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Celebrating the GW Forum as a Fantastic Educational Resource

FireFire Posts: 19,096
As we begin the new year, I'd like to take a moment to appreciate the forum for its contribution to gardening education internationally. It's sometimes hard to step back and see the years of impact the platform has had on so many people, especially new growers - the help, advice, links, perspectives and leads it has offered. The work represents tens of thousands of volunteer hours here, given for more than a decade - dedicated to supporting  learners.

GW is one of the world's best known gardening brands, and as such the forum brings in over three million views a year, internationally. Most of the people behind these views will never register or comment. They are silent readers, just here for the learning;  this is why the forum was initially set up and why it continues to help so many millions of people. Perhaps we take its primary purpose for granted.

🌱

The archive of forum threads represents a invaluable, long term resource too. Over 80 000 pages of forum discussion are searchable by engines like Google. It's a formidable library of ideas, held in perpetuity.

I hope we can continue to remember and take clear note of the invisible majority who use the forum. Clear and unique thread titles help with searching for topics. Non-responses to spammers help the threads make logical and useful sense for the decades to come. Adding links to strong sources helps readers to explore issues and evidence. All gardening questions are useful as we can be sure that thousands of people will read the thread in future. The thread is there as much for future readers as the original writer.

🌱

So a grand Hurrah! to everyone who has given so much over the years: those contributors who have come and gone, those here for many years who continue to generously help as well as the new arrivals. And Hurrah to all those growers who have benefitted from the forum and will hopefully pass their own experiences on. Long may the community, the learning and the archive continue to grow! 

💫


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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Well worth thinking about @Fire 👍 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    Yes, I agree. The forum is a very useful tool - there’s lots of expertise to draw on.
    It’s also a friendly place to post. Long may it continue 😁.
  • JacquimcmahonJacquimcmahon Posts: 1,039
    Well said @Fire it’s a brilliant resource and as you said many of us “ browse” Farr more than we post, I myself can spend months reading without comment but it certainly does not mean I an not learning a lot from all you wonderful contributors.
    Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    It's just a pity that there's a significant minority who want it dumbed down to blandness 
    Devon.
  • ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
    Crikey, @Fire, that's made me nervous about wittering on ... 

    The responsibility, the reach!  Eek!  😁
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    But thankfully it’s a shared responsibility @ViewAhead … if I give advice that’s absolute tripe, someone will not hesitate to point that out … respectfully of course 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
    😁  I will have to preface my every utterance with "In my limited experience, and bearing in mind I'm a complete gardening numpty ..."

    😂
  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    I would never have discovered the hori hori without the forum.
    It's good to hear from people outside the UK as it helps us all to learn about plants and ways of gardening that we wouldn't normally encounter.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    We are starting to lose high quality posters at quite a rate, almost entirely due to the heavy handed editorial policies. 2 more highly knowledgeable posters going today.
    Blandness and poor, unsubstantiated advice will soon reign.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I agree 100% with @Fire 's post.

    It is sad that posters with a lot of experience, and who have been here for many years, now feel unable to stay for whatever reason. That is their perogative and l respect that.

    I am not going to enter into a slanging match with other members, we are all entitled to an opinion,  and mine is that that it is pointless making constant comments about the direction they feel the forum is taking.
    It doesn't alter anything that has already taken place. 
    It may be more forthcoming to take up your concerns with @Catherine Mansley who is the face of Immediate Media (for want of a better expression), and see if she will explain, on the forum, the reasons behind the action taken in the threads concerned.

    I am quite happy to do that if anyone is unwilling or unable to do this for whatever reason.
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