I would like for DG to have...

Not getting "an obnoxious plant files thing." Am I being ignored? :-)

It is on there now!
Look at "Latest Posts" on the home page.
The posts are dated some time in the future.

This message was edited Jul 16, 2010 7:57 PM

All of them, right now, are dated 3:14 tomorrow morning.

I WAS wondering about that. Also noticed that posts were edited before they were posted! OH well, just thinking ahead.

imagine knowing of all the events/shows/carnivals etc. right around the world,.before they were on and having people post their pictures and experiences of such events.

CountryGardens FABBY idea about somehow hiding all the long lists of plant file postings in the 'latest posts' (but thanks everso to all those who post all those entries). Oh dear I wouldn't have any friends if they were notified eveywhere I posted cuz I'm a Forum Floozy. Ditto from me: DG is unique because it isn't a 'networking' site; methinks if it was it would the same ole, same ole as all those other sites. I find the search feature works pretty good for me if I'm looking for specific info in a specific forum. I've learned though that it doesn't work very well if you can't spell a plant correctly but I REALLY appreciated that it doesn't ask 'Did you mean.....' (Googleguy can be tiresome).

ps Terry & Melody this is a GREAT poll. Thanks.

Hi g_whizz ^_^

hi there,you've been quiet of late,..,we're still here,still crazy

I still vote for a DG's photo zoom as well as multi upload capabilities!

I vote for lower renewal rates.

Forum Fluzzy I love that.

Agree with june about practically everything! Yes four photos would be reasonable.

The PlantFiles latest post problem should be cleared up shortly. The problem wasn't something they could put a patch on and get us by, and major surgery was required. (too many other things were affected, we discovered)

A lot of forums have the option to look at posts made by a member. DG doesn't (at least I think they don't) but does let you look at threads someone has started. I find both options to be very helpful when I need to remember something useful someone said and if there isn't one already it would be nice to have a way to subscribe to a thread to save it for a rainy day. If you don't say a lot of foolish things stalking really wouldn't be an issue.

Ditto - removing plant files from latest threads. You know me now - pruning and all around. KISS

- Agree w/ doc about the pics. Some people are control freaks which 'dump' 10 or more photos on a thread in sequence, (usually ridiculously bad photos at that). Either they get carried away / or the intent is to bury a previous post. I find such practices both childish and in bad form. In fact it seems that some believe the more photos they put up in a dump the better photogs they are, (which is usually completely opposite to the fact). The dumps provide a lot of dead space which take up a lot of room and make the thread slower to load, I can only surmise they serve as a type of gratification for attention deprived individuals...

DG's forums are way to busy (what I mean by that is there are too many forum subdivisions) for my taste. I usually come here to look at plant files and to keep a journal.

Maybe have another poll. Ask members if a category could just as easily be lumped together as one forum, i.e. Beginner Gardeners as one forum, Country Living as one forum, Plant and Seed Trading as one forum, Crafts as one forum, Cooking and Entertaining as one forum, Back Porch as one forum, and Leisurely Pursuits. They all could just as easily stand on their own with out all the added detail. From House to Home and General Gardening are divided up with such attention to detail that the obsession becomes an annoyance. Just my two cents. I have loved this site for many years, but it has been an unconditional love - not a love that depends on anything.

Ditto - what WaterCan2 has experienced.

I just want to toss in a comment that it is so nice to see a group
once again peacefully tossing ideas around. As Dahlianut said:
"this is a GREAT poll". Thanks.

As much as I like most of the suggestions noted, I notice there's a lot members asking for features that already exist. Since DG has become so complex to so many, especially newbies (after a year, I still feel like a newbie), how about a Wiki type "Member User's Guide"? I know most of the info on DG features exist somewhere on DG, but it's in bits and pieces. How many times have we discovered a feature you didn't know existed, or wish a certain feature existed, and later find out it already does? If one even bothers to look for info on a particular feature or even if it exists, it can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack! Let's make that process a little easier.

Rockgardner - Brilliant idea and long overdue.
I've been around since 2006 and still have to poke around
to find information and am likely unaware of many features.

That is a great suggestion, Rockgardner -- I can't believe no one else has mentioned it!

:-)

How about a market place where all orders from the same person are on one form.

Wonderous idea rockgardener. I would use that feature for sure!

I would too if I could figure out how.

I am just out of my mind that you cant follow the latest post, most of the time. Whats with the plant files stuff being down there so much. I really dont like that, I like to follow the latest post most of the time, not just my book marked post. My vote would be to fix that first.

Two images would be my choice of something new.

I dont mean to sound whinny, but this has gone on now for a bit. I dont want it to become a permanate feature, like taking forever to sign on.

This message was edited Jul 17, 2010 3:12 PM

ThanksTerry, I forgot about that. I'm new to the forums here, well for the reasons I stated earlier. Might I suggest that the "Thread Watcher" could be more versatile. Another forum I frequent has a quick link with a drop down list to take me to subscribed threads, the threads I watch. What it allows, that would be nice here too, is for me to categorize the list of saved threads into categories I create. Wen I am looking for a saved thread on a particular aspect of aquariums I can find it very easily.

Please take a look at their site, http://www.plantedtank.net/ The home page and all the controls are extremely user friendly, without being overwhelming. Another site that has many exciting features is http://www.barrreport.com/ - links to YouTube, a mobile app feature, RSS feed and other stuff I don't know much about but that makes my life easier. Sorry to sound this way. I know that changing the operating system will cause many more problems but this site is cluttered and antiquated and in the long run the improvement will be worth it, IMO. So, what I would like since you asked is, I would like for DG to have less clutter and an updated operating system. Maybe something like this, http://www.gardenstew.com/

This message was edited Jul 18, 2010 7:12 AM

The old saying goes:

If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

It would definitely be great to have it all in one place; from this thread it's pretty apparent that there a lot of features many people are not even aware of, never mind know how to use.

I know it's been said before, but the journal feature could really use an overhaul, I've all but given up on using it because I keep going around in circles.

Franknjim, Brand loyalty is a terrible thing to waist.

" Today I realised that every time I hear the phrase if it isn't broken, don't fix it I feel kind of uncomfortable. I fully understand the notion: the process yields the results we want, so why bother?

As it is being said, I detect the whatever works attitude emanating from the person saying it. No concept of continuous improvement. No interest in reflecting. Not even 60 seconds invested to consider whether the process is efficient or could be improved. It most cases it’s almost a canned response to any comment referring to the efficiency of a process that is considered to be working."
Excerpt from, invalid cast at http://www.invalidcast.com/post/The-if-it-isnt-broken-dont-fix-it-mentality.aspx

I wouldn't mind paying more for a membership if I knew that the money was providing a better platform. Here is another old saying, "you get what you pay for."

... and for $19.95 a year you get a heckuva lot on DG.

More fun than I can get for 7 gallons of gas for the same price.

If you say so JudyinGa. IMO, they could do more. There are a heckuva lot of things wonderful about DG. But are we really being served, considering the income DG generates. Lame old sayings rarely address the complexity of our lives. Sorry about that last one. It was inappropriate. But, would you pay more as a DG member if they keep the operating system as is? That is all I was trying to say.

This message was edited Jul 18, 2010 11:12 AM

Way-Why don't you try using spell check before asking for more features? (GRIN) Don't even use the ones that are avaliable

People constantly whining throughout a thread and repeating the same thing over and over gets very old. Everyone got your point the first time you said it so there is no need to keep repeating it 6 times over. Considering the cost of a subscription versus what you can actually accomplish on this website, it is a bargain. If you are so against the way things are, why do you come here?

The majority of people want the same improvement to the site. The numbers above speak for themselves. While different points of view is always a good thing, running that point into the ground is as you say, lame.

I don't believe Dave's has asked us to pay more, have they? And yet they pose the question (hypothetical or not) of whether we want new/additional features. If and when they ask us to pay more, then I'll make the decision. If they add new features, then I'd probably be willing to pay more. But it would depend on what the feature/features was/were. If they raised the fee slightly without adding new features but clarified old ones ... made any improvements at all ... I'd probably not complain at that either.

I am strongly against making simple and easy-to-use things complicated. Not all of us are on the same level of "computer savviness." Dave's, blessedly, has remained simple to use (except for the journal ... darned if I can figure that one out), even for those of us who aren't "techies." I am still discovering how to use some of the features, but only because I haven't needed them. Perhaps the suggestion of a page where all the features were explained and we were shown how to use them is a very good idea. That's not a new feature. Just a new place where old ones are explained.

Oh goody. Here are my pet peeves, which I would like to see fixed:

1. Plantfiles: I would really like to see genus/species/cultivar in alphabetical order, rather than by date added. It would make searching a lot easier.

2. Trade list search: When searching by plant, if you click on someone, when you go back you are taken to the beginning of the list and have to go through all over again. I would like to see the back button take you back to where you were before. Maybe adding pages would fix this?

3. I would like to see more space given for comments in feedback.

Those are the main things that come to mind.

It would be handy to have the search capable of searching for a characteristic within a genus. ie. "Rhododendron" "purple" instead of having to go through all shrubs that are evergreen that are purple. It's often what I need for a quick answer so if someone asks me for a white Astilbe, just enter the genus and the characteristic of white for colour. Currently we don't have this available.