About Orchid Board and Where it Started

[cb977]

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[Hedge]

Originally Posted by lund0682

I was only bitten by the orchid bug a little while ago myself and I'm a very new member here, but I just want to say that I LOVE THIS FORUM.

I belong to a few other online forums to support my other hobbies (cycling, electronics, etc). I won't say that anyone on those other sites is really mean, but you don't have to look very far to find bickering, petty disagreements, and generally unpleasant attitudes. A lot of "I'm right, and you're wrong" attitude. Overall, most folks on those forums are friendly, but that underlying negativity is always there. I thought it was just an unavoidable part of life on the internet.

So what a refreshing surprise when I joined the Orchid Board! I've been reading countless posts, drooling over all the great pictures, and dreaming about all the orchids I'm going to aquire - and I haven't seen any negative, petty, or unpleasant posts! The people here are so friendly and helpful! This is unlike any other forum on the internet that I've come across. Thank you Orchid Board!!!

So, the question is: does growing orchids make people calm, friendly, and easy-going? Or are calm, friendly, and easy-going people the only ones with the patience (or desire) to grow orchids?

I think the latter, definitely, plus the fact that unlike a lot of the other forums are gender biased - I have never been on a forum which seemed to have such equal numbers of men and women. Plus some of my other hobbies do attract what we in Britain call "anoraks" - finding information about what I am interested in can often mean wading through sniping comments where immovable mountain meets irrepressible river all to no avail but to clog the threads. I love this site for its diversity of opinion and friendliness - let's keep it happy!

[Tindomul]

This is great, love going down memory lane. I joined a few days after the forum was created, and according to my private messages, I was chosen by Marty back in the first week of April 2006 (4/2/06). I'm pretty sure at the time it was just him Oscarman, NYorchids and I. They were fun times. At first it was a slow forum, but people started coming over. We had posting contests, just to get people used to posting on orchid board. We had article contests to get Orchid Board to become more searchable on google, and to attract more people. Many of us would congregate in the chat room nightly and have a good old time. To get the chat room running, we would have special chat topics every night. Ex. Monday night Phals, and Tuesday night Oncidiums etc.... (don't remember if that was the actual order). Ofcouse, we never stuck to the topic, but it worked nicely. The look of the forum I think has changed about 3 times. All for the better. I wonder if anyone has a picture of what it looked like back when it was created?

[Tindomul]

One more for your list Rosie, NYorchids was one of the first moderatores. He kinda got too busy and left early on though.

[Island Girl]

I know this is an old thread, but wow! I had always wondered about such things! Thanks y'all! (all of you, b/c this forum is truly awesome!!!

Bill, when I break spikes, & clay pots I spent hours upon hours drilling holes in the sides of, well, let's just say I know a whole lot a cuss-words!!

[RosieC]

Things have moved on a little since my post in 2011.

Sonya (Whiterabbit), Camille (Camille1585) and Gloria (Lagoon) are now moderators alongside myself and Tindomul. With Dave (Oscarman) and Marty as the Admins.

Unfortunately Dana and Sue are no longer involved with the forum although some of us are still in touch with Sue and occasionally Dana as well.

It's so good that this forum is still going so strong, with new members all the time. I still

[Island Girl]

I had noticed that Sue wasn't really active anymore... I guess I noticed b/c I spent/spend a lot of time reading old posts (I love to learn about orchids... ) Is she doing ok? I hope so!

[Discus]

I am constantly amazed by how positive these forums are for the most part - it's quite impressive (I've been involved in several, some considerably more active than OB, and I was an Administrator on that one - thousands of posts a day sometimes). The light touch moderation seems to work surprisingly well, but I guess perhaps orchids aren't for the most part quite as touchy a subject as politics, religion and "general" discussions!

---------- Post added at 10:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 AM ----------

One other thing that's particularly impressive is the "noob-friendliness" too, from welcoming newcomers warmly to helping someone out with a sad store bought phalaenopsis for the 400th time.

[RosieC]

She's doing fine. Doesn't keep as many orchids now I don't think but probably does still have a lot by many people's standards I recently saw some pictures of some of her recent blooms

[Paul Mc]

I agree. I have been busy lately and not able to respond as much as I would prefer to, but this forum rocks!!! I'm also a member of other forums besides orchids and agree that the underlying negativity (or obvious) is almost always there. This is one of the few forums I can come to and get away from all of that.


Paul McMahon
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