On the verge of another PlantFiles milestone

I honestly didn't rig this to come out this way...but after I added last night's photos we wound up with 99,999 images. I recorded it for posterity (see screenshot below.) When I release photos later today, we will cross into the 100,000+ territory.

Wow! I can remember (four years ago) when we were trying to get to 1,000 images, and then the struggle to reach 10,000 images.

A huge thanks is due to all of you that have shared your photos and information. We hope you'll continue to share, and others will join in!

Speaking of PlantFiles....for those who were reluctant to add your ZIP code because it displayed your name next to the city/state - fear no more. Dave has changed the "regional" area to not display your username next to any ZIP codes you enter for a plant. Now everyone can feel free to submit your ZIP code without fear that someone might mis-use that information to zero in on your exact location (a very real concern, especially for those in smaller towns and cities.)

I hope that will open up the doors to many more of you submitting your ZIP codes for plants, which in turn will help your virtual "neighbors" figure out what plants are good choices for their own gardens.

Congratulations to everyone :) what a huge milestone. I know PlantFiles is how I first discovered Dave's Garden so thank you to whoever added whatever plant I googled that day!!

(edited to say: I know it is the images in PlantFiles that are reaching the milestone... it is the images that help me be the most confident in plant identification... LOL, forgive me, I'm working on taxes and my brains are mush)

This message was edited Apr 12, 2006 3:01 PM

That is amazing. I for one so enjoy everyone's photos. I look at them a lot. I love the variety under each plant also, really gives me a good idea of how the plant looks. Thank you all who contribute!

Terry, I had 1 photo left in my cache for Plantfiles last night............. the 100,000 one. LOL

I still have a long way to go to view all 99,999 pictures but I sure hope too.

Terry,

Nice change! It doesn't bother me if my name shows up next to my zip but incidentally, when I checked the ones I've added to my user name still shows. Will this new change only be for new zip additions?


This message was edited Jun 2, 2006 2:56 PM

Congratulations and thank you to all the contributors to the PlantFiles!

How time flies! For those of you who joined after the first PDB/PF 'competition' here's a bit of history, one of our first milestones http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/88030/ this was prior to me becoming an Admin incidently, I was still just badgering Terry at the time *G*

We were excited to hear that we had 105 entries in one day, at the time we probably didn't have 3,000 individual contributions i.e. entries, images and comments!

There is an interesting quote from Dave in a public view of an email he wrote to Terry (then Go_Vols) regarding the PF reaching it's full potential ;) How times change!

Thanks for the link Baa! That was wonderfully fun reading!!!

Awesome!

I keep refreshing the PlantFiles homepage... Terry??? drumroll please! LOL

angele....let's see - you're on mountain time, so the page *should* have changed for you by 9:30 or so (your time ;o) I updated them sometime before 10:30 here last night. We're now at 100, 075!

What a wonderful sight! I don't know why my pages don't refresh like they are supposed to!!! Congratulations, again!

Aimee, it will be for all existing ZIP codes, as well as new ones entered in the future. Dave is "regenerating" all the PlantFiles pages to update them with the new format.

thanks for answering terry!

All the PF pages are now regenerated so the zipcodes should now all have the "new look"

dave

And now it's the Garden Watchdog's turn to hit some important milestones.

Last night, we topped 5,000 companies, and 24,000 comments.

When we launched the GWD in late 2001, we had a few hundred companies listed. We worked really hard to have 1,000 companies for our members to peruse and rate, and we've continued to steadily build on that base ever since.

We incorporated the old Plants By Mail (PBM-FAQ) into the Watchdog a few years later, which added a lot of history (some comments go back to 1995), and a few more companies.

Here's my personal (HUGE) thank-you to everyone who shares what you know about these vendors. Your feedback helps the companies improve, and helps your fellow gardeners find their way to the best-of-the-best. (That's especially important for the little "gems" out there - small vendors that don't have the marketing budget to send out glossy catalogs or place ads in our favorite garden magazines. They depend on their customers to spread the word, and the Watchdog provides an excellent way to share word-of-mouth with gardeners around the world.)

There's no time to rest on our laurels - it takes all of us continuing to share our opinions and experience to keep PlantFiles and the Watchdog updated so they can remain helpful for all. If you haven't added a comment to the Watchdog, or submitted information to PlantFiles, please make this the year you take the plunge. It's fast and easy - and help is just a question away!