A ? about the birthdays.

Just wondering if we could have the birthday list to where it shows just the subscribed members? I mean afterall the ones that are not subscribed can only view the first post on each thread, so there for they can't even thank folks for the birthday wishes.
Plus I think it would be more homey like to see only our fellow dg family members who are having a b-day.
OR what about a something that we could just click on like "show subscribed members b-days only" button.

Just a thought. Really no biggy though.
Its just sometimes when there is a long list of folks there I tend to over look the memebers name that in fact I would like to send happy wishes to.
Hope no one takes this the wrong way.

I have often thought the same thing but never said anything about it :)
It would be nice to only see subscribers there as we really don't know the others and they can't really appreciate anything after the first post anyway :(

I guess it's kinda like "if" you join the family then your name will appear to the right in the b-day box.
I mean who's to say that just because they signed on here the one time and filled out all the info....who's to say they ever came back?

Hope all this doesn't sound too mean??

I think that Mollybee makes an excellent suggestion.

doesn't sound mean to me Mollybee. I know exactly what you mean and I agree :)

Agreed - Makes sense here. Non-member names won't be familiar anyways, so not very informative. And better to have a few "connected" names rather than a full list.

I may be wrong but I seem to recall a little while ago a couple of members subscribed because of the Happy Birthday posts and emails they received from subscribed members.

Why should we be exclusive?

Baa's point is the exact reason why I haven't changed that. The folks who aren't subscribers do like to hear from DGers, and as Baa mentioned, several have actually subscribed as a result of the outpouring of emails they got.

One particular incident stands out: we had a member who was not a subscriber. Her birthday came and she was indundated with "happy birthday" emails from the members here.

She then emailed me and told me that she has no family and she was spending the birthday alone. The emails were she received from DGers was the only positive thing to happen to her that day. She was -very- thankful and did actually subscribe to the site the same day.

Dave

Great story, Dave. That changed my mind on this question!

I understand completely. Point well taken.

It was just a suggestion on my part. I however didn't know about the ones that were getting b-day wishes thru here that on the otherhand would not have gotton any at all.

Could there be somesort of thing maybe where the subscribed members name be in say a different color? Would that be too hard??

well Dave, you've changed my mind too :)
how wonderful that a person was so touched by people they don't even know

Baa and Dave - thanks for the alternate perspective. For each name on the list, there is a person having a birthday either with friends and family or alone.

I had originally thought of it as being a list of people we're connected to through membership but the broader list does extend the possibility of more connections. Wait til membership hits 200K, could make for an interesting "birthday" list.

This message was edited Sunday, Aug 3rd 5:44 PM

sbarr, good point about how long the list will ultimately be! I used to check out each birthday person's trade lists, but that is becoming time consuming already. Sad to think of someone alone on their birthday, but wonderful to think of them being happily surprised by their davesgarden family.

Yes, I remember when we had the entire memberlist (all the members were listed!) in a box on the right. That stopped when we reached about 50 members. :)

Dave

Ok I give. I retract everything I ask about. :/

Oh Mollybee, don't fret over it. No big deal ;)

I've periodically sent e-mails to all the birthday celebrants, and always hoped some would subscribe as a result. We all like to think someone's thinking of us, especially when we're lonely. That story you told, Dave, puts it all in perspective. :)

I try to send birthday greetings allot too. You know I'm also subscribed to NHGC and I got quite a few cards from people I never even heard of before for my birthday. They didn't make it "on" my birthday as the mailbox was empty that day but they did come.........lol

Dave, that's a neat and useful change you've made to the birthday list. Thanks!

Thank you VERY much Dave! You're a sweetheart :)

Ok, that's very cool........thanks Dave!!!

I love the new b-day box! That way if I am in a hurry I can at least send happy wishes to the memebers and then later come back and send them to the others.
Thanks again!!

Dave, thanks for being so responsive (so quickly) to the many requests of your members! John

Dave, I LOVE the new look of the birthday list! Thanks.

Good solution you came up with. We never know how much good a kind deed will do. Those of us who have a family to help with things like birthday celebrations sometimes forget that others might be spending the day alone and feel very forgotten and sad. It is so simple to send a happy birthday wish, I'm going to do more of that. Thanks for telling us that story Dave.

Duh, will someone please beam me up to the present? I just noticed the birthday box change, and I love it. Totally agree with all of you about all of this!