Forum seems to be pretty lively even without as many Gods of Aesthetics on hand.

I was doing some looking around today to try to find these fabled more intellectually satisfying pastures. So far I've just looked at a few sites and, from what I've seen, this site seems to be pretty unique with the mix of a few 'pros', total beginers and everything in between. Interestingly, one of the sites I looked at was largely - or maybe totally, 'pro'. I even recognized the distinctive 'voice' of someone there, although the name used was a variation on the one used here. The discussions there,while interesting and sometimes amusing (.e.g. a thread on the strangest request...) seemed to be largely practical business issues.

I think perhaps the pros and more experienced amateurs that continue to participate here despite the regular bouts of angst about lack of sufficient appreciation, feelings of being 'put upon', or annoyance with uninteresting posts and impertinent posters, must be those who either (1) have an abiding interest in teaching or (2) have a deep enthusiasm for their field and are happy to talk about it with anybody - or both. I wonder if those who leave really do find a better mix of topics and participants elsewhere. And Kudos to those who stay!

It is also sad when a cult of personality replaces true discussion or belief in one's own ability.

I was doing some looking around today to try to find these fabled more intellectually satisfying pastures. So far I've just looked at a few sites and, from what I've seen, this site seems to be pretty unique with the mix of a few 'pros', total beginers and everything in between. Interestingly, one of the sites I looked at was largely - or maybe totally, 'pro'. I even recognized the distinctive 'voice' of someone there, although the name used was a variation on the one used here. The discussions there,while interesting and sometimes amusing (.e.g. a thread on the strangest request...) seemed to be largely practical business issues.

I think perhaps the pros and more experienced amateurs that continue to participate here despite the regular bouts of angst about lack of sufficient appreciation, feelings of being 'put upon', or annoyance with uninteresting posts and impertinent posters, must be those who either (1) have an abiding interest in teaching or (2) have a deep enthusiasm for their field and are happy to talk about it with anybody - or both. I wonder if those who leave really do find a better mix of topics and participants elsewhere. And Kudos to those who stay!

ACK! I seem to have developed a stutter - how did that happen?!

Why say it once, when you can say it again?

Repetition is art.

WoodyOak,
My posting was not in response to yours, even though it followed it. My posting was in response to the person quoted in the Duluth's posting.

Things wax and wane around here as regularly as the moon. No cause for despair. And Botann's telephone booth, well, that's a shooting star if I ever saw one...burning bright, getting your attention one moment, then gone.

Qu'est-ce que c'est. Say something once, why say it again?

Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. To follow on Prairiegirlz5's theme.

I miss some of the personalities and their unique perspectives, but I'm not sure that the threads are really any different than they ever were. But, the personalities that are here and now are would be missed, too.

Believe it or not, many of you are now are part of the cult of personality. You are all frequent posters with recognizable names and recognizable personalities - no different than those that have "moved on".

Being at odds with the establishment is a habit that is hard to break even after you become the establishment.

If and when any of you "move on", there will be posts asking what happened to Bboy, Woodyoak, Duluth, or Catkim.

Actually it was my theme but I didn't remember the lyric right.

It's not going to make me go out and kill someone, however.

"Being at odds with the establishment is a habit that is hard to break even after you become the establishment."

I like that.

Man, its difficult being part of a forum. I frequent another, and let me tell you, itÂs really tough to be yourself, please everyone else, and just have things run semi-smoothly. ItÂs *especially* difficult if you are not one to succumb to herd-thinking.

It seems if you donÂt try to please other people (ie. constantly keep *everyoneÂs* feelings the utmost priority), you end up bickering all the time. And we know we canÂt please everyone all of the time. By the way, I think itÂs best to just be yourself because it doesnÂt work if youÂre not. So, I guess frustration goes hand in hand with forum participation. Unless you set your expectations really low. And I canÂt help but agree with the Âdumbing-down comment in so much as people do give up trying to express their individuality eventually if there is enough opposition to it. ItÂs too bad.

>I like thatI like your post.

And some of us are just B-U-S-Y. I'm back at the GC pretty much full time...and whipped when I get home...so lurking instead of posting.

Harry Lauder got re-potted last week...I'll post a photo when I get some time. My new pot is stunning, if I say so myself. I don't find this place any dumber than it was lo those many years ago. Just different.

melanie

Harry Lauder got re-potted last week

Better take his whiskey bottle away. (That's why it's called whiskey, after you've been working on it long enough someone gets fed up and whisks it away).

Seems to me Harry Potter should've been a drunken scaliwag instead of a bespectacled ingenue.

Well, after wrestling Harry into his new pot...some whiskey might've been appropriate...but I settled for a Bass and Mr. mjsee had a glass of red wine. I wish I'd had someone take pictues. It was epic. Mr. mjsee says if Harry outgrows this pot...we're just going to bust the pot away from him. (We'll have to. It's got an urn shape, and it was tough enough getting him out of the straight sided pot!)

"It is when those with real expertise, and the ability to articulate it, head for more intellectually satisfying pastures - leaving the earth colder at the passing of their shadows (huh) - that results in those of us with less vision and skill left behind to seep in to fill the void. The potential exists for boredom, to feel under appreciated, insulted or put upon, but also to extract or impart a few helpful nuggets. "

What does this mean in more direct language? There is a lot of between the lines talk amongst the regulars. Anyway, a forum or any conversation is what you make it to be.

In reply to rhodium:

First off, this forum continues to have value and I (and many others) have gained from the abstract discussions as well as the blank slate questions. I was defending the forum and those who feel confident enough to participate. I was also saying in a different way that the threads continue even when people leave for whatever reason they leave. While sorry some announce their departures; I'm sorrier for those whose announced departures didn't get the anticipated 150 "oh no, don't go" responses.

Directly - I was reacting to the fact that I had taken the found comment to mean that when some of the old guard posters leave to find other forums, blogs or whatever that fit in more with their style of thinking and sense of the aesthetic or ideas on what topics are worth discussing and take a few others with them in the process, others might feel this signals doom. Talent remains here, and even if and when well meaning, albeit considered misdirected by others, help is offered - maybe that should serve to spark further discourse rather than ramping up for the requiem.

In response to Everyman asking, say, where to incorporate a redbud into his landscape; if I write a treatise on the meaning of red, interesting perhaps, but does he then know where to plant the redbud? There's plenty of room for both the abstract and the practical for the Everyman gardener/landscaper - and this should continue to be a good place to get a smattering of each.

Insight, when and if it comes, comes to us all in different ways; a bolt out of the blue or a slow build-up to the "aha moment". And if it never comes at all, even when some say that every principle has been reduced to its lowest common denominator, what's the harm?

The changing of the seasons is part of the charm of this forum, for me.
(Just got back from Tenerife, where spring is eternal.)