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Post by Flytrap on Jul 25, 2006 16:40:51 GMT -5
I sort of wish our CP forum had more chatter and contribution from more Canadians. I look at the CPUK and other forums with lots of activity and wonder why not us.
I know for a fact that there are a lot of CP growers out in BC - I've visited them and told them of this OCPS forum... but have not seen them join in.
An interesting observation is that I guess I am of the earlier CP enthusiasts from the 1980s who were excited about every CP character who we bumped into...then we got tired and grouchy. A number of the old timer CP collectors are still around today. and many of my old colleagues have so much plant material and stuff, but aren't interested in sending out cuttings or trading (any more)... I see a lot of their material going into compost bins, or succumbing to loss of interest and ultimately, the death of the whole CP collection.
Heck, I guess it's burn out. Disinterest in meeting newer CP people is what I think it is. I was sort of like that for many years, but only got back into the trading mode this year.
Anyways, I'm rambling and I hope that more people start inputting into this forum.
Maybe I'll take a cue from one of the other forums and start shipping out seeds and cuttings to people based on their contibution... based on quantity and quality of postings. I'll collect some cuttings from my old CP buds next season when they start trimming for the compost and distribute these old plants around.
I will be heading out to my old friend Tom Kahl's greenhouse next month- when I show you what he's been growing for the past 30 years, it will blow your mind (and mine too).
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Post by mabudon on Jul 26, 2006 6:44:38 GMT -5
We were talking about this on our fieldtrip a bit... it seems the real die-hards are indeed somewhat hermit-like in some ways, tho all of the folks I have met so far have been really cool and eager to talk CPs, the real "old-timers" seem to be in some sort of zen-like relationship with their plants.. purpman, f'rinstance, is a really devoted grower, but especially in summer, he is pretty busy with so much other stuff that just keeping his plants happy takes up much of his CP time (which in winter tends to get spoent a bit more on these here boards) and so one gets an impression of abscence from him even tho he is doing what is required to make the hobby grow I am stil always up for meeting new folks and sharing whatever I have that may be of interest, but now that I've given clones of all my stuff to pretty much everyone in a hundred mile radius there isn't much interest in what I have Hopefully we can get our late summer gettogethers set up and rocking cos there are a few folks here I would really like to meet still As for the lack of activity here vs. other forums- I think part of the problem (if it even IS one) is that those other sites exist along with this one... there are nowhere NEAR the number of total newbies posting here- a few of our members are doing TC and stuff like that with success, and there aren't many of us who are still unsure as to what to do about, say, sowing D.spatulata seeds... also, with the small number of members, I find that I send as many (likely more) messages as I do post here, on a forum with 1000 members it's harder to keep direct lines open , but here it is pretty easy to keep up with the folks you know by PMs Still, it is a good place to have, I used to PM Tom elsewhere and get replies after several months, whereas here it usually only takes a day or two depending on his schedule, again I think an actual benefit of a tighter-knit group. But no matter what, I will keep starting probing threads to get what members we DO have here posting a bit more, I like hearing from everyone on subjects where comparisons of experience can teach everyone new stuff, or at least make folks think different ways about classic problems
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Post by tom on Jul 26, 2006 8:56:47 GMT -5
I agree with both previous posts, but we can't hope to have as many members as CPUK, Terraforums or even on 'Le forum carnivore'. Even though, this forum has its dedicated place to form and 'strenghten' the Canadian community, which can be hard to do on others place were our number is 'diluted' in the mass of worldwide CPers. I know that it is way easier to get in touch for a trade within Canada here than anywhere else. Even with almost 10 years of CPing, im not considering neither quite knowledgeable nor an ol' timer, but i do understand the 'lack' of interest into the hobby, mainly due to the small number of amateurs, and even rarer numer of serious cpers with an interesting collection to trade with when 'you reach this level and looking for something in particular' (this sounds a bit fuzzy, sorry). I was about to quit CP last august, and perhaps without Syble's effort, I wouldn't be here today... But i do agree there is a lot of potential in a lot of CPer here, and even if the forum is growing slowly (but surely), I do appreciate to see that a few of us are focussing on this forum to keep it active. Sure, we dont have the international experts with their trip on the Kinabalu (perhaps Olivier could tell us about his past trip though, or David), Tepuys or such, and surely we are 'doomed' to be a marginal forum, but i do appreciate its existence for sure. Language is still a bareer for a few french speakers, but efforts are made in this sense. David, I do understand your disapointment (I also wished to see people like Dan, Chris T, etc) to came on this forum, but perhaps with the time and as the forums will expand in quantity of members and quality of members/posts/trading material, they'll finally take the plunge... After all, we are fortunate enough 'to have you back' so perhaps others will do the same in a certain amount of time. Also note that all you are doing to 'reanimate/encourage' the CP scene is wonderful and I do appreciate this (as a lot of others surely do too!) Mabudon: well, i dont know if my faster answering rate is due to a Canadian forum, or I just happens to be less distracted by the number of posts than answering to my PM . But i must admit Im more 'assidut' (focussing) on this forum, so it surely contribute to this.
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Post by setep on Jul 30, 2006 9:09:04 GMT -5
I personally like this board. I do find it a little frustrating sometimes being unable to take part in plant trades, etc, due to artificial boundaries set up by governments. But I knew that was the case coming in. Growing experiences, however, provide universally applicable data. The only down side to the low traffic volume is that sometimes, when time is pressing, it seems ok to skip a day of monitoring. Enough of that can get you out of step fairly quickly. Ron
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