eh I dont care, email me all you want, but if you're hitting me up for seeds and I dunno who you are, you are spam and, you get deleted and no response. I dont feel guilty for not responded to this stuff. It evens out because occassionally, I dont get responded to responses that I make, which is fine, cuz I assume the person wasnt interested.

:)
D

I have had a few good trades by cold emailing. I figure that's what the trade list and search box is for. It's like anything else on the internet, it can be used for good and it can be used for bad. If I see something on your list I want, I will attempt to set up a trade. If you don't respond, I don't get offended.
jim_6b

I don't mind it if the person has been on GW for a while with a good track record on R&R but just this morning on that "OTHER" gardening website someone that had JUST signed up this very morning cold-called/emailed me saying that they didn't have anything but asked for some of my 1-3 yr old pawpaw saplings. I don't mind parting w/ some of my less common seeds for sase to newbees but that one was way outta line. I still haven't decided how to reply that doesnt sound just plain out rude.

Peggy

I dropped my membership over at that 'OTHER' site because there was so little trading going on as opposed to GW that requires the Exchanges be for trading, yet allow members to 'offer' up their excess seeds for postage and a bubblie.
What I saw was folks just looking for stuff, with nothing to trade, or saying something like, "Let me know what you are looking for." Sheesh.

I still haven't decided how to reply that doesnt sound just plain out rude.
How about this...
I'm sorry, but I do not send out plants for postage. You might try posting asking for some pawpaw seeds at the Seed Forum and grow/start your own seedlings from seeds.

Happy Gardening!

Gads, that member is just clueless about how much time and trouble it is to pack and mail live plants, after one receives the postage in advance. Until one has done it, they really don't know the time and care it takes to assure things arrive alive.

Sue

Sue,
You are such a lady.What I had rolling around in what's left of my mind wouldn't even come close to being even slightly lady-like.

Yup,it's hard to get very many trades going over "There" but then I think I've uniqued and weirded myself out way too much to trading any more. I'm still getting request for the columbines Sunburst Ruby and Burnished Rose with only common seeds being offered. I'm even starting to sound mean and stingy to myself turning down so many people. To my credit I do always state in my post that I am only looking to trade and not for common seeds. I think I even put it at the top of my "Seeds I have to trade"list and I'm still trying to change my personal info to reflect this but it's STILL not letting me do it.

I had to stop offering seeds and plants for postage 'cause I was getting swamped all the time and it got to the point I wasn't getting sufficient postage to cover packages on too many and it was starting to cost me out of pocket too much, picking up the extra postage so I quit offering which is sad.

What's that old chestnut: this is a unique,strange and weird relationship....I'm Unique...the rest of you are strange and weird.That's what the voices in my head say anyway...LOL

Peggy

Hey Peggy, I'll trade ya some cheese for some pawpaw saplings. Just kidding.
I agree with Sue. There is a lot involved in packing and shipping plants. I sent out some coneflower plants severel years ago and it took a lot of time to dig and prepare them for shipping.
I think if you cold call you should have something to trade and not just ask for seed or plants.
If you are a newbie and don't have any seed, there are many free seed offers on the Seed Exchange.
I remember when I first started the only seed I had were grape hyacinth and lambs ear. Very common seed but after trading for several months I had more seed than I actually needed.
jim_6b

Sue,
You are such a lady.
Bwahhhh...if you only knew the sarcastic things that might fall out of my mouth if I was talking to a close friend in person. Unlike in real life, among friends, I 'try' to put my best foot forward on the net. As Octo Mom says..."You can't unring a bell."

I was just discussing (via email) with a veteran here about the many posts asking for stuff with nothing to trade. While I know a lot of it is not seeing/noticing the Special Instructions thread, I also think it might be a generational thing too, sort of. Most mature folks know that regardless of what you do, or where you do it, there are rules or etiquette that 'should' be followed.
Long before the actual link to the instructions quit working, the instructions were often either not being seen, or just not observed. Even at The Rate and Review Forum the instructions are at the top of the page (no link involved) yet they are often missed by those who are new to posting to the forum. It is a 'human' thing to not see everything all of the time. btdt myself a time or two in life.

When growing up, my generation often started working when they were in their teens or even younger. I found out early in life, that anything/everything I wanted came with a price. That price was paid by working and having the money not just for the things I needed, but the things I wanted. Younger generations were not brought up with the same ethics we were. Many are of the I want it now generation and will do whatever it takes to get those wants be it going into debt for big wants, or asking for free stuff if it what they consider to be small stuff.

There is a lot involved in packing and shipping plants. I sent out some coneflower plants severel years ago and it took a lot of time to dig and prepare them for shipping.
Have I told you lately Jim, how much I appreciated you sending me those coneflowers and how much I have enjoyed them?

Sue...who may have had too much coffee already (ya think?)

My motto...
{{gwi:27158}}

Well,Jim, I prefer baby swiss w/ ham on dark pumpernickle,gourmet mustard of some kind but not too spicy ..grilled and a couple wedges of kosher dill pickle....*G* Whiny ,picky and gripey..not a good combo.

Yup,we were all newbees once and made our fair share of "fox paws"and them what was called "The old hands" on the GW set our wayward feet on the straight and narrow(garden) path and enable us. I offer up the more uncommon seeds as they become less unique but if I'm gonna be coming up outta my pocket each year for something new then offer surplus for trade...I'm not looking for purple coneflowers or MG.

Gosh,I sound just awful. Got up on the wrong side of the bed at 3:30am...LOL Grumpy ole woman 'cause it's still too cold this am to go out and play.

Sue,
I find my tongue looser and more sarcastic with each passing b'day('nother Big"O" coming up 3/7...Yikes!). I think being in business for myself has made me a little more squinty eyed and narrowed lip. Oh! What an oogly picture that painted. Ole pruned-face bat...LOL

Feel sorry for the hub's that's been stuck inside all winter with me~~~~~~~~~~$;>)#)

see i thought so! members not minding cold e-mails for trades.
i seen a new member was lettin people know they could do a serch for seeds they were lookin for n another member let em know not all members like cold e-mails.
so if we put it on our pages that
cold e-mails are welcome for trades
or
i dont respond to cold-e-mails or please no cold e-mails
that would let any members who serch for a seed or plant know if its ok to cold e-mail ya or not.

I don't mind cold e-mails with offers to trade, if I do not have an interest in a trade I might offer the seeds as a BEAP.

I do not respond to cold e-mails asking for free seeds. I believe it is rude to ask so delete them.

I think that many people ask because they see others getting results. So many people are generous and will respond to those requests. It makes the rule of not asking for free seeds easy to ignore. I have gotten caught up in responding myself.

Sometimes I read the responses to others SASBE/BEAP and send an e-mail to offer free seeds to a responder.

Peggy, I also do not understand when people offer you common seeds when you have stated that you will only trade for more unusual seeds.

I wonder if some people even read the other parts of the thread as see people still asking for seeds when the poster has said the seeds are all gone.

With more seeds than I can ever sow myself I rarely trade for seeds on this forum. I do most of my trades via round robins or through other discussions on the forums.
Still like to check what everyone is trading as maybe there will be something I would like and nice to keep up with what is happening. Also the constant fight with the post office on mailing envelopes has made me more reluctant to send out trades. Some days I am assertive, other days not so much.

Even though I have been trading for several years I still am learning what is acceptable and what is not acceptable on this site. When I make mistakes I try to make it right and apologize.

Thinking that mailing plants is too much effort for me I have not traded plants online. Those of you mailing out plants for SASBE/BEAP are very generous of your time and efforts as well as the plants.

So Peggy, which '0' is it? 30 or 40?
I had a b-day Saturday and since I was born on Feb 29 that makes me 11.25 years old.
jim

Hi chrizty, we haven't talked yet but I've spoken with chemocurl. Yeah, I'm the newbie mentioned above who was trying to inform other newbies about the search feature. I was just in too much of a hurry to specify that one should only offer a trade and never just ask for freebies. I've learned my lesson. (I just slapped myself for it, I hope all is kosher now!) HP in VA

hi harold100
no worrys alls good :) i think you were just being helpful:) not every one knows about the serch. were all new at some point.:)
the serch would be a good idea if the members had yes or no to cold e-mails on there page
this way you could serch the seeds your looking for, then see which members who have the seeds welcomes cold e-mails to do a trade.

jim,
I'll take 30...but then ya need to double it...LOL

Told ya I was a squinty eyed,narrowed lipped ole bat

Hi Sue,

Thanks for calling me a "veteran" on here. Yup, I'm the one she was talking with and about, e-mailing on the subject of all the want requests and nothing to trade.

I too think the majority of it is generational, on the other hand my 26 year old daughter has more to say on the subject and doesn't think it is generational at all.
The gyst of her comments are lazy, more interested in free and not the caring about the rules etc. and she also thinks they instruction post is kind of ignored because it is written by another member and not the owners of the forum and many who post to the threads and just offer up the seeds despite the rules.

Be that as it may, I personally don't' mind a cold e-mail from a veteran member or one that has been a member for a while.

What do object to is the cold e-mail, especially from someone that has just registered within the last few weeks and sends me a list of seeds wanted that is either off of an old post for SASBE/BEAP seeds that is marked closed, or did a search and found that an old outdated trade list, (my trade list always has a date of when it was last updated), and is requesting a long list of seeds off of that old, outdated seed list and to add to that, requesting seeds that where clearly marked for trades only.

I'm also finding a "newbies" just aren't reading what is posted in a trade/SASBE/BEAP offer when I post one. Simple things like, please post here on this thread, even if you are sending me an e-mail. If e-mailing me, please include your GW name as well.
I've spent more time responding to e-mails with no GW name included in the e-mail and no post on the thread, that I have not posted a new offer yet.

This time I will add to my post the following, if you e-mail me without including a GW name, I will not respond to the e-mail.

I may be a veteran, but I still don't like rude people and those that can' follow a simple request and make me waste my time going back and fourth with e-mails to find out who you are and do you have a GW member page.

Oh, the other thing that really drives me nuts, is saying I hold seeds for 2 weeks from the date of confirming the BEAP and doing so in an e-mail and then never getting the BEAP. HMM don't understand that, and I don't go after people to send the BEAP either.

HMM, am I just getting old and more impatient in my old age?

Fran

HMM, am I just getting old and more impatient in my old age?
I'm just finding it hard to understand why so many seem to lack basic reading skills.

example. A member will post that they have seeds for2 members.
3, 4, 5,+members post to the thread. What part of the OP's thread did they not understand?

example.This offer is now closed
What part of closed do they not understand as umpteen members continue to post. Possibly they think it is like that 'OTHER' place where one can close the thread in the subject line...sigh.

example:Please post here but feel free to additionally drop me an email.
No post on the thread and I receive email, sometimea with the GW name but usually not.

sigh...quittin b4 I start twitchin

Sue

NO TWITCHING ALLOWED, I REPEAT, NO TWITCHING ALLOWED.

TWITCHING ALLOWED ONLY FOR POST OFFICE CRAP.

On the subject of the prior post though, Sue, must be that reading comprehension skills have been lost along the line, at least since 2001, when my daughter graduated HS.
Her reading comprehension skills are excellent as are her older brothers.

OR

Is it that people just see SASBE/BEAP and read no further.

HELLO out there, please read the entire offer on a thread and follow through with the instructions and/or information that is posted with it.
Otherwise, you just might not get the seeds you are looking for.

Fran

Sue,
"Bwahhhh...if you only knew the sarcastic things that might fall out of my mouth if I was talking to a close friend in person. Unlike in real life, among friends, I 'try' to put my best foot forward on the net. As Octo Mom says..."You can't unring a bell.""
I'm all with you on that!!

"... Most mature folks know that regardless of what you do, or where you do it, there are rules or etiquette that 'should' be followed....
When growing up, my generation often started working when they were in their teens or even younger. I found out early in life, that anything/everything I wanted came with a price. That price was paid by working and having the money not just for the things I needed, but the things I wanted. Younger generations were not brought up with the same ethics we were. Many are of the I want it now generation and will do whatever it takes to get those wants be it going into debt for big wants, or asking for free stuff if it what they consider to be small stuff. "
Now, I differ greatly with you on this. Not that I didn't start working young and all that good stuff since I'm now on the older side as opposed to the younger, lol. Being that I work with the public all day. I have to say without a doubt that the rudest people and people who try to eat food without paying are all in the oldest group : ( I'm talking older retirees. I think they probably worked the hardest of all. Maybe they feel they got the short end of the stick in life and now they are entitled to be rude and do things like eat plums/cherries and leave the digusting pits in whatever display they think is a garbage can or stick their fingers into the olive bar to fish out and olive and when they are told not to do this, get indignant about it. So they are not only rude they are gross too, lol. Younger people just don't do these things unless it is late at night and they are drunk, lol. Not all elderly people are like that of course. I love some of them, my favorite customers! But there is a good portion of nasty old people. I always tell the kids at work to shoot me if I turn into one of them.
As far as just being plain dumber than a box of rocks, that seems to span all ages, LOL.
Remy

I removed everything from my trade lists. First, most of my seeds are sprouting in the basement or in containers in the yard. Second, I've had too many people contact me wanting ALL my cuttings for a few twigs in exchange. No. I don't mind cold emails regarding equal exchanges, but I will not trade 6 brugmansia cuttings for an unrooted twig. It's just not going to happen.

So when I see a trade I am interested in, if I can fill their wants and get something in return, I have no problems with it. But the emails from people who just registered yesterday are not going anywhere with me.