Good discussion here and many valid points. I think much of this comes down to consideration of others. I could easily post twenty times a day asking various questions, showing time-lapse photos of cultivars, posting question threads, photos, etc. but I don't. I am aware that I am not the only person on the planet that matters and that posting too many photos becomes overwhelming and distracting to others. When it does become a bit of an unintentional problem is when there are 20 galleries that are spread out over several weeks/months that get bumped by 3-4 photos, then another user bumpers 2-3 galleries, etc. and all of the sudden the top 8 posts are galleries - even if they are created by different forum users and bumped by seperate people as well. As I've said before, from my end, I'll still post some photos from time to time, for sure some time-lapse photo series and make contributions/questions, but as to making/contributing to galleries that are going to get lost in the gallery section with one response, oblivious to most, I'm not going to waste my time. GARDENWEB: I DO SECOND SAM'S IDEA OF HAVING THE GALLERY SECTION VISABLE ON THE RIGHT, NOT A SEPERATE LINK. -Will

Great thread! I now have DSL but remember being on dial-up and it was frustrating waiting for huge pictures to download. I said this in the other discussion we had on this subject awhile back that when I first came to GW and read the rules about posting pictures, they had to be no larger than 60kbs. I use PSP 7 and when I save pictures for uploading to my website, I compress those pictures. I just went to my PSP program and went through the process, and the normal picture was 921,640 kbs, compressed it was 54,464. Big difference. My DH gave me that little tidbit for sharing pics online. It's much faster. This is a wonderful forum, my favorite on GW. I check the conversations and the gallery every time I come in here to the discussions side. It's easy to do and not very time consuming and right now, the lists are short to check on so easier to see what might interest you. Part of dealing with humanity in any area is 'communication' and that's what is being done here. Communication keeps things flowing, helps friendships get started and be strengthened, as well as gives us ideas to help our gardens grow. We are a family of sorts and I love checking in here to see how all of you are doing and how your gardens are doing also. Everyone's pictures are inspiring and I appreciate the time everyone takes in sharing their pictures. Sincerely ~ FlowerLady

Your line about "who makes the cut" has really struck a nerve with me. Let me explain. I have the strong opinion that you can do whatever you want with the photos (ie. "who makes the cut"). What you see and how you feel from the displays is all you. A display with a topic theme, color theme, or whatever theme is going to be fabulous as long as you go with your heart and your gut. I had a terrible MIL (EX now!) who actually took the time to inventory WHO was displayed in photos, HOW they were displayed, and concocted her own storylines on why I elected to leave out certain people, include others, and have some more prominent than others. She had the gall to have "sit-down talks" with me several times about my choices in displayed photos. She started sending photos with little post-it notes on where they would "look nice" & which one's I should change out. It gnawed at her to no end that I changed nothing despite her passive-aggressive instructions. I hope your family and/or friends are not the likes of the old hag I used to deal with. You should never, EVER have to explain the reasonings (themes, etc) of photos and why you display what you do. Don't want to bring a downer to this & hope I'm not making you think harder into it. This just brought back some bad memories and it's really too bad it had to go that way. End of therapeutic vent. Gayle

Have you thought about just keeping the mixer on a little rolling cart in the pantry? Seems simpler and also frees up more room for prep materials storage under the sink. You could keep all the sink accessories in drawers where you are currently thinking of putting the mixer.