I think I'm mostly a lurker too though I have asked quite a few questions in the past and have had some really good advice from such friendly people who are happy to pass on their knowledge and experience. Much appreciated by me, and no doubt many others too. Thank you all.
Although many people feel they don't know MUCH, the pooled knowledge is enormous. One might be brilliant at striking cuttings, another at insulating a greenhouse, another starting a garden pond. Every one of us has ideas and opinions worth airing, so I'd encourage everyone to join in and take part in some way.
That’s it exactly @Posy … that’s the living and growing fund of knowledge that is this forum 💚
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think I consider myself a seasonal semi-lurker! When the gardening bug takes hold it's nice to have people to discuss things with, especially as no one I know really has any sort of interest in gardening. Now and then I join in the non-gardening threads but then life and work intervene and I'll end up disappearing for a huge chunk of time.
Anyway, I've never asked a question here that didn't get a thoughtful and encouraging reply and I applaud every single one of you generous people who takes the time to answer peoples posts. I hope one day I have the knowledge to be able to give something back too!
Mostly a lurker but I have asked a couple of questions and contributed to some posts. I do check in most days especially through the winter. I was unfortunate to get caught up with a troll posting when I first joined and it put me off contributing to the chat threads although I do read most of them so I feel I know quite a bit about most of the regular posters (well as much as you have put on a public forum) and have followed your various activities with interest. I retired (early) at the end of 2019 so finally had proper time to spend in the garden and this forum has been a great resource. Incidentally re forums; being a new Gran, I joined that well known forum G**nsnet for something else to read and posted what I thought was a fairly general and well balanced comment on a politics thread. Oh my goodness, the amount of abuse I got and saw on other threads was awful with people not reading the posts properly and taking things out of context to berate others. It seemed a pretty good reflection of how society seems to react these days if you believe the main stream media. Thankfully this forum is a much more gentle affair with posters mostly having the maturity and good sense to keep things friendly even when they disagree.
I had no hesitation in joining this forum last year as I thought that if the Gardeners' World team are behind it, it will be fine. And it is! I received a very quick and helpful response to my first post and have been hooked ever since! I would encourage any shy browser to tap away and not hide away, a new world of learning, friendliness and entertainment awaits! A great idea to invite new recruits @Fire !
Oh my goodness, the amount of abuse I got and saw on other threads was awful with people not reading the posts properly and taking things out of context to berate others.
Forums and groups can get pretty tribal. Often they can bond closer by finding, and turning on, a common (percieved) aggressor. The "Us and Them" dynamic can get ugly, for sure. Insiders/outsiders, "if you're not with us, you're against us" etc. Social media does usually seem to not only mirror this, but feed this behaviour. The loudest, angriest, most drama-driven bullies often win the space by shouting down others; As if there's anything to win.
I'm sorry the abuse was rough for you @Anglicant - I imagine most of the forum members were bored and lonely.
Over the last few years I've gone from being a lurker to a semi-lurker/occasional poster. Not really on the chatty threads, except curmudgeon's corner - it's nice to have a place for a good moan .
I think one of the great benefits of this forum is that people are gardening with lots of different climates, soils etc and will often say what their conditions are (or have their location appearing) so people can judge whose conditions are likely to be similar to theirs. Where we have a difference of opinion it's often down to different conditions and that's all useful information.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Anyway, I've never asked a question here that didn't get a thoughtful and encouraging reply and I applaud every single one of you generous people who takes the time to answer peoples posts. I hope one day I have the knowledge to be able to give something back too!
I retired (early) at the end of 2019 so finally had proper time to spend in the garden and this forum has been a great resource.
Incidentally re forums; being a new Gran, I joined that well known forum G**nsnet for something else to read and posted what I thought was a fairly general and well balanced comment on a politics thread. Oh my goodness, the amount of abuse I got and saw on other threads was awful with people not reading the posts properly and taking things out of context to berate others. It seemed a pretty good reflection of how society seems to react these days if you believe the main stream media. Thankfully this forum is a much more gentle affair with posters mostly having the maturity and good sense to keep things friendly even when they disagree.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.