Re: Re: COMP: hort.net
iris@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: Re: COMP: hort.net
  • From: &* P* &* <1*@rewrite.hort.net>
  • Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 16:44:03 -0500 (EST)
I do not check all the websites for all the sections thoroughly. Usually just looking for some bit of information. But HIPS and PCNS are the only two I remember. Obviously all could benefit from such a tool but it would be more efficient if it was one large bulletin board and access was available from them all. If AIS provided this as a service for AIS members and all section members it could be done less expensively also.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shaub Dunkley" <4390a9e81@rewrite.hort.net>
To: iris@hort.net
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2016 4:32:51 PM
Subject: Re: [iris] Re: COMP: hort.net

Are we able to list the sections with forums off the top of our heads? 
And the ones with member only ones.
HIPS - members only
SIGNA
who else?

I asked elsewhere but hope I didn't come off snotty. Can we give 
'critical mass' a quantity of some sort? Or an approach to how it might 
be estimated? I hear it is necessary for success. Is it an important 
variable in helping if this might go on to a feasibility study?

How do we define CM? Maybe we did already and I overlook.
Volume of visits by anyone - active participants and lurkers combined? 
Or just participants.
Volume of posts?
Volume of searches on archives?
other?

We have AIS member sections (and perhaps outlying other groups) with 
existing forums. Some that have operated for years in a stable condition 
to the satisfaction of the sections. They exist in the market along side 
Facebook and other commercial sites. Logically it seems these forums 
have already proved themselves to have critical masses (cm) by some 
measure, no? So a concept forum aggregating these various masses cms is 
a critical mass of a larger size, no?
(Providing we continue to meet the needs of those people who used the 
original forums but now have to use the concept forum.)

But the question is worth asking, on what time-frame does one measure 
success of a forum? Or a mail list. This rather large spike in posts to 
iris-talk occurred after a prolonged drought of what time? The OP to 
this spike was:
OT-CHAT: [iris] Active?
Yes, iris-talk is active. Does it have critical mass?

Shaub Dunkley, Candler, NC
On 1/10/2016 3:50 PM, Robert Pries wrote:
> I stand corrected. I guess I just remember rejoining at the same time. It is a very good forum and I wish I had time to keep up with it. Maybe if we had something similar in AIS people would join just because they felt like they should, like I did. But then again would such a forum compete with Forums from the sections if they were to have members only forums?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Linda Mann" <101l@rewrite.hort.net>
> To: iris@hort.net
> Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2016 7:05:02 AM
> Subject: Re: [iris] Re: COMP: hort.net
>
> Plus, like hort.net archives, you can use the site, read, search without
> joining.
> Linda Mann
> On 1/9/2016 6:15 PM, Tom Waters wrote:
>> Bob, you are incorrect about the SRGC forum. You do have to join the
>> *forum* (for free, it's really just picking a username and password), but
>> you do not have to be a member of SRGC. It's not even asked about when you
>> register with the forum.
>>
>>      Tom Waters
>> Telperion Oasis ~ www.telp.com/irises
>> Cuyamungue, New Mexico, USA (zone 6)
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------
>>    From: "Robert Pries" <101p@rewrite.hort.net>
>> Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2016 10:01 AM
>> To: iris@hort.net
>> Subject: Re: [iris] Re: COMP: hort.net
>>
>> Tom: Thanks for the history and I agree with the challenges of setting up a
>> group. I have been a member of SRGC off and on for over 50 years, longer
>> then AIS but not as consistently. The last time I wanted to post on the
>> forum I had to renew my membership first. So I think their forum is only
>> visible to non-members but you must join to post. It has been over a year
>> since I posted there and have forgotten. I agree it is harder and harder to
>> keep up with many forums/facebooks. Years ago pre Facebook I used to be a
>> member of about 25 specialty plant societies. I finally let most of them
>> expire because I did not have the time to read all the journals. The same
>> seems to happen just with Iris.
>>
>>
>>
>> Each Iris group to function well today really needs a forum but that is way
>> too many. Perhaps what is needed is one Large Iris forum that was
>> accessible to a member of any AIS member, or any Section member through a
>> portal on each of those websites. Because it would be the bulletin board
>> type people could check out their particular interest but still comment
>> when they wished in other sections that are being more active. Perhaps it
>> could follow the Scottish Rock Garden Club model of being visible to
>> everyone but bring in new members because of a wish to participate like the
>> SRGC does.
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------
>>
>>      From: "Tom Waters" <7a9370dc1@rewrite.hort.net>
>> To: iris@hort.net, iris@hort.net
>> Sent: Saturday, January 9, 2016 11:11:14 AM
>> Subject: re: [iris] Re: COMP: hort.net
>>     Just a little clarification on the history. I started the list (then
>> IRIS-L) in February 1996. I set it up and moderated it for the first few
>> years. I've noticed that in recent years people have talked about Mike Lowe
>> being the founder or cofounder, and there's not really any basis for
>> singling him out amongst the half dozen or so of us who were interested in
>> starting it. He gave some money (there was a $200 bill to create it), but I
>> believe Bill Smoot gave more and others contributed as well. Perhaps Mike
>> publicized it to AIS or something.
>>
>>      As Linda has stated, it was not intended to be an AIS project, and I
>> don't think it ever had any such status, although AIS did let members know
>> it was one of several venues for iris activity on the internet.
>>
>>      Bob, I share your caution about recommending the AIS create a forum. If
>> it does, I would encourage them to make it open to all, not just AIS
>> members. A critical mass of participants is an absolute necessity, and the
>> number of nonmembers (around the world) who want to talk about irises is
>> orders of magnitude larger than the AIS membership. This model has worked
>> for SRGC, and their forum has brought in new members.
>>
>>      Unfortunately, I don't really see another iris forum being able to draw
>> people away from Facebook or even away from the SRGC forum and other
>> broader plant forums. Most people only have time for one or two venues, and
>> they will tend to go where they get the most interaction for time spent.
>> One of the reasons that social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, G+,
>> etc., are popular is that you can keep in touch not only with people who
>> share one hobby, but friends and family everywhere. And an all-plants forum
>> like SRGC is rewarding if your gardening interests extend beyond irises.
>>
>>      For a venue to start from nothing and take off (like this list did, in
>> the beginning) it basically has to be THE place to go, not just another
>> place to go. Who has time for yet another place, especially if its reach is
>> narrower than the sites one is already using?
>>
>>      Tom
>>
>>          Tom Waters
>> Telperion Oasis ~ www.telp.com/irises
>> Cuyamungue, New Mexico, USA (zone 6)
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------
>>      From: "Linda Mann" <101l@rewrite.hort.net>
>> Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2016 5:36 AM
>> To: iris@hort.net
>> Subject: [iris] Re: COMP: hort.net
>> Last time I checked with Chris, who does the computer stuff at Mallorn
>> that takes care of hort.net, he said iris talk archives were still
>> getting more than 10,000 search hits/month. Hardly a dead group. And
>> that was in comparison/contrast to some of the other hort.net groups.
>> Of course, some of that traffic is from those of us who've been sharing
>> information there for over a decade and are using the archives as a
>> memory aid for info we want to share on Facebook ;-)
>>
>> I vividly remember how I learned about the hort.net forum (originally
>> iris-list) - it was 1996, & I had finally gotten internet phone service,
>> went online, thought "now what am I going to do, now that I'm finally
>> here". Did a search for irises, found a brand new forum started by Mike
>> Lowe and Tom T Little (now Tom Waters) and joined. I think that was the
>> second month they were in operation.
>>
>> On 1/8/2016 11:39 AM, Char Holte wrote:
>>> Do any of you remember how you originally
>>> got on the original web site? I think it was offered when we joined AIS.
>> In spite of what some participants have thought, although the list at
>> hort.net was started by two AIS members, it was not originally intended
>> to be an official AIS forum.
>>
>> Is it now an official AIS forum?
>>
>>> Why would you want an AIS forum if you have the hort.net forum? I thought
>> the Hort.net served the AIS community.
>>
>> Linda Mann
>> east TN zone 7b
>>
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>>
>>
>> -- Bob Pries
>> Zone 7a
>> Roxboro, NC
>> (336)597-8805
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Bob Pries
Zone 7a
Roxboro, NC
(336)597-8805

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