The community forum is now over one year old! Since its introduction to the wild in the summer of 2009, this beast has now grown into a popular and informative place to exchange ideas, pictures, stories among a variety of other things! It has not been a smooth journey all the way with a few technical issues and disruptions setting it back, but we are very happy with the way most of it has been going.
We, the moderators from the Wildlife and Web teams, must say a big thank you to all the contributors and viewers of this forum. It is your friendly welcomes, interesting and informative posts that make this successful. It has been a steep learning curve for us all, we've enjoyed it and hope that you have enjoyed it as much as we have.
Other than to say a big thanks to everyone, we wanted to inform you all about what we have been up to with regards to the future of the forum. No doubt you will all be happy to hear that there will be upgrades happening to the software and hardware which the whole website uses. These upgrades should see an improvement to some of the issues which some of you have experienced. Unfortunately we cannot give you an exact time scale for this but it is in the pipeline.
We do realise there have been a few problems on the forum and we have been working hard to deal with them. Please keep reporting any posts you're not happy with and we will endevour to keep the atmosphere of the forum friendly and constructive. There may well be a few other tweaks, additions and changes as well, which we will keep you up to date with as they happen.
Once again thank you for all the great input to this forum, keep up the good work! If you have any feedback or ideas for change then please let us know, we are still learning and are willing to listen to any constructive criticism.
Thanks
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE COMMUNITY FORUM - A lot of good has come out of this, a place where everyone can join in with their love of wildlife, birds and nature - and experiences can be shared, plus of course lots of photos! - can't have too many of those! Many thanks to the RSPB for enabling all this.
On a sad note, however, I do have to agree that something has to be done about the editing problem - I speak as someone who although a competent typist of many years standing, still often edits her posts for typos or missed points meant to be made at the time... so I would miss it - But - Unless there is some change made to this facility, there will continue to be harrassment and bullying on the site - and people will leave. Unfortunately, its the nicer ones who give up, and go.
Happy birthday to the forum! Here's to a good second year.
Re editing, I agree with Lindy. Meanwhile, if anyone sees an offensive post, as well as hitting the red button they could take a screengrab (hit the 'Prt Sc' button, then open a new document in an image-editing programe and hit Paste) to ensure there's a visual record of the post.
My blog: http://mazzaswildside.blogspot.co.uk/
My Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/124028194@N04/
Happy birthday to the RSPB forum from me also.
I realise the site can be a bit slow sometimes but as I appear to have the slowest wireless connection IN THE WORLD!!!! ......LOL , I don't notice it as much as many other members. Any improvements will always be welcome of course.
WARNING: Sorry if some find the following rather excessive or 'gushing' ( I am a bit surprised at myself really, LOL) but I have experienced all this while using this site and wanted to say so.
This is a wonderful site. I have met some fantastic people on here. Those who have studied birds and wildlife for a lifetime and have an awe inspiring amount of knowledge and enthusiasm which they share in a generous and unpatronising way. Others are successful and highly skilled photographers who share their wonderful images which have taken so much time and patience to capture. There are inspiring wildlife gardeners who post wonderful accounts and photos of their beautiful gardens and plots and help us to solve problems, choose plants, dig ponds and create spaces buzzing with insects and birds. Some care passionately about the environment and use their expertise to teach and encourage us to learn more and take action. There are those who have fed the birds and other wildlife in their garden for years and readily contribute their knowledge, advice and photos.They share their excitement when a new species arrives, their success when young are born and their sadness when tragedy occurs. The moderators are always there to help with wildlife questions and give us information about RSPB sites, campaigns, caption competitions and even forthcoming TV programmes. And all this is done with warmth, humour and charm. Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns.
Kind regards Jane.
Hear, hear Jef and the way you have come across with your post goes without saying - well said!!!
Unknown said: Happy birthday to the RSPB forum from me also. I realise the site can be a bit slow sometimes but as I appear to have the slowest wireless connection IN THE WORLD!!!! ......LOL , I don't notice it as much as many other members. Any improvements will always be welcome of course. WARNING: Sorry if some find the following rather excessive or 'gushing' ( I am a bit surprised at myself really, LOL) but I have experienced all this while using this site and wanted to say so. This is a wonderful site. I have met some fantastic people on here. Those who have studied birds and wildlife for a lifetime and have an awe inspiring amount of knowledge and enthusiasm which they share in a generous and unpatronising way. Others are successful and highly skilled photographers who share their wonderful images which have taken so much time and patience to capture. There are inspiring wildlife gardeners who post wonderful accounts and photos of their beautiful gardens and plots and help us to solve problems, choose plants, dig ponds and create spaces buzzing with insects and birds. Some care passionately about the environment and use their expertise to teach and encourage us to learn more and take action. There are those who have fed the birds and other wildlife in their garden for years and readily contribute their knowledge, advice and photos.They share their excitement when a new species arrives, their success when young are born and their sadness when tragedy occurs. The moderators are always there to help with wildlife questions and give us information about RSPB sites, campaigns, caption competitions and even forthcoming TV programmes. And all this is done with warmth, humour and charm. Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns.
Thanks for all your comments and positive feedback. It really is appreciated and we will be looking into the suggestions you have made!
Great stuff and keep it coming!
Damn! I have tried soooo hard for a year to be patronising ever since I DID manage to teach my granny to suck eggs :((((
S
ps I shall now edit this post a few times :)
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
seymouraves said: Damn! I have tried soooo hard for a year to be patronising ever since I DID manage to teach my granny to suck eggs :(((( S ps I shall now edit this post a few times :)
Oh S that is just toooooooo funny
An optimist sees the beauty of the complete rose.A pessimist sees only the thorn .
Unknown said: Actually I think the ability to edit one's own posts is one of the best features of the Forum, and I wouldn't want to see it removed. It's very useful if you're posting something more complex, or see after posting that you've made a typo. To address the issue which I think is being referred to, would it be possible to just change the "Report abuse" function, so that the moderators receive a copy of the offending post as it stands at the time the report is sent. If the author later edits it, it will be obvious to the mods that this has been done. We had a problem in the Loch Garten Forum a while back, of someone who was posting strange political diatribes and later erasing them.
Actually I think the ability to edit one's own posts is one of the best features of the Forum, and I wouldn't want to see it removed. It's very useful if you're posting something more complex, or see after posting that you've made a typo.
To address the issue which I think is being referred to, would it be possible to just change the "Report abuse" function, so that the moderators receive a copy of the offending post as it stands at the time the report is sent. If the author later edits it, it will be obvious to the mods that this has been done. We had a problem in the Loch Garten Forum a while back, of someone who was posting strange political diatribes and later erasing them.
Perhaps spell check would be good idea , then that would also help people with poor vision.
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
A search function that does not take ages to work would be nice.
www.thecynicalgardener.com
Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.
Well said jef and sheena,won't repeat it all but agree with all of it.
Happy birthday to RSPB forums from me as well,any faults come from the users not the RSPB in my opinion and there are always going to be lots of different views,just hope the majority stay with it and do not take offence too easily as then we all lose out.