co-op forum thought and question

How about a sticky on order threads? It would keep them at the top for us all to see what is open for ordering. After it is closed, just un-sticky it.

I've missed co-ops I would have been interested in because I don't have time to wade through that mess looking to see if something has turned into a co-op.

And if no one can start a thread unless they are a co-op organizer where do we show interest in someone doing it?

The only problem with "stickies" is that if you "sticky" every active order thread, it'll still be messy to wade through. And it requires a lot more involvement from the organize and admins to keep all those threads "stickied" or "unstickied".

If you are a would-be organizer and want to gauge the interest level, you can - and should - use the co-op forum. If you are a member that isn't interested in organizing one, then I'm not sure it makes sense to start a "wish list" type thread, and hope that someone comes along to organize the co-op for the plants they want...or am I missing what you meant? (That's *always* a possibility with me ;o)

It does seem like it would be just as effective to say, "Is anybody thinking of doing a daylily co-op?" over in the daylily forum, for example, and then post a thread in the co-op forum once somebody has stepped forward to host.

yes thats a good idea Jill!!!! :)

It would help a little, anyway... Looking just now (and viewing "open/unsolved" threads only), I spotted maybe 15 threads on the first page that were started just to float ideas out there with the hope that somebody would grab the ball and run with it.

I do like the idea of fewer threads per co-op, too, because it makes the information a lot easier to find for the co-op. If the first thread with ordering, shipping, and payment information gets too long, a second thread can be started. If the second thread has the same information in the first several posts from the host (a copy/paste thing) and a link to the first thread, that should work, and that would keep the forum much cleaner... especially if previous threads are closed.

Then there would just be two "open" threads for each co-op, a business thread and a chat thread... so even if hosts decide it's too confusing to "close" threads when a co-op is closed to new orders but still has ongoing business, that would streamline things a lot.

However, I have no idea how to get people to consolidate their big co-ops into just 2 active threads. LOL

i just went to the co op thread and missed one due to i couldnt find it.

what a mess.


i cant tell whats open to buy and whats not and my good ness.

i think a forum for actual buying would be great and dates its open and closed then the separete forum for all the deatils and edits and stuff.

i would like to go to a forum and just see open buying co ops and not have to wade through the rest of all the deatils of those co ops.

im simple and trying to find an open co op then trying to wade through the discusiions and edits and stuff is just too much .

it used to be two threads open and what was for sale and orders and edits now its like 10 threads each and hyperlinks and oh my.

i honestly think a co-op order only forum is the only solution -i will keep trying to get this one for all of us!!!!

You can at least eliminate the closed ones by clicking on the "See only open/unsolved threads" link at the top left side of the forums. But there are still too many chats and multiple threads.

I didn't get a chance to read everyone remarks above so I might be repeating someone:

I think it would be better if the Co-ops were listed in the different plant forums instead of all in one. This way people who like Hosta's could see the Co-ops for that one or if someone like bamboo they could find the co-op for it in the Bamboo section.

Any remarks?

i like that idea too
but i dont know if we have a forum for cow pots or garden supplies?
seems like id have to watch a lot more forums! ;)

I just think it would promote more sales that way. Being you might be talking about a plant and then you get out of that forum and look up and see you could buy some. I would think most people who like a kind of plant also check the forums related to it regular. Yeah there are going to be a few things that don't fall into a group. So....make a new one called Supplies or Misc.

I'm in one coop which the host has marked closed but it's still active for those who entered it before she closed it. If I clicked on show only those that are opened I'd have a hard time finding that one co-op. Maybe a way for the host to edit a topic would be nice.

MollyD

okay - so let's make the co-op forum for serious co-op threads only ;o) That's what it was originally designed for - not chitchat.

This really boils down to a behavior/etiquette issue more than a technology issue.



I'm not sure that's a good idea. Then people would have to go from forum to forum to find all the various co-ops for hostas, daylilies, seeds, etc. Having all the co-ops (which is a very unique transaction..not a sale, not a trade) in one dedicated forum is probably better.

Also, the co-op forum is one of the "exclusive" subscribers-only forums. If you're not a subscriber, this forum doesn't appear on your Communities tab list. If co-ops start popping up in other forums, it's likely that someone will post one in a public forum, and then we'll have all sorts of confusion when people read about it, but can't figure out where the forum is located.

Why not request that hosts mark all non-order threads as CLOSED at the outset, when the chat thread or shipping thread begins? Then as it's currently set up, the only thing showing would be open order threads if that's all you wanted to see.

I don't know how you could get everyone to reach the same understanding is the problem.

I think your always going to run into problems when you have more then one person entering in the Subject lines. Is there some way (computer programing thing) when someone wants to add a Co-op there would be a set of questions the person must answer. Like what plant will be in the co-op and time frame. Then it would auto-populate a Subject line for the posting person.

I think co-ops belong in the co-op forum... you can always give a heads-up post in other forums for publicity.

McGlory, that's the suggestion I've been trying to make, and I still think it's a simple solution.

Terry, is there any way for a "closed" thread not to have "CLOSED" added to its title? That way, a closed thread wouldn't show up when you clicked "show only open/unsolved threads" but it would still be clear that it's OK to continue to post to that thread. I think that confusion is why people stopped marking threads "closed" once a co-op was closed to new participants.

As for everybody reaching the same understanding, a line could be added at the top of the forum asking hosts to please mark all their threads "closed" once a co-op was no longer accepting additional participants.

Terry, the problem is that most co op hosts feel that all the threads they start are serious co op threads! ;)

You pointed out that the co op forum is invisible to non-subscribers. If you don't allow folks to post co op questions "somewhere" that is designated for such, it's hard to tell where they'll post at. ;)

A co op order only thread wouldn't take much space, wouldn't have many threads in it, because all the other threads relating to the co op would be where they are now. You might have to delete a few non co op order threads at first, but after a while I think most would understand that the order forum was just that.

Just try it... if it doesn't work, you can always move the order threads back to the co op forum and delete the Co op order only forum.

Pretty please with a Tennessee Britches tomato plant on top?

I for one like all the coops being in one place....there are just to many chit chat, shipping, payment, etc... threads to to wade through now.

We just need for the coop forum to go back to the way it was several months ago.

I like having the co-op threads all in one place, too... I think two things made it easier last year...

1. Most co-ops had 2 threads, one for business and one for chat... If a second thread was needed, it was linked to the first, and the first was marked "closed."

2. For a while, most people were marking co-op threads "closed" when the co-op was closed to additional participants. That made it really easy to use the "view only" option to see only open threads for new co-ops.

Unless there's specific programming in place to make it clear where to place a thread as you post (and I don't think we're going to get that programming), creating a second forum has some potential for confusion. Some people will post a non-ordering thread in the order forum, just because that's the tab they have open at the time... and those threads will have to be moved by admin. Other people will probably ingore or be confused by the new forum and continue to post all their threads for a co-op in the current forum, in which case you still won't be able to see all the new co-op opportunities just by going to the new forum.

So, why not just start a chat thread in the Parking Lot and provide the link in the first post?

great idea, Jasmerr

Would a sticky at the top of the co-op forum explaining what a host should or shouldn't have in the chat threads? I've noticed that lately there are a lot of really new subscribers (less than 3 months) running co-ops and those seem to be the ones not following the old format. They seem to start a new thread for just about every phase of a co-op (interest, orders, payment, shipping, chat, etc) instead of keeping most things in the one thread. I don't even remember all these interest threads being around last year. Maybe I'm remembering wrong but I thought it was just here's the co-op, here's what I'm offering and that was it. People either wanted what you were offering or not.

MollyD

I was just scrolling the co-op forum and had a thought. I'm sorry if it's been mentioned before. I'm not going to read this whole thread again. :)

In looking at the titles of the co-op threads, I notice they are all over the place. If there are going to be so many threads for each co-op, what about a simple first word rule. The title would have to be ORDER for such and such, CHAT for such and such, PAYMENT for such and such. With one of those words being first on every thread?

I belong to a few freecycle groups and the only options for posts are OFFER or WANTED, followed by the items.

I still like the idea of only one thread for each co-op or two if there has to be a second for info, questions, etc. The only problem with less threads, is they will be longer threads, which causes a problem for our dial up friends.

Yes Badseed that would help...I watch the coop forum all the time, and as I stated earlier it has become very cumbersome to wade through the forums. I agree, If the many threads are going to continue to exsist maybe they should start with Order, Payment, etc.

Debbie

How about something explaining what the word 'interest' means? I'm on a group that is for interest only and you wouldn't believe how many are trying to place an order on it!! Maybe a sticky explaining what the different words mean would help?

MollyD

Okay, so what if I put a sticky note in the forum that sets out these guidelines:

* Threads may be started only by an organizer/would-be organizer. All other threads should be reported to admin and will be deleted.

* All threads should be clearly and descriptively titled, and ideally will contain the word "interest", "orders", "payment" in the heading.

"INTEREST: [subject]"
"ORDERS: [subject]"
"PAYMENT: [subject]"

* "Chatter" threads within the co-op forum are strongly discouraged. The organizer may - at their discretion - allow off-topic chatter within the order or payment threads, but if they specifically ask participants to avoid chat in their threads, the participants should respect the organizer's wishes.

Will we be able to sort by those headings? I think the sort feature betwen "Open" and "Closed" is helpful, and to take it a step further and be able to sort between the headings you mentioned would be a useful tool.

See my March 4 post.

Sorry - there's no way to sort any forum by the title at this time (the co-op forum is based on the same technology as all other forums.)

If everyone follows the suggestions uses the correct words in their titles, you can use Ctrl-F (or from the menu of your browser it's Edit-->Find on this page), then put "order" or "interest", etc in the search box, and that'll let you skip one by one through the threads that are the type that interests you. A little more effort than sorting, but not that much.

Chat threads are actually very useful during a co-op as people discuss different varieties, offer advice, update on how many more of a quantity are needed to fill an order, etc... but it's also useful to the organizer to separate this sort of chat from the business of orders, payment, shipping, etc. I think it would be quite confusing to have co-op chat threads moved off the co-op forum.

The best organized co-ops I've seen have had two main threads, one for all co-op business (posts at the top reserved for lists of participants, paymment totals, shipping , etc.) and one for chat. When either thread became too long for dial-up users, it was closed and linked to a new thread (with any relevant info copied at the top of the new thread).

Suggesting "key words" for subjects might be useful. I continue to think it would also be useful to encourage people to close threads once co-ops are closed to new participants, so the "see only open threads" feature is enhanced. Maybe a sentence along those lines could be added at the top?

I think you're right about getting people to mark coops as closed or open.

Right now, there are four threads on the first page of the Coop forum marked for taking orders, none of which are marked closed and all of which are closed.

Terry, if you did it, looks good over there. Ya can actually see something, ya cna now go down the line and see order, intresest, chat and closed all first and can breeze through .

Thanks! : )

Love it Terry! I wonder how many have noticed?

MollyD

I did notice earlier! I know it's not perfect but it's better and it was much easier to scan the first word and see what I wanted to read!

It's a start...I only got through the first page and a half of open co-ops. (If they're marked closed, I'm not going to fool with changing their heading.)

I'm also marking them closed if they are over with, and deleting some of the general "is anybody thinking of organizing a co-op" threads, unless they are heading toward an actual "interest" thread.

I spoke too soon. It looks fantastic, Terry. Much, much easier to read. I think this will solve a lot of the problems.

It looks much, much better! THANK YOU!

Where should we put the chat threads for the co-ops? It helps keep the order thread clean.

It's been a while since I've organized a co-op, but I guess I'm still a little mystified as to the need for "chat" threads in the co-op forum.

If people have questions about the plants being offered (hardiness, suitability for their climate, size of plants, etc.) wouldn't those questions fit in the "interest" query thread? Questions pertaining to the orders - quantities, vendor, cutoff dates, etc. - should go in the order thread.

Other questions/chat - how your plants are doing, photos of the new "babies", etc., would seem to belong in other forums or your garden journals. Other off-topic chatter? We have the general discussion, jokes and chat, and parking lot forums, plus the happy birthday forum and prayer request forum.

I know it's easy to fall into the habit of relying on a single forum as your "home base" here at DG, but the co-op forum wasn't designed as a "chatty" type of forum and as this thread shows, the majority of the feedback is to keep the co-op forum clear and easy to navigate.

There's a reason we have over 200 forums: DG is a community. We encourage our members to branch out and explore all the forums and features, and use them to help you with your questions. You may meet new friends and find others who may share a particular passion with you - you might never find these members if everyone limited themselves to just one or two forums.

We usually try to keep the order thread clean - just orders, so we don't miss any. And the interest thread closes when the order thread is put up. I don't mind moving chat somewhere, I just want to make sure we move to the correct place. Some co-ops generate a ton of questions, some generate very few.