A Bug ID Forum?

Dave and Terry
Is it possible we could have a bug ID forum to accompany the Bug Files?
I know there is an Identification forum but that was originally created to ID plants ... right? Should we just go ahead and use that forum for bugs too?

Also in the Butterflies and Hummers forum the box at the top asks people to enter their critters in Garden Terms. Things have changed since Terry posted that info.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/bbb/all/

Vicki, thanks for the reminder - I updated the sidebar boxes in both the Butterflies/Hummers forum and Garden Foes to point folks to BugFiles.

I'm not sure we need a separate ID forum, but those who spend more time than me in the current forum may have a different opinion of whether it's warranted or not.

A lot of people post on Garden Foes for bug ID's and people seem to have pretty good luck there getting their stuff ID'd along with suggestions on how to get rid of them (which is often the objective). I've also seen some posted on the regular ID forum. I think if you make a separate bug ID forum, people like me who are terrible at ID'ing bugs and wouldn't follow the new forum would lose out on a lot of good info on pest control since those discussions would be happening in the ID threads instead of garden foes. Just my two cents!

I forgot about Garden Foes. Thanks for the reminder.

Can we get our details that we added to the section in our profile "MitchF's contributions"? I just like to keep up with everything I do.

That's a great point Mitch - I was thinking the same thing the other night.

Dave, can you add a section to our member profile page for BugFiles activity (i.e., entries, mages, comments and ZIPs?)

The member profile pages are added!!

I don't know how I missed this! Which just goes to show when discussions are happening in many places about related topics they can get missed.

As there are different forums for really very different purposes, none of us that are interested in adding bugs are going to jump around all of them.

I never visit the Garden Foes Forum, it wouldn't be approriate to call most of the bugs added to the BugFile a foe. Any serious bug follower is not going to visit it.

I also feel that the ID forum was originally, and still is, essentially for plant ID. Any serious follower of bugs is not going to get involved in the ID forum if they think it is for plants.

Dave's Garden was originally mainly a garden/plants site, this is rapidly changing with the intro of BugFiles.

In order to get maximum awareness for this new feature, a Forum specifically for the identification and, just as importantly, discussion of bugs, is in my opinion needed.

At the moment all the other forums mentioned are too fractured, not approriate or specific enough, and not encouraging. I like to be encouraged. I like others to be encouraged.

The Butterflies and Hummers Forum I think is leaning more towards American species. People from other countries are not encouraged by this.

In order to fully encourage people from other countries as well, whether they be enthusiasts, specialists, or just beginning to be interested, a dedicated Forum is needed.

I have today noticed my profile activity list, thanks for that, it was needed.

I'm starting to think a bug ID forum might be appropriate too--I've noticed a big increase in the number of bug ID's in the plant ID forum and personally I'm finding it distracting--I like to participate in helping people ID their plants but I don't have much knowledge when it comes to the bug kingdom. And I know I could just skip those threads, but often they have a title like "what is this?" and the thumbnail looks like it has a plant in it, so I open the thread (on my slow dialup connection) only to find it's a bug they wanted ID'd and then I'm annoyed I took the time to open it. I had originally felt Garden Foes was appropriate for these ID questions, but to Wallaby's point not every bug is a foe, plus I haven't seen much more bug ID traffic in Garden Foes than there was before but now in ID forum there are some days where bugs represent half the new threads. So I think it might help to separate it out in its own forum (and maybe rename the current ID forum to Plant ID so that people are clear on what goes where)

I've had so little luck with Garden Foes being able to ID the insects I post. That is why I forgot it was available as I stated earlier in this thread.
Every time I post an insect on the Identification forum I feel like it is not welcome. It clearly states that forum is for plant ID.
If it's a caterpillar or Moth or Butterfly then I feel comfortable to post that kind of picture on the Butterflies and Hummers forum .... but there are times when they can't help either.
There just is not any place else to turn to within DG for Bug related ID's and discussion.

I have to agree with the above sentiments about the bug ID forum... most insects I want iDs on are NOT garden foes, and so far have not had anyone chime in on my question in the ID forum. I really think if you are going to add a bugfiles, you need a separate bug ID forum. It would be a convenient one-stop-shop place to go for the bug questions... you could eliminate the garden foes section... but then there are a lot of vertebrate garden foes that will be without a forum. Is it difficult to add a forum?

I don't think Garden Foes should go away if you added a bug ID forum--ID'ing bugs is just one tiny part of what gets discussed there, most posts are pictures of damaged plants and people want help figuring out what might have caused the damage, or discussing how to get rid of certain bugs or four-legged pests, and I don't see why that would have to go away if you wanted to do a bug ID forum. Unless you're suggesting you would want a whole forum devoted to everything buggy, not just ID's, but even then I think there's still room to keep Garden Foes since it has a lot of discussion of the 4-legged pests and also diseases/fungi/etc.

I just noticed this morning that Identification is no longer for just plants. Insects have been added to that forum.

Just found the bug identification forum!
Thank you so much :)