There is always hope. I came back after a 7 year hiatus. Winter has always been hard on the garden forums with little to do and little going on there is always less traffic. Most of the postings have always been of the ilk of "my tree is sick, what do I do?" and very little of, "lookie what I got."

I'm definitely more of a lurker than a poster/commenter, but I've noticed too... hopefully it will pick up in the spring. It's funny... I never have time in spring/ssummer to read the forum, because I'm working on the gardens outside. Then when I have time to read, everyone stops posting! Haha...luckily there are plenty of old posts that I missed to read up on, and I am staying entertained with the succulent forum.

I log on daily. I don't post much either, I mostly read.

Thanks for the input guys :)

I agree the name is stupid. I don't know why, but when forums change owners they usually lose people. I'm around and usually check in once in a while.

I'm back after many years (I was Red Robin then) I lived without internet access for a few years, moved around quite a bit, and lost nearly every plant in my collection when we lived in a horrible, drafty old house. Back now in a new, plant-friendly house and slowly building up my collection again. I just picked up this guy at the 'orange' big box store. I normally don't shop there unless I catch them unloading the plant shipment, otherwise it's a plant graveyard.

Welcome back!

Im still waiting for a proper forum with all the members from here that I know

As a general rule, I think both A) most forums are dying across the internet B) less people are keeping houseplants and probably C) less people keeping houseplants are using forums to figure them out.

I base this on my own experiences AS well as a recent trip to some commercial nurseries. The gesneriad specialist grower is in trouble. The nursery that figures out what sells and changes with the times, seems to be doing great. Oh...and their stock is assumed to be mostly temperennial (something that doesn't survive in the zone they're in...and needs to be replanted next year). I bought several things because A) I can overwinter and B) I'm two zones warmer than where the nursery is.

I'm not saying I like it (but that seems to be the way it is).

I do think it has a lot to do with the change of ownership. When IVillage bought out Gardenweb, a few other forums popped up that a lot of us moved to. One of the forums that opened up was a really nice forum and when the guy who started it moved on, they tried to keep it open but the guy that took over was a jerk so I left that one I just heard that IVillage sold Gardneweb before Christmas, that is why I am back here. I see a lot of the old HP people scattered around like in the Hoya and Sans forums. So the people are still there they are just not here.

Another problem is people are getting older. I mean some of them were old when GW began. Others got 'too big for their britches' as my grandma says. They started blogs and would come here to get their material. Now that they know more than most people on the forums they stopped coming.

Be patient, when people find out that it was sold again, they may just come back to GW.

I'm only 17, so old for me isn't an issue. I find that reality really sad ;(

I think what happened ( in part) for the drop in member posting is one frustrated older forum member gets tired of explaining the same ole same suggestion only to read there suggested ideas are somewhat antiquated ( old school silly ) from another experienced member. Or to say to many suggestions from to many folks ( either here or that garden center of purchase ) One can choose what they want to ask, whom they want to ask and as well they can also choose what they want to hear from whom. This may have taken a big chunk of plant related questions to and from the houzz forum.

If you regularly post on houzz ( and or just read the many topics and threads as a lurker ) you will eventually met it's competition. AKA the other plant forums. Some will but some wont have the ads and may have an equal lay out covering more or less topics off and on plant topic related.

Other forums formed have been created and are being supported by past members, kind of like a private (secret society) group of plant growing enthusiast where it''s forum members are all in agreement of topics and responses in a dictator sense and/ or may have a more casual approach to what can be posted.

I imagine some private & active groups are allowing HTML and other font formats, things that have been removed from GW to become Houzz other plant groups seem to be and are somewhat selective toward whom is allowed to member.

Then comes Facebook where any one can create a group covering any topic at any time. Facebook has a wide wide array of groups with similar group names IE world cactus, enthusiast, cactus lovers, cactus planet , cold climate cactus growers, cactus world. It seems there are as many cactus groups on facebook as there are cactus. Only to find the same number of groups for just about every plat type there is can often lead toward of topic and way to to much information. Some groups are to big and become somewhat off topic tolerant or poorly managed by it's managers/creator.

Not to mention Yahoo groups and other providers though out the World Wide Web

No matter where you go, you are where you are. There will always be the this for that conversations where opinions are not always agreed upon or validated by others while for some odd reason the pic of the pet seems to draw more support toward what opinion is more valid.

Opinions are only as significant as the experience (and, in many cases, citation) behind them. There's a huge difference between repeating something you read "somewhere" (often about a plant the writer doesn't even own) and sharing what you've seen happen and the circumstances in which it happened. People who have had a plant for 2 months often start giving advice about it to others. Also, those who have always lived in 1 place often don't understand how, even for plants inside, location/climate can make a huge difference, and that one size does not fit all. Some of the things I "knew" in OH are diff in AL, for example. There's also the instances of folks who have always done things exactly in the same way and have never considered changing anything or any of the variables, or that doing so could be worthwhile. I think these kinds of things are what causes most of the disagreements I've seen. They are disagreements worth having, IMVHO/E.

One must take what they've read and decipher how, if at all, it applies to their situation. One must also decide if they're going to subscribe to pass-along theories which have no scientific support, or try to learn more concrete info on which to base their actions. I love a polite disagreement because I usually learn something, which is why I come to GW, to learn. Often what I learn is that what I though at first is not what I think at the end of the discussion. The tradition here of holding people accountable for what they write is one of the things I love. If you can't explain or back up what you've said here, it's made known.

If I want sound bytes and old wives' tales, I can go back to reading books that tell me how this plant likes to be rootbound and that bottom-watering might be helpful. I come here for the anecdotes of those with experience, the awesome pics, to engage in very long-term discussions that illuminate the progress of various plants/experiments, and help finding arcane info I'm not using the right words to search for. If I give any feedback that's only 2nd hand, I say so.

I'm not that crazy about tons of posts that could be easily and more than thoroughly answered by searching, posted by people who don't come back or only engage in the one post of theirs. I've not seen any decay in the participation by those serious about repeatedly chatting about plants, or the appeal and value of their posts.

I post fewer pics during winter because a lot of plants don't look like anything anyone would enjoy seeing. They're the Bee Gees plants, they're just stayin' alive.

There's also something weird about how there's so many posts from people making their very 1st post here on a VERY old discussion, since this became Houzz.

Let me preface below remarks by saying Thank You to Houzz for the
enormous efforts they made during the change from GW to Houzz. And for
maintaining this free space for plant lovers to chat. I have some
constructive criticisms, and offer them because I would love to see any
of these improvements.

The ability to use HTML is lost, as is the ability to edit posts after a few hours. As far as functionality, this site is clunky and devoid of features, compared to the others that are active enough to visit regularly. There's no notification on the pages about private messages. There's no indication on forum list page of which forums have new posts since ones' last visit. There's nothing to click to show me new posts on any discussion in which I've become involved. None of these are reasons to not visit, and I'm not interested in comparing various forum sites in regard to appeal, which is purely subjective. Any of these enhancements would make visiting more fun, easy, and allow folks to devote all of their available time to reading/chatting, not clicking on forums (that refuse to change to a visited color) just to find out there's no new posts.

Another thing that comes to mind is the HP forum used to have a 'discussions' side forum where in the slow times of years we could still discuss things that maybe didn't apply to houseplants but still interested us. It helped you to form friendships because the people were actually people. You watched their kids grow up, you helped them when their cat was sick, or oohhed and ahhed at their new car, etc.

Quoted: There's also something weird about how there's so many posts from people making their very 1st post here on a VERY old discussion, since this became Houzz.

No offence but FYI it has been stated ( opinion wise ) to the new forum member asking a question on a new thread about XYZ plant to look it up ?

Also quoted : I'm not that crazy about tons of posts that could be easily and more than thoroughly answered by searching, posted by people who don't come back or only engage in the one post of theirs. I've not seen any decay in the participation by those serious about repeatedly chatting about plants, or the appeal and value of their posts.

Are you saying that if a new member followed a suggestion ( that you may have given) and your not that crazy about the fact that a new member looked it up ?

Cause it seems to bother you (in a way) that a new member did look it up and found a posting from days gone by. I imagine they could also be a bit turn off after they post a comment to an old thread and to read it's odd ? ( On this a different thread ) with out any positive feed back on. This may be a small contribution in the turn off to certain new members contributing and may assume that older forum members cant be bothered with older plant health problems

I get two ideas from your comment Talk about what you know about. Are you saying if someone providing feed back in a positive direction doesn't don't post a pic of there own healthy jade then that same person has no valid opinion that's of any use to the member asking about a less than healthy jade? Yet somewhere else in the wide areas of topics Houzz forum same positive commenting person has some 3000 Crassuleaceas ? Keep in mind the look it up posting feed back doesn't include where to look it up exactly.

By the way if the new member is being suggested from a bunch of friendly and enthusiast u plant growing people (like you and me) to look it up they may in turn find a different plant growing forum that's easier to use and understand with friendly plant growing people there as well.

Second idea from this arena in the forum is that all plants grow the same. Pot any plant in a soil add water give lighting. Don't ask questions that are already asked and have one or more positive response(s). Now all the new member needs to do is look it up the plant ( in turn) the house plant becomes indestructible and will thrive if negligent.

In response to the last post (one up), it DOES (to me at least) get frustrating when someone asks about phalaenopsis care (orchids) when every other post it seems is asking the same thing. That's just an example, and on the orchid forum, but the basic premise applies here.

It seems like they can't be bothered to just look and want to be treated like a special snowflake ? :) My response is that I can't be bothered to read their post either, in a FAQ type question. If someone has something that doesn't appear to be covered frequently, I'll often chime in.

Make sense ? I want to help, but I also want them to try to show some evidence of trying to help themselves...not expecting life's answers delivered to them in bed on a silver platter.

Nomen, I had a hard time following your train of thought. What do you like about the forum? What would you change if you could?

Threads from seven years ago, while still offering great advice and information, really don't need to be kept. There are THOUSANDS of posts on the same subject, dating back to 2007 in some cases. (I found my 'old' self, whatta ya know! lol) And coming back, I was overwhelmed by numerous posts asking for the same advice. It's as though some members post their question without bothering to look around for themselves. I enjoy seeing new acquisitions and the ID posts. And I think bringing back the "Discussions" would be fantastic.

"It's as though some members post their question without bothering to look around for themselves."

That appears to be the new normal now, few if any folks seem to search FIRST before posting. Yes, they all seem to want it served up 'Special' just for them. I've actually had folks post here, then EM me privately asking me to EMail to them all kinds of stuff, pix of my collection, individualized growing instructions.

I usually respond by suggesting they go back to the Forum & pls. wait for answers to be posted THERE, not privately as postings on Forum reach the maximum number of folks possible & we who do this as a hobby simply don't have time to respond privately.

Also, pls. note some folks are actually trying to start conversations by posting new threads here, like monthly blooming threads or some like BarbMock asking folks to show their Winter Windows. Or folks like PG used to & now I (Lena) post on taking apart & repotting Haws or Sans & demonstrate how that's done or sharing their/our propagation experiments.

Seems some of the folks complaining of the dying forum (fora?) might perhaps make the effort to post new threads instead of just bemoaning their absence.

Lena

*counts her threads* 1, 2. ... 20? It's also disheartening to show pictures of new plants or blooms or just because and nobody or very few people replying. Even if it doesn't interest you, a little note saying you've seen it helps keep the momentum going.

Oh and the reason 7 year old threads being replied to was a problem is your email box would fill up with questions on plants you may not grow any more. Now that you don't get any sort of email notification, this is a moot.

Thank out all for the substantive conversation here. I am reading and noting it all

I just want to say thanks to Lena and Mentha for all your contributions during the past few months. You have both kept me interested. And I agree, it is up to everyone to post and try to keep things going.

Nomen, I'm sorry you seem to have misunderstood the entire point and tone of my post, which was totally supportive of GW and everyone I've talked to here. I love GW, my friends here, and that's why I visit as often as practical.

I wasn't trying to prescribe rules for anyone, which I'm not interested
in doing at all, just talking about what I do and what I see, and
comments were directed at nobody in particular at all. *I'm* not one saying "it was better with the other people." Is that not a turnoff?

And no, the people posting "is this a fern?" in a discussion from 10 yrs ago about lilies are not doing so from searching. The 2 comments I made about new posts & searching were unrelated, and separated by other subjects. I apologize if I didn't make it clear that I meant searching within GW. That's the kind of searching I was referring to.

And there's a huge difference between a pictureless post that says, "Can I prune a dragon tree," a question that has a yes/no answer (it's yes) or a philosophical one about what variables might contribute to success or failure, how it theoretically might be done, vs. one that has a pic & asks, "Should I prune this dragon tree, and how if so?" That's a question that can only be answered personally, and is the start of a unique new discussion.

If someone read any old discussion and has something to add or say in the topic of that discussion, that's GREAT!

Anyone who wants to contribute something absolutely should do so. And from reading what people post here, I've learned so much. Is there something wrong with saying I don't advise about plants I don't know well (without saying that's what I'm doing?)

A lot of new people probably come here from mentions of GW and from seeing stuff I and others post from GW in other places, which I do constantly and know many others do too. It would be unreasonable to expect every new person to find this as entertaining as we do, and if they post once and never come back, that's their prerogative. I don't see that as a reflection on anyone here. If they didn't want to talk, bemoaning their absence is silly. Just saying that if that's all that's missing, more posts of little substance, and that's causing some perception of decay, it's probably not a bad thing. A busy forum isn't necessarily synonymous with a good one (depending on what your definition of a good forum is.) GW is still awesome, IMVHO.

I've noticed an absence of certain members that used to post daily, such as laticauda who when you click her name doesn't go anywhere so I guess she deleted her account or something.

But the forums not decaying, just doing what all forums which is go through periods of slowness. I used to be a member of Fish channel and Bird channel and I watched both fall. They used to be booming but now they're jut full of spam and no one posts and those who do are largely left unanswered.

I get that multiple posts of the same thing can get annoying, but that's what keeps a forum going. I do agree though on some topics that are posted while there are 3 recent ones on the same page. Like Fiddle leaf figs always seem to have the same problems and questions and there's almost a new topic every week about it. Also the posts that could easily be Googled or researched and found right away. For example, some of the posts about IDing a plant that is very generic such as a Draecena fragrans or pothos or something very common. I'm not saying I don't like ID posts as that usually all I can contribute too and theyre fun to ID, but asking for ID's for 'common' plants seem like they're not putting in any effort at all. Like if someone has a golden pothos and doesn't know what it is you could easily Google yellow and green vine house plant and find the ID instead of joining a forum and posting a topic about it.

Now, I don't really post that much information wise as I'm still very new to the whole plant world and I know I don't have the experience to fully share or correctly identify a problem. Thus, I usually wait until some of the experts (you know who you are ;) ) reply and that way the person posting doesn't get conflicting information that may be wrong. I do try to help when I can but it's a rarity.

I enjoy all the 'fun' threads like Febuary blooms and Winter windows and such, but I don't like posting threads like that as I feel they push all the unanswered threads or more 'important' threads away.

When I first joined I posted alot of annoying threads and such (rough times! Thanks Al and Tiffany for dealing with me!) As I didn't really have any basic knowledge of my plants or how to navigate the site. So I think it's just part of being in a forum to deal with annoying threads and topics posted a billion times.

Any who, looks like there was a lot of posts on the forum while I was gone.

I wonder why this question comes up in so many forums...in February?

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Or perhaps, doh!

tj

Quoted And no, the people posting "is this a fern?" in a discussion from 10 yrs ago about lilies are not doing so from searching.

Fact: the ten year old thread mentioned was looked up by searching AKA via look it up . Other facts Ferns although unrelated to lilies and look very different have the same growing requirements both can be grown in a pot both have lighting needs and water Other facts of both plants that seem to be annoyingly off topic both can also be ground grown next to each other in many zones

A very odd coincidence (and fact ) it's a good suggestion that nobody make " rules " for any type of plant it helps keep members on the even cultivating playing field of healthy plant growing suggestions.

Choice is simple I can be annoyed like other people OR I can make a choice that also favors a new person and offer some ( even if wrong ) help. Example I don't have to find ( In the fern or lily example) off topic question annoying. What I can do is understand that the person asking an off topic question might be a little bit confused and may have very limited knowledge on how to navigate the millions X another million existing threads .

What is annoying : IMO It's them spray painted plants that several folks through out the forum protest Yet the same plants that are unfavorable plant subjects to many others are promoted and encouraged ( Ads in a sense ) from the very same vendor ( representative) on the same thread.

Asked ( quoted) I wonder why this question comes up in so many forums...in February? Even in February the sun does shine enough somewhere on the earth. Maybe it's the lack of cultivating knowledge or resources in concern of growing winter growing plants in the house ?

Or Ummmm Ummmm maybe the folks don't like the looks of them winter dormant plants that are still up in the attic for storage ?

Rhamel, don't worry, my young friend; the forum is not going downhill. Winter doldrums are rampant in lots of places, especially garden (indoors or out) related forums.

Tiffany, you're on a roll! I so appreciate you.

I have to say that I myself have been busy, and I have been mostly hovering and not actually posting. I love this forum. I hope it picks up soon.

No need to be shy if you have something to share, an opinion or a question to ask then by all means go for it Even if someone where to ask. Is an annual plants a perennial same person will get feed back in many to all directions. ( Including in all directions someone may suggest... look it up )

IMO there is no need to worry about the amount of comments or the number of threads being posted but the ( sometimes reassuring) quality of the information in them thread.

TYVM, D! Right back at'cha!

This has been at least as fun as a bag'o'kittens. I'm going back outside. It's a beautiful day, windows are open. Time to deadhead pansies, you might be interested to know, Rhamel. :+)

When I first joined Gardenweb years ago I knew nothing about how to search for answers to posts of the same question. You shouldn't expect newbies to know how to do this the first time they post a question. People have been very impatient on this site lately.