> Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 16:44:03 -0500
> To: iris@hort.net
> Subject: Re: [iris] Re: COMP: hort.net
> From: 101p@rewrite.hort.net
>
> 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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> >> message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> -- Bob Pries
> >> Zone 7a
> >> Roxboro, NC
> >> (336)597-8805
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >
>
>
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>
> --
> Bob Pries
> Zone 7a
> Roxboro, NC
> (336)597-8805
>
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