Lack of activity

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stefan m.

Lack of activity

Post by stefan m. »

Its been awfully quiet on this forum for the last couple of hours.
Is it always like this, at this time?
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Lack of activity

Post by ElieEstephane »

stefan m. wrote:Its been awfully quiet on this forum for the last couple of hours.
Is it always like this, at this time?
I've been browsing a lot through the old topics and the amount of participation is staggering.
Now you see lots of online users but no one seems to care to participate. They just read and leave. At least that's what im observing.
However, nothing much is happening during winter. When sp4ing comes there will be a flood of posts
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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toadstar
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Re: Lack of activity

Post by toadstar »

We have to sleep too, ya know.
stefan m.

Re: Lack of activity

Post by stefan m. »

"we have to sleep too"
Different time zones lol.
Also i would not call 6:00 pm cet sleeping time for at leas three time zones east.
That being said, nothing has happened since 4:00 pm anyway.
DaveW
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Location: Nottingham, England/UK

Re: Lack of activity

Post by DaveW »

With most forums you will always find more readers or "lurkers" than participants. Some are beginners who are nervous to participate because they think they do not have enough knowledge, though there is nothing stopping them asking questions and everybody's information is useful. Some are worried they will not get the plant names right, which is really unimportant since somebody will try and correct them for them.

As Stefan says, the forum has members from around the world and in different time zones, therefore there is often a delay in replies. As has been said, winter is the close season for most cactophiles when not much is happening, though you would expect more activity from those who grow the winter flowering Other Succulents, and those in other parts of the world who are still in their growing season. Also there is nothing to stop you posting the pictures you took last growing season.

You may note in some of the forums that are paid for by adverts, such as a photographic forum I was on, the staggering claims for the membership numbers in order to lure in advertisers, yet few actual participants. When you check up how many of the so called members had posted that year you find, though many people sign on some only post once, or even not at all, only logging in a couple of times before never being seen again.

Also some are "dead men" on the books who have probably quit the hobby, or in fact have died but they are still listed as a member because it increases membership numbers and pulls in advertisers. Unlike subscription based societies where you can tell how many members renew their subscription the following year, you can only guess how many members free forums have by how many look in each year or post. Few boards ever delete members who have not looked in for a year or more, regarding them as lapsed members.
kuni1234567
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Re: Lack of activity

Post by kuni1234567 »

I have been collecting succulents for decades and most of the collectors are over fifty years old. There were many succulent stores in Southern California thirty years ago and now there are very few stores left. I realize that the younger generations are not interested in collecting anything which includes plants. I guess that the lack of activity is due to the lack of plant collectors.
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stefan m.
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Re: Lack of activity

Post by stefan m. »

I knew a man here(where i live) who collected cacti thats now deceased. I know of other collectors in different cities that are also old. It seems that sometime in the past was "trendy" for cactus growing. Now, its just following popular ads like cactus terrariums, fake bonsai, air purification, feng shui......
kuni1234567
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Re: Lack of activity

Post by kuni1234567 »

I will always enjoy collecting and growing plants as long as I live. I know that plant collecting is a hobby that takes time and energy as well as space and money.
DaveW
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Re: Lack of activity

Post by DaveW »

We meet once a month and have about 20 cactus and succulent collectors in our local Nottingham Branch of the BCSS and just over 2000 members in the British Cactus & Succulent Society (BCSS). At the height of the hobby in the early 1970's we had over 100 in our branch (over 4000 then in the BCSS) and that is from only a comparatively small area in American terms and in a country the plants are not native too. But then I don't suppose we have many Brits growing "our weeds" either. Somebody else's exotics are always more interesting than your own native plants.

Somebody has to initially get a group together to attract others, but few want the effort of doing so. We all want others to do it for us. The usual first step is an advert in the local press asking if people are interested and to contact you and then finding somewhere to meet up, even if the first meeting is at your own collection. In the early days some just go to each others collections in turn for their meetings before the group gets large enough to hire a meeting room.

Unlike most of the European National societies that have local branches the American Society just has affiliated local clubs whose members may or may not be members of the Society as well. Here is a list:-

http://cssainc.org/affiliates.html

The Cactus Mall often has links for other countries cactus clubs, though there are a few dead links in it.

http://www.cactus-mall.com/clubs.html

I suppose the Europeans got used to growing from seed or buying small plants, whereas digging up large plants from habitat was more usual for collectors and dealers in the USA in the past. However new plant restrictions around the world have largely put a halt to legally collecting from the wild, therefore seed and small plants from dealers is the only way now, unless you have deep pockets.

Also youngsters have more exciting hobbies to get them hooked now and with modern communications don't even feel the need to socialise in person, but do it remotely over their smartphones, even often from the next room sometimes! Manny cannot write these days either, only text.

However our branch never got that many youngsters in the past. Plant collecting was something you did after you got married and settled down, buying a house and no longer spending your nights on the town. Therefore I suppose it was always largely an older persons hobby.
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Lack of activity

Post by ElieEstephane »

DaveW wrote:Somebody else's exotics are always more interesting than your own native plants.
That's what's wrong with some collectors. I think a true collector should start by his country's natives. Cacti are well conserved around the world (with the exception of a few). So one should turn his eyes towards some native endangered species.
I personnally like to keep starting Cedrus libani from seed and planting them in the wild.
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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stefan m.
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Re: Lack of activity

Post by stefan m. »

" my own native plants' - well not a lot of interesting or grow-able ones in that department, the best i did was a bunch of sedums, maybe should get a wild reflexum though since my commercial does not flower and ive had it for six years,
"Many cannot write these days either, only text." :lol: , funny story Ive been that way since day one. As in first grade, and that was before all this touchscreen technology(feel kinda old remembering my old PC) -that was 15 years ago.
"clubs on cactusmall" - back when (fyr) macedonia was in yugoslavia, ive been told such clubs existed. Nowadays, in serbia and slovenia I know they exist. As for here, most certainly not.
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