oh, it never occurred to me. What an idea to restart... i have no ideas but look forward to hearing others'
marie

What's out there? Here's what I know...

There are two (that I know of) new garden sites trying to start up. They keep sending emails to me and other garden writers asking us to move our blogs, post videos, write stories. They are trying to lure visitors with content, but they aren't paying freelancers, so I don't know if they'll build momentum.

At least one of those websites includes a forum. The new terminology for a forum is "community." More upscale technology than here, but I've not bothered to participate.

There's a blog site, Blotanical, where I'm a member, along with many other bloggers. That forum hasn't gotten off the ground, but the site is very popular for connecting across gardening blogs -- not all in one place like the convenience of a forum.

Fine Gardening Mag has forums.

Of course, there's the old standby DG (we can't type out the name in a post or we get slapped down) that rhymes with Fave's Pardon. To use some of the forums, there is a fee to pay.

When it comes to this site, I agree that they could pull the plug at any time if they aren't making money from the ads. Over the years here, participants have been so annoyed by the ads that I doubt that GW gets the number of clicks (revenue) that they would hope, given the number of forum participants.

All of these sites exist to make money off of advertising in order to pay for the staff and systems to support a website. They count on the content, forums, photos, etc. from all of the gardening community to create traffic for the site.

Well, it would be nice if we collected a few website addresses 'just in case' we wanted to go looking for each other. [g] Hard to do though, since I'm sure they might pull a thread that had web addresses of other sites.

I forgot about Find Gardening.

I've heard of Garden*buddies but haven't participated over there.

I did join the D place once, but I let the subscription lapse, when I found myself coming back here talking to everyone that I have known for a long time. I think they have a very well run site though. The fee is the biggest drawback.

I agree, I think GW used to get a lot more traffic then they do now.

I just did a Google search for 'gardening f*orums'....I see one called M*oosey's that looks like they have some activity.

U B C B*otanical is another one. The grow spot another.

Here is a link to a list I found.

I don't have any experiences at any of these sites, but maybe someone else does?

Yes, cameron, they do count on the content of visitors to their forum but if you don't provide the support, I guess it's no surprise when traffic is down and advertising is down. It would seem like GW doesn't have enough funds to operate the site properly, or else why is it always having problems. They seem to have a LOT of advertising, so I don't understand that.

Here is a link that might be useful: 10 good ones list

ivilage.. the parent.. is owned by NBC .... who bought it in 2006 for SIX HUNDRED MILLION ...

PERHAPS YOU ARE PRESUMING IT IS A SMALL COMPANY????

check out the link ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

It could also be they rolled out new software and it has bugs. I do this for a living and it's not uncommon.

since we are now fixed.

Computer programs - never right the first go around.

Where did this come from all of a sudden? Am I out of the loop again (or, more accurately - as usual)?

Another site I go to is Hallson's. perennialnursery dot com.
It's run by Chris who posts a lot on the hosta forum, and I see a bunch of others there, too. But I haven't got the feeling that this site will be closing down any time soon. It's always good to be prepared though.

we could email our real email addresses to a trusted source: someone whose been around a real long time, isn't going to sell our addresses to someone.
Over time I have collected about 10 personal addresses from off line correspondence.
The addresses could sit safely and quietly in that someone's "group" called Gwebbers.....until or if the dastardly deed comes to pass. I'm not organized enough to volunteer.
Marie

Ken, thanks for that information. I knew iVillage had bought them but I didn't know that NBC owned iVillage. I wasn't actually presuming they were a large or small company, I was making the observation that in comparison to the D place, which offers a lot of features and in the year I was there, had only one day when I showed up and there was a technical problem, GW seems to have a technical issue every other week and has offered less not more features since being bought out. If NBC owns them, then I guess I wonder why they don't invest more money to keep it working correctly.

a2zmom, they can't be breaking in new software every other week. [g]

Thanks Anita, I had not heard of that site. I guess I'm not over on the Hosta forum very often.

Marie, you can always be counted on to be up for a little intrigue. :-) That's an idea too. Although, I suppose we could even identify a few people who we could all email if there was a problem without anyone having to actually store addresses, too.

I second the Hallson's forum. Atleast he is involved himself with the forum and would want it to continue. It's already a nice forum.
Cher

What about Cubits.org? I am a member of both DG and GW, as well as Cubits and I think I've visited Garden buddies a few times but I pretty much stick with the first two listed. I find features that I like in each site. Love the clippings feature on GW. Some of the same people, like me still have a subscription over at DG that is still valid and we post on both websites. Garden Gate has gardening forums but not many post over there. HGTV has one; I used to post over there before I found out about DG and GW. I hope GW doesn't end..I love it and have met the nicest people on GW..always helpful and friendly and generous with information to help others.

you might be interested to check out this forum: http://forums.delphiforums.com/sproutoff/start

it was created by one of the members of the old Fine Gardening forum (which was brilliant) when the FG powers-that-be totally messed with the format and made the forum(s) quite unuseable. it was truly a disaster, but the new forum is the same friendly place we were used to, and has enabled members of the former forum (who were like family) to keep together. we would love to have more gardening folk join us. please stop by!

Just thought I'd mention that I was having trouble on the site again today. Pages that wouldn't connect. Tried to post responses to threads and kept getting an 'internet error' message that said it couldn't post, but then I would close out the page and follow my link to the forum again and there was my post.

I also saw a post on the Cottage forum that three people there are reporting picking up a virus since visiting that forum. They were getting redirecting to unkown websites. Even an Apple user too.

I figure I'll post here every time I have a problem or hear of a problem, just to see how frequent it is happening.

So, I got the same 'Internet Error' message when I tried to post here. Then when I tried to close out of my browser, Safari, I see an advertisement on my desktop. It is for 'priceline.com for hotels in Ogunquit ME'. I didn't click on any ads on the site, but I did just post a response to a thread on the New England Garden Forum about Ogunquit Maine. Gardenweb is the only site I visited, so it has to be from them.

Here is the webaddress of the ad that was on my desktop....

http://travela.priceline.com/hotel/searchResults.do?jsk=9903010a2003010a2010072119283775F511323832&key=gbwkgnbd&showDP=y&NYOPRedirNI=null

Are they allowed to do that?

I'm getting that same virus you mentioned others are getting on the Cottage garden forum, called JS/Redir. I've sent a message to the powers that be and hope to get some answers. I'd hate to not have to come here anymore. I'm not getting redirected to any other sites, my anti-virus picks it up and I send it to the virus vault. I hope they fix it SOON!

Karen

if you are worried about those popup ads, you can prevent your machine from connecting to their servers. The window will still popup but it'll be blank.

I'm a bit brain dead right now but one ad I remember is from ad.doubleclick.net something. So for my machine to not go to this site, I edit the hosts file which is located in
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

just add this at the bottom
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net

double check the hostname I wrote above. I might have spelled it incorrectly.

If you are on a unix machine, you should edit

/etc/hosts

Entry is the same

So ad that you don't like, just add it to this file. Make sure it points to 127.0.0.1. That's the magic ip address. It's actually localhost. It's your machine's loopback address. It is safe!

Have fun!

Karen, sorry you are getting that too. I'm glad you let them know and I hope they fix it fast too!

v1rtu....Oh, now I wish I had mentioned that I use an Apple. I wonder if there is a way to do that on an Apple? Right now, what I usually do, is shut down my browser right away and then delete all the cookies and shut my machine off and restart, since it empties the cache then.

I don't it will ever just disappear, at least not before they start charging again.

Sounds like this latest issue wasn't really GW's fault.

Unfortunately, any site that uses add banners is prone to viruses coming in - I've had issues with many, many sites.

As far as as an alternative to GW, while this isn't a gardening site per say, livejournal.com has an easy community set up and the blogging feature is very nice. It's where I keep my personal blog (which ranges all over the place, from tv and movie reviews, updates on my life, gardening, etc.)

I could be off-base, but can't imagine that it costs iVillage much to keep this site going - it's a low-tech site and they obviously don't invest much in administration, maintenance, or improvements for the site. Because it's mostly text, and most of the photos posted here are stored on other servers, it can't even take up much storage space. Also, iVillage probably benefits from economy of scale with its websites, because it has huge web servers with already existing systems in place to back up, etc. On the other hand, GW has pretty good traffic for a gardening site, so they can make money from advertising.

I don't know where I'd go if GW closed. I've checked out Dave's and like some features, but it rubs me the wrong way that members have to pay to belong to the site, and meanwhile Dave gets to boast about the site's traffic and make additional money from advertisers. IMO the forums at Dave's are a bit soft - there is greater collective intellect here. Have checked out other Garden forums (communities?) - Garden Guides, Hallson's, Wildlifegardeners.org, etc. and they are okay, but suffer from lower traffic.

Anyway the "busyness" of other forums drives me crazy - the avatars, moving smilies, signatures, etc. create a bunch of clutter - leaving not much "meat" to read per web page.

prairiemoon2,

Apple's os is also based on Unix. If I remember correctly, it is Darwin os. You should be able to open up a terminal and do the modification from there. file is /etc/hosts. I used my friend's mac os/x last year and I asked him to open a terminal since I don't know where it's located. I was curious if it was really a unix and it was.

Adding those malicious sites pointing to 127.0.0.1 is good because your computer will not be able to establish any connections anymore to those malicious sites that you put on that file.

V1, I just noticed your response, thanks very much for that further information. I'll spend some time over the weekend to try to see if I can make some of those adjustments or not.

I came back to this thread, because I was laughing my head off over the 'iVillage survey'. I was on another forum when I got a moving ad that popped up and moved from right to left on the GW page in the middle of what I was reading. It was a notice from iVillage to take a survey and give opinions on the site. First off, I am still scratching my head how that happened, since I have my browser set so that no plug ins are allowed, which has eliminated all other moving ads. But, since we have been discussing the problems on GW, I thought I should take the survey so I clicked on it. I got a message that they had already received enough responses so no survey was available. But they're still inviting people to? LOL Typical.

Re Plugins,
pm2 et al: I disabled all plugins and havne't had a moving ad in a month. However, several times I've needed Acrobat to look at something I was interested in.
Will using that one plug in allow all the other crap to start dancing and interrupting my view of the screen?
Will adblock keep the marauders out?
(I guess I could research this a bit before posting, but you know....kinda lazy and enjoy a little back and forth)

Marie

terrene, I completely agree w/ you. it is so disappointing to me that GW does really NOTHING for us as far as improving the site. On Chowhound.com, you have a page that lists and links ALL the posts you've ever made. And they can be organized chronilogically or by forum, etc.Wouldn't that be so amazingly helpful here?
best,
mindy

Marie, this is when I wish Wendy was around. [g] I will figure out problems on the computer if I 'have' to, but I haven't had to in so long on the Apple that I have forgotten a lot.

It is a guess, but I think if you allow for plug ins, yes you will have to put up with the moving ads etc. I find it easy on Safari to set the preferences to block plug ins and then when I need something, to turn it back on and off again. With plug ins blocked, I can't even watch a video. I go for long spells without needing it I guess. If I were using it a few times a day, I might be tempted to leave it on.

I think Adblock is on Firefox and I haven't been using that lately. I am going to download a new version of it but haven't yet. The Safari is working fine at the moment so I'm going with that.

Marie,
It is just time for a new computer.

Hi kt
it is not time for a new computer on two counts: there's nothing wrong with this computer, just its owner and I have to pay for my driveway before I can buy a computer

luv,
mt