CactiGuide.com

Basically agree with mmcavall. Many times have I taken an array of photos with the intent of sharing only to be dissuaded by the knowledge that the process of making one post with multiple photos may take close to 40 minutes (I tend to write, delete and rewrite comments alot). Instead I could use the last hr or so of my day actually working on plants or making art, relaxing etc. But also definitely empathise with the funding argument, especially given the recent overhaul it seems a bit soon almost.

Hey everyone....

The downtime with the server move was about the worst that could have happened in that process. Everything that I wanted to prevent from going wrong went wrong.

That said, the site is now on Amazon's cloud servers and so it is essentially infinitely scalable and no subject to the same hardware limitations as it was previously. It is also no longer sharing resources with any other people's websites which could cause speed issues or even IP blacklisting for things that had nothing to do with this site.

I will look into increasing the photo upload limits. The old server most definitely could not have handled it. The resize as you upload is the source of all of the considerable bandwidth. Without the image uploading, the rest of the site could be run by your average desktop PC. Of course, pictures are the heart of the discussion.

I have a complete site revamp all mapped out and the issue is finding a trustworthy/reliable person that I can work with to accomplish it. While I built the entire site from scratch on my own, the code has moved beyond my abilities as I have not been able to invest in learning the latest syntax -especially for mobile-friendly the requirements.

It is true that other forms of social media have really changed the dynamic of web interaction. I've worked hard to find images for and corretly identify thousands of pictures only to have the chronic problem of people copying and reposting them on Pintrist, etc. They do take them down, but reporting is a full-time job.

In the end, I definitely am committed to continuing to support and improve the site. It has been ad-free and donation free since it's inception - 20 years ago on May 5th, 2002.

Thanks!

Daiv

Good to hear from you Daiv. Thank you for the site and the good news you just let us know about. I am sure we all will be looking forward to changes in picture uploading!!

The site revamp is making me curious. Sure hope you can find someone who can help. Don't look at me, I'm not the one!!

Hi Daiv, thanks for the news and for joining the discussion here. Even with picture upload issues, there is no better place to talk about cacti in the web. Thanks for all you have done until now and for what are yet to come.

First, Daiv thank you for the excellent job leading to the better site. Resizing photos using Irfanview takes seconds. However, it would be nice to skip this step and have the photos resized by the site engine. Laziness is the engine of progress .

Astrophotography in the Utah deserts gives me the best of both worlds, Cacti in habitat during the day and Bortle Class 1 dark skies at night. Desert cacti are blooming over the next month or so. My outdoor plants are growing like natural plants. Very happy in the south facing garden. Dozens of blooms this week Scleros, Pedios, now with Echinos, Opuntias and Escos soon. Ease of pic upload would be nice.

Busy with life and too many interests divide my 'free' time ...so I pick and choose. My social media time is VERY limited to here and EarthSky.org where I post cactus pics as well.

PS... Forgot to mention that I also expanded into Agave plants. Only half a dozen species so far from Star Nursery in St. George, Utah. Most are potted... a few cold hardy ones are in ground. Lots of pups. And some Yuccas. Yep, busy.

Daiv, good work continuing this site. Thanks.
I don’t use it much to post anymore. Nor have I gotten on to other platforms that are popular.
But I check in once a week or so.

Copiapoa atacamensis for old times sake.

Daiv
I want to contribute. Where can I send money!!!

mikethecactusguy wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 2:27 am Daiv
I want to contribute. Where can I send money!!!

Thanks! I wouldn't accept anything until the upgrades are actually happening.

The check book is open and waiting. As long as its no more than .50 cents all is good.
This site in invaluable. We ALL should help keep it up and running.
Mike M

mikethecactusguy wrote: ↑Sun May 15, 2022 2:48 pm The check book is open and waiting. As long as its no more than .50 cents all is good.
This site in invaluable. We ALL should help keep it up and running.
Mike M

I'm open to this too. Maybe some kind of donation link that uses PayPal or other payment form?

It's great to finally start posting again, so I just wanted to chime in on the subject...

We'll never find in-depth discussions on Facebook and other social media platforms, but if that's what younger hobbyists want, let them have it. Hopefully they'll grow up and discover all of the wonderful things this forum has to offer. Quite frankly it's too valuable to lose, and I can't thank Daiv enough for the excellent work he's doing to keep CactiGuide going. As far as traffic here not being what it used to be, I'm highly confident that it'll get better over time.

Hi Daiv !
I’m fairly new to the site, but I just want to THANK YOU for keeping it up and for all that You do ! As a new cacti collector, I’ve been reading a lot of the posts here and I’m learning a lot ! So much invaluable information for noobs like Me. I’m on Instagram a lot and I agree that there are a lot of what some of us call “ Trophy Hunters” that just buy up specimen plants to show off. I prefer to learn from experienced cacti growers here who don’t have a problem sharing valuable information on how to care for these plants.
Thank You to everyone here who continue to help us out !

DWDogwood wrote: ↑Fri May 13, 2022 9:00 pm Daiv, good work continuing this site. Thanks.
I don’t use it much to post anymore. Nor have I gotten on to other platforms that are popular.
But I check in once a week or so.

Copiapoa atacamensis for old times sake.
8C719195-0919-4006-A141-716B63DDEACA.jpeg

Hi DWDogwood !

Really awesome Atacamemsis ! Thank You for sharing pictures!