At the end of it, being able to post here is a privilege and not a right
I feel the same. It was set up by the BBC over 20 years ago and most of their forums, and indeed educational web projects, are long gone. It's now run by a private company who took it on. In my view this forum is pretty lucky to have made it through at all, and it's a pretty remarkable journey. Given the whole thing could be shut down at any time, without notice or consultation, I think we should appreciate it while it's here and support the users to the best of our ability. Don't take it for granted that it will be here in ten years time.
If we think of it as foremost an educational project, it might be easier to not get caught up in personal spats. We can support the whole; we can think of all the millions of readers who use it to learn, we can write it as an archive.
I honestly don't mind the moderators enforcing their rules - although I may break them if I think something is worth saying (and obviously that's my subjective view on worth).
What I do object to is the '...this is a gardening forum...so keep it to gardening...' when talking about stopping political discussion. As long as I have been here (which isn't that long), I've seen posts and threads on all sorts of subjects. Cats seem to be popular as do pets in general - photography brings in a few - crafting - medical - children - families in general - cars - insurance - scams - humour - tax - holidays - travel - business .... basically life.
What I personally think forums do is to allow people to vaguely get to know people - and that means knowing their views on a wide range of subjects. I repeat what I said before (as I do), reading is optional. It is not as invasive as sound. If a thread is entitled 'X' and you're not interested in 'X' don't read it. It won't read itself to you.
@BenCotto A good gardener is innovative, inspiring and has vision. How they express themselves in writing shouldn't be judged. Personally I write as I speak! Now back to Plants, Problem solving and Garden Design. Lots of new gardeners are missing out on help at present .
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Why can’t a group of people who came together through gardening, chat about other things in their day to day lives. Fine, scrap the politics thread if we must, although it has survived happily through many iterations of this forum, but what business is it of interfering busybodies to stop us having a chat about other things we are up to.
I have been here quite a long time too and I really appreciate this forum and have learnt a lot from it. I also agree with punkdoc. I love gardening but I also like the social interaction and exchange of views on here too. Does it really matter if there are differences of opinion and a bit of bickering, so long as it isn't malicious? It all adds to the spice of life.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I love this forum. I am one of the 'invisible majority' who lurk, read and use the information so freely and generously given here. I am not a good gardener by any means, but this forum had helped to make me a better one! If I don't want to read a thread which does not interst me, then I don't and I can sympathise with rants (good one on here today!) and other complaints. So long live this forum!
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.
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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.
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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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Now back to Plants, Problem solving and Garden Design. Lots of new gardeners are missing out on help at present .