I hosted plant swaps for many years. I basically "made up" the rules for our Georgia GW forum plant swap as I think they started at my place. We trade two ways because we have GW to discuss trades. We have "pre-trading" online - say you don't have much of something, and someone else has something special too - you arrange a pre-swap trade and bring everything pre-swapped labeled with the swappers name. When the participants arrive to my home, each swapper is assigned a special "Spot" this is the spot they can use to put the things they are special trading for and can bring their new trades to. The first half our is meet/greet/load in and pre-swap trades. There was a "main swapping" area, largest area in the middle of all the action. This had stations that people could bring their plants to. All plants MUST be labeled with the common and botanical names (botanical names can be assigned that day, if someone didn't know them) and placed in an appropriate spot: perennials was divided in sun/shade, then annuals, veggies, herbs, a small area for fruits, houseplants and then finally: books, tools, ornaments and "other stuff" (perhaps someone wanted to bring their compost tea, or bags of compost etc)...and we had a table set up for seeds and also had a reference book out for labels if need be. After everyone arrived I would set up an area near the "exit" space with "free for alls" - everyone was encouraged to bring at least one plant for a newbie who had none. "Have nones" were able to contribute to the lunch or brunch though, so everybody contributed SOMETHING and nobody felt left out. The "have none" folks were welcome to take anything from the free area, and at the very end of the swap could take things that nobody else found homes for. Everyone was encouraged not to bring anything from the state Invasives & Exotics list unless they had done a pre-trade for it and educated their trading partner. The trade would start by everyone basically "lining up" and waiting for the "call" to begin. Everyone would then go take one plant and bring it back to their "spot" we'd wait until people were finished and then do it again twice more. After that people could just take what they wanted until they could take no more. We assumed that everyone had then gotten at least three plants and would be pleased. Once once did some ladies come, drop off stuff, grab a ton of things they wanted and haul out of their quickly. It was weird. The next year we communicated the rules "more clearly" and the reasoning behind the method (going slowly allowed time for people with physical disabilities, people who couldn't bend low, folks who needed help reading labels or have labels and plant habits explained to make their choices). As the hostess I mostly just participated in pre-trades although many people kindly brought me one of their "special" items to set aside because I was really too busy to trade. Then we all ate our meal together and had good fun, lastly was a tour of my garden if someone wanted it. Anyone who wanted to stay even longer could get a free "lesson" in something. Sometimes it was pruning, sometimes it was taking cuttings of things or seed saving. Whomever was deemed most educated gardener in that area would go ahead and instruct us all quickly in about 15 minutes. Everything lasted 3 hrs in general. Good times. I also went to local swaps for another gardening website. There we set up private areas and "car boots" and walked around with our plants offering trades for this and that. It always worked out so nicely. People often brought plants just to give away asking nothing at all in return. Perhaps they wanted you to try a new pepper they bred, or if this particularly hard to find tomato did well for you. Then we could discuss it through the growing season. Once I also went to a "nothing in return" trade at a private residence. The woman was dying of cancer and was a fantastic gardener. She had us all come to show us her beautiful garden and enjoy it with her: just a day of gardens and gardeners. Then she allowed people to take bits and pieces so that we would all remember a lovely lady and a lovely day. I still grow and save seed of the "mushroom pepper" she gave me that day.

Well it looks like this it the finally list: TODAY'S UPDATE and FINAL LIST OF MEMBERS: 01. ncgardengirl-Fran***** 02. medontdo-Michele 03. markcase1964-Mark***** 04. lgslgs-Lynda 05. misskimmie-Kim 06. conniesc-Connie***** 07. heatherbon-Heather 08. dirtdiggin-Toni***** 09. gardeningbingo 10. grolikecrazy-Chris***** 11. douglasls-Lisa 12. beverlysc-Bev 13. aphroditelaughs-Ellie 14. sissifriss-Myriah***** 15. chellflower-Chell***** 16. mary_grether-Mary 17. poisondartfrog-Alana***** 18. grovespirit-Iris 19. lindaruzicka-Linda***** 20. angelady-Angela***** 21. dimples31312-Dorothy 22. strmywthr3-Barbi 23. smokymist-Cheryl***** 24. jas_il-Jasmine 25. kristlindgren-Kris 26. ishareflowers-Lisa***** 27. purpleacres-Tracy***** 28. countrygirl_sc-Gail 29. fleethart-Fleety 30. hmacdona-Heather***** 31. echinaceamaniac-Clint 32. lakedallasmary-Mary 33. diana_lynn-Diana Lynn 34. smitties 35. ashle999 36. yotetrapper***** 37. mcbdz-Pattie 38. graanieb-Bea 39. sassybutterfly_2008-Wendy***** 40. threeshyacres-Jodi***** 41. blue_ivy-Tola 42. ibartoo-Linda 43. jaleeisa-Kathy***** 44. molanic-Molanic 45. rane_grow-Iris 46.gardenmom2-Nichol 47. southerncharm1-Kathy SC1 48. kilngod-Tina***** 49. luvgardening2-Nancy***** 50. rbrady-Rhonda***** 51. dessieb-Dessie I will be emailing out my address shortly IF you do not have an email from me PLEASE make sure you email me for my address. Thanks so much I am sure we all are going to enjoy this swap. :) Fran

Well, you've learned one lesson: Don't ever register your domain through your host. It's a pain in the behind if you want to transfer it. I always recommend to people that you use a plain old domain registrar like gkg.net or godaddy.net (I prefer gkg.net myself). You can then point the domain to wherever you eventually host the site. Lesson two would be, do your research when getting a webhost. There are lots of bad ones out there. And plenty of good ones. The problem is finding "real" reviews of hosts (a lot of the review sites have fake reviews on them). I use www.webhostingtalk.com as a resource a lot, and search there on any potential hosts that I'm considering -- you generally get the straight scoop from people posting there. Lesson three: you get what you pay for. $2.00 a month web hosting is...well, frankly, a joke. That's probably why they get generally poor reviews. To get decent service, customer support, etc., you really need to be paying somewhere in the $8.00 - $15.00 a month range for shared hosting for a basic site, IMO. As for what to do now -- personally, I would try to move away from this host. I did a search on 1and1.com on the forum I mentioned above, and they seemed to be a pretty mixed bag as far as reviews. You can definitely do better than that. There is NO reason they should fight you on letting you take your domain with you -- you just need to be very upfront, and don't take any crap from them. On the other hand, if you don't want to deal with the mess of trying to move, you can try them for a while, and see how it goes. Some people do seem to like them just fine. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones!

Hello Everyone, I am new to these boards, but have had success elsewhere hosting swaps. I would like to invite people to participate in a Paper Swap. Please send 8.5x11 Printed Paper (up to 100 pieces) and you will receive the same number in return. Please do not send any more than 5 of the same page. Be sure to send nice stuff, so that you can be sure to get nice stuff in return. I will accept paper until 14 Nov and will have all of the packets sent out by 15 Nov. If you send your paper sooner, you may get your return package sooner. Please email me for mailing info at tkbosone@yahoo.com. Also, please include a SASE with the appropriate amount of postage. Thank you! Please let me know if you have questions. I am involved in a couple of other swaps, so please mention where you saw this post. Thanks! Teri