a leisure activity, it's a case of marketing rather than poverty.

As for the language barrier, again granted some aren't comfortable but there are many, many people who do have the confidence who could be here. Dinu, Jianhua, Evert, Mitjo, Arsenic, Cristina, Ursula and a number of other members (apologies if I've missed your name) are prime examples of young people who are more than capable in a second, maybe third or forth language of English who also love plants and gardening, who have the access to the internet to enable them to converse with us.

I agree totally.

Suddenly I feel so sophisticated and worldly-wise!

there are people like my mom for instance who is German who just don't get on places like this because of the language barrier. Although she knows english, it's hard for her grammatically so she just chooses not to do it. There are probably many others out there like her

I bet your mom would be surprised at how much she could handle here. And it would be a help if she gained more confidence. I have often wondered if she was ever going to join, and I hope she will. I believe she deserves the treat and the respite from life's never-ending problems.

Flowox, just tell your mom, daß Ulrich alles gerne für sie übersetzen wird. (~:

Sometimes Baa I think it is a question of like wanting to be with like. I have spoken to many Brits who go on British garden forums but are much more reluctant to join DGs or another certain grumpy webmasters garden forum because it is mainly american. they do not always feel comfortable with this, or feel rightly or wrongly they feel that an american one doesnt have as much to offer.

Psilo

That's still a marketing issue.

To a point I agree that another country's web site isn't going to offer the information and/or understanding of another country's gardening but we're looking at widening the international membership here and those things become less of an issue when more people from other nations join.

Since those of you who live outside the US know best how news gets spread among gardeners, you could lend your expertise about how best to get out the word of DG where you live. Magazine? Radio ad? Word of Mouth? Other?

Sounds like a great opportunity for a DG member to step up to coordinate a plan (or individual plans)? Something like a marketing coordinator? Other DG members are editors, some have written great tutorials, made sample seed-packet lablels, etc.