Member titles are NOT equivalent to experience.

[OrcishOrchids]

Ok, full disclosure before I start, I’ve only been growing since early 2019. cool? Ok, let's get to the point. (NOTE: I have re-written this to make it more understandable, let me know how I've done.)

The special titles and flowers under a member’s name are NOT some kind of seal of authority or community endorsement. These special titles and flowers are given on the basis of post count alone (Moderators being the exception). Why am I pointing this out? Because I'm worried that the titles are misleading. Other forms of social media have different formats for these things, and I just wanted to point out that the code for this is old and doesn't include a feedback system for the community to validate them.

So consider this a notice only for my fellow newbs, just in case they didn't know. Before you make culture choices based on someone else’s advice, do your best to do your own research. use all the information available to you, including someone's join date, to help you decide how credible someone’s advice is before you act on it.

No matter how much or little knowledge we have, we all have something to add because everyone's conditions and plants are unique. Welcome to the forum and have fun!

[Shadeflower]

I don't agree.
Not even sure where this is coming from. There has been a great atmosphere in the forum lately but some people like to criticize for no reason.
If you have some criticism then go and say it instead of making this vague post about you having an issue with something yet not saying what it is, saying "Let’s keep this forum a welcoming and friendly place" yet making this post pointing out some of your fellow orchid growers are idiots.
I have been "helping" people quite a bit since I joined so is this referring to me? I mean I only have only little flower under my name so I certainly am not one of these people to have "the good reputation that their titles appear to convey" as I only have one flower?

But so if it's not about me, then who else Estacion? Southpark?
Ray? Roberta? Can't be Roberta cause she is a mod, the only sacred title according to you but getting a mod title doesn't make said person automatically a trustworthy source either.

I have a problem with this post as I don't like to see any of these members criticized. All of us might not know everything, we might like to believe we do but the important thing is we collectively know a lot? Who else knows more about orchids then?

WE all make mistakes at times but we should all remember to "keep this forum a welcoming and friendly place where we can share our plants and our knowledge" surely.

I think if someone has something to say and it is important then nobody should feel that superior to deny them their freedom of speech.

If someone talks rubbish then everyone will ignore them. Why make this post saying some people ie moderators can say whatever they want yet other members can't?

There are some members I disagree with on a regular basis - we don't all grow the same way but it would be a bit boring if we did and nobody was willing to try to see if it couldn't be done differently.

So what exactly is the issue. I want to understand it properly instead of saying some members are trolls.

Based on what? That they haven't been posting for years or that they have been posting for years? It's all a bit vague and just comes across as criticizing us all on the forum.

I myself feel like I should take a bit of a break from the forum. Just like taking a break from social media is good once in a while so I think I'll be doing that for a bit.

I prefer when there is a good atmosphere and it feels like trouble is brewing in the forum.

All these accusations of people giving out advice to purposefully make other people's plants die. I mean yeah I did read about some weirdo the other day trying to inject food in the supermarket with poison but I have been accused of trying to kill someone else's plants when all I was doing was helping. If I had been giving out terrible advice ok but nobody could even accuse me of that, I was just accused of being a new member and helping out.
So there is far too much attitude in some people imo where every new member is seen as a potential troll instead of a fellow grower to learn something from.

I dunno, I'll be taking a break and I'll let the mods deal with this unhappyness.

[Ray]

I think the better approach would be to encourage the individual to take everything they read with a grain of salt, and to understand that each individual's particular combination of growing parameters plays a far bigger role in their success than does "the plant".

I find that to be a constant battle, for example, in the world of semi-hydroponics, where you often see "will {this plant} do well in S/H?", so I repeatedly advise folks that one person's success or failure has absolutely no bearing on theirs.

[OrcishOrchids]

Originally Posted by Ray

I think the better approach would be to encourage the individual to take everything they read with a grain of salt, and to understand that each individual's particular combination of growing parameters plays a far bigger role in their success than does "the plant"...

Thanks Ray, you said that better than I did. my intent was just to alert new members about the forum mechanic, because I feel like the titles could be misleading, from there they could use their own best judgment. alas, I'm not very talented with text communication.

[DirtyCoconuts]

There is a good bit of truth here.


I am a “senior” member but I am very much a child and an amateur plant grower at best.

---------- Post added at 08:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 PM ----------

Also, at least 400 of my posts are just spam. The meat product

[estación seca]

I bet you could make iguana Spam.

[Fairorchids]

This fella is close to the right color (spam)!

[estación seca]

Mouthwatering.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by OrcishOrchids

...The special titles and flowers under a member’s name are NOT some kind of seal of authority or community endorsement. They do NOT display someone’s level of experience or the quality of the advice they have to give. These special titles and flowers are given on the basis of post count, which means anyone determined to have one just needs to spam every thread they can with some kind of question or comment and they can get one within a few weeks.

OP, what is really bothering you?
-Keith

[camille1585]

OrchishOrchids, if something has happened in another thread that triggered this thread, please don't hesitate to send a private message to one of the moderators. We do our best to monitor all posts, but it's difficult to have eyes everywhere at all times.

Post counts only indicate how active someone is on the forum, nothing else. If the forum owner had wanted to include a 'quality' metric, he would have used reputation mechanics sometimes implemented in other forums.