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that is either off of an old post for SASBE/BEAP seeds that is marked closed, or did a search and found that an old outdated trade list, (my trade list always has a date of when it was last updated), and is requesting a long list of seeds off of that old, outdated seed list and to add to that, requesting seeds that where clearly marked for trades only.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

Hello again, I had been expecting to be chastized for making "public criticisms," and I logged on with a bit of trepidation regarding possible respones. The fact is that I did feel somewhat mean-spirited after I posted, considering the tremendous volunteer effort involved and the high-minded gardening mission of NARGS. But Rick, I don't think I've been so unreasonable in anticipating ONLINE access to the Quarterly; other periodicals, including the AHS's American Gardener and a number of others to which I subscribe, routinely provide subscribers with electronic access to online archives. I do think the NARGS website is misleading in this regard, not by commission but by ommission. The description of membership benefits on the homepage, together with the pre-membership access to past Quarterly content summaries, did suggest to me that an archive does exist and that members have access. And if, as you rightfully point out, NARGS is not a commercial organization, why then would it matter whether or not newer members get "entitlement" to the Quarterlies other members have paid for? It seems to me that such a benefit to members, whether veteran members or new ones, would also help to advance interest in rock gardening and hence also the mission of NARGS. (Within the context of NARGS being a non-commerical organization, I remain skeptical of the motivations of those members whose "garden" links only lead to their commercial enterprises.) naturemitch, I also have been frustrated by the communication issues and lean website content that you noted, and would also wish for improvements. And Rick, although I feel as if I haven't got room for one more thing in my life, I had already been considering volunteering as an archivist. Your comment has strengthened my resolve to do it! By the way, I received my seed exchange list two days ago and I'm utterly astonished at how extensive it is and the number of rarities that are offered! The list is far surpasses anything I'd been expecting, and it's evident to me I wouldn't be able to find sources for most of the offerings aywhere else. I've been inspired to do a lot of research before making my selections, so the list will help me in my learning process. Anyway, it seems that the seed exchange alone is worth the cost of membership. Thank you for sharing positive opinions and experiences concerning other NARGS benefits and its quality of service to members. It's impressive how you have all been so emphatic in your defense of NARGS.

I use netscape.net (AOL) and comcast.net. When I compose in Comcast, type in a URL and send to my Netscape email it shows up as a clickable URL, for example - after typing http://www.ebay.com. However, when I type the same when using Netscape/AOL and sending it to my Comcast email it does not work. Check this. On the Comcast email, click Preferences, then Display. That gets two choices. The second one - Choose how to display email messages -- allows you to select Display HTML in body of email. See if that works.

Hi Bev- My membership was also due (in Nov) and before I had to figure out how to pay it, they made all the forums free. Now - is that not the luckiest thing? I don't know how long they will leave these forums free, but it's a wonderful thing. Note - the home page for the forums is also laid out differently, but all the forums are there. Changes, always changes......but for the time being - this is a good one. I have a feeling things will change again, and they'll probably want more than the old $15.00, but we might as well enjoy it while we can. Elaine