co-op forum thought and question

I have talked to many gardeners about this

Is there a way to separate the co-op forum??

like all open co-op ORDER (only) has its OWN forum
and then maybe a Co-op discussion and chat and closed co-ops all in
another spot so its not so CLUSTERED together?

or even open and closed co-ops together and all the chat and planning of co-ops
could get its own forum???

It really gets hard to keep track of everything!


just a thought on this gloomy rain filled day!

I think that an excellent idea. I know some of the smaller co-ops get lost because the big ones have so much chatting and ordering goign on . Some of those big co-ops have a lot of people and hundreds and hundreds of posts and pages and it takes forever sometimes to find the little co-ops to order from.

I have also noticed more andmore people are havign to put their co-ops in capital letters to hopefully be seen.

Order threads are simple and to the point, with peoples product and payments and such, but the chatting that goes on before and after the co-ops takes up alot of threads and some folks miss out on the co-ops because they get lost in the jumble of the what open and what closed and where to order and some get frustrated cuz they miss out.

Think that is about the only place on Daves that so much confusion goes on.

So if ya could maybe a section for co-ops orderign threads only that could be open /closed and one for co-op interest and/chat would be totally awesome and very much appreciated!

There's already an option where you can just view the open co-ops, so that gets rid of part of the problem (as long as people are being good about marking discussion & chat threads closed along with the order threads when the coop is closed of course). I'm sure even with that option it could get confusing during the times of year when there are a lot of co-ops going on, but I don't know about separating orders and chat and things into multiple forums, then you have to look too many places for the info so I think people would wind up using the order threads for chat because they wouldn't want to take the time to find the chat thread in another forum (or wouldn't remember where it was).

So instead of making separate forums, I wonder if a few new options could be added to the existing one. Right now you can mark threads closed or open and you can choose to view only the open ones, so I wonder if you could also designate a thread as orders, or discussion, or chat (and each of these could still be marked open/closed too), then you could choose to view only open order threads for example.

Dori, I would agree that it is quite confusing as to which thread I want to look at/for with all the comotion on that forum. And I know that there is a way to have them open/closed but that just doesn't happen all the time. There are threads for interest/chat/ordering/invoicing/payment/shipping/extras and probably more that I've forgotten. And it is time consuming to dig through them.

Dave (our DG Superman) has proven that he can work wonders with DG and I would like to suggest a forum within a forum. Hope that makes sense??

When you click on the co-op forum you would have all the co-op business that has to do with interest/chat/shipping/extras etc and then a link off to the side for actual co-ops?

And maybe if Dave puts certain restrictions in the actual co-op forum, when we are starting a co-op new thread such as making the person check a 'yes' box to start the thread.... maybe that would be a good reminder to all of us to keep our chat on the other forum. Or maybe an option that says 'When would you like this thread marked CLOSED'? 7 days? 14 days? 30 days?

Hope that is clearer than mud because when I reread it... it's a bit fuzzy! LOL Hopefully you can understand?

For what it's worth, I agree with you 110%, it's impossible to see what is open, what is actually a co op and what is just discussion of a possible co op because all of the "discussion" "payments" shipments" etc etc etc threads take over. Back in the "good ole days" we actually did orders, payments and shipments on the SAME thread... .imagine that! LOL

I really like the idea of a forum JUST FOR ORDERS. if a "discussion" thread happens to open up in there, it could be deleted.

I think Dave is too busy with dbay to do much of anything else now though. :(

He's trying to fix his fences because of storm damage.

I like this idea, notmartha. If there were some way where every thread had to be categorized, and then you could filter at the top of the forum, or indicate what you wanted to see, it would work great! Of course, I don't know if it can even be done.

I was thinking categories such as INTEREST, ORDER, CHAT (or discussion), and PAYMENT/SHIPPING. You could see them all or just certain categories.

If I'm understanding correctly, I like the idea of having a sub-forum for a specific co-op, so that opening one thread would link me to all the threads related to the co-op. As a host, I'd like to be able to delete posts that turn order, payment, and ship threads to chat threads. That's disconcerting for me. I like the chat and social time, but I want the order, payment, and ship threads clean.

It's hard for hosts to keep track of all their threads amidst all the activity.

This message was edited Mar 5, 2008 5:16 PM

It is a confusing mess over there. the other day I posted what I wanted for a co-op, as did a long list of members and later came back in time to see a separate thread that was the real co-op, the first thread was just an interest thread, sure looked like an order thread to me. Many that had posted in the original that thought they were included missed out. Several are still trying to add orders as the threads are so long and the person running hasn't added the official CLOSED in the header, just wrote it some where within the thread.

I do think having all related threads lumped together would be great, like sub-threads!

This message was edited Mar 5, 2008 9:55 AM

There are many novices trying their hands, and that's good-if they are careful. Not everyone is or especially, understand the responsibility they are agreeing to.

I agree it's a teetotal mess over there. People forget to mark threads as open or closed or put nothing at all on the numerous discussion threads.

It really, really helps too within the threads if posts are limited to coop related posts only and not reams of chit chat. And I do mean reams.

Agree with ecrane - just a couple of options needed AND a format for creating threads, with instructions in the sticky.

Perhaps the same name for each thread with a word in CAPS. example: Plumeria CO-OP - Plumeria CHAT to distinguish the two. Each would need to be marked CLOSED when the co-op is over.

Then we could have two options (the third choice is not to use an option, which will show everything as now):
OPEN threads including CHAT
OPEN threads CO-OP only

Would that help?

Notmartha thanks for posting this. I don't know about it being a total mess but it is confusing. I also worry for some of the brave new folks trying to run coops. I think many are underestimating the cost involved in this and I worry they will be out some/ a lot of their own money in the end. Postage with USPS is crazy and I think it will work best for flat rate boxes so the coop host isn't using her own money to ship. I also wanted to point out that the total cost of the plants needs to be added onto because of the cost associated with getting the plants from the vendor to the coop host. Sometimes that cost can be .50 to .75 more expensive added to the total cost of the plants being offered.

datdog, many experienced people try to guide newbies about those same issues. Anyone who asks for help always gets it, probably more than they want and even if they don't ask, but in all honesty, folks get certain ideas in their heads and are not persuaded otherwise, so I guess it's necessary sometimes to live and learn. The initial threads can be fun and a bit of a "high," especially since participants are so encouraging that hosts probably don't realize how deep they're in until it's too late (or seems too late). That's why thought has to go into it at the front to decide limitations.

Personally, I'd rather not reinvent the wheel, so each time I do a co-op (won't be happening again for a long while, I think), I try to make notes and learn for the next and pass that information on. Sometimes I wonder if hosts look at how other co-ops were run (successful and not) to figure out a format that is individually workable.

I think that a set guideline for everyone isn't so good, either, but that the thread titles are most important as are the first posts to hold all directions/information in one place, rather than throughout the entire thread. I can't read all that stuff either, to find minute details and so skip the co-op if that's how it is run.

I've gained a reputation for being a bit of a stickler (maybe other words apply in some people's opinions), but it makes all the difference in how my co-ops turn out, at least for me, since I know my limitations. I've also been in enough co-ops that I consider to have been complete losses of my money because of DOA plants. It's a darned hard thing to keep baby plants alive during certain parts of the year.

That's my nickel for the morning. :-)

Part of the problem is that people refuse to read instructions. I had a thread running for a coop interest. I specified in message #1 and several times throughout the thread that it was strictly an interest thread and orders would be taken in a separate order thread on a specific date. Want to guess how many posted their orders in the interest thread and later griped because they missed out on the actual order thread?
I don't see what Dave can do about that! Part of the responsibility is on the member to read through a thread especially the first few posts where most information on coops can be found.

MollyD

And having a forum specifically for co ops, and a separate one for all other things co op, interest, chat, etc. Would keep that from happening. I've seen lots of co op interest threads turn into co op threads and by the time anyone else realizes it's actually a co op it's over.

the point is that the co op forum is too cluttered up with "all other things co op"

yes if we could have something just for Orders to keep at least that part separate some how from all the other stuff!

Yes read the first post of a co-op!!!!!

MollyD-you've hit the nail on the head - directions aren't read and understood. Very frustrating.

Personally, I don't think it's so hard to find the threads I'm looking for. I also don't mind chatty CHAT threads, but don't like chatty order, payment, shipment threads and any thread with important information strewn through it, but that's up to the host to keep things orderly, and participants to respect the "rules" if they've read them.