I've gone through all the replys and tried to extrapolate JUST the suggestions without the additional commentary. The idea being have everyone sit back and ponder the matters at hand and Alan in particular. Trying to see what we can focus on now, what needs to be future short term and future long term. PLEASE, let me know if I've missed anything, I'll modify the list.
KAREN, In #44, you are kinda talking about us. I'm gonna run it through my brains and with my family. Maybe we could do this.
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I personally would love to see a site where breeders were more active, telling us about what they have done, and where we can buy their creations.
There didn't seem to be as many trade lists this year and I think having people post them in the Hip-Gnosis Seed Development: Available Seed and Breeding Projects made them hard to find.
Another thing, at least for me, is all the stickys. Some places you have to page down a page or two to find the active threads. Also, some threads are stickys in all places.
I do remember way back someone complaining that it had gotten too, I don't remember what she said exactly, but maybe too 'technical'?
I do think we have too many "sticky" threads. We can eliminate some of those.
Delete the fun but off topic threads after about a month.
Occasionally threads sort of change directions so that it starts out cucumbers but ends up tomatoes, so to speak. It would be cool if there were some way to cross reference threads like this outside of just the search engine.
Consider some sort of instruction on using the search engine.
There should be a "Sum of All Knowledge" section. This should have papers written on best practices as garnered from all threads as well as FAQ. I'm thinking that this should be a printable archive
There should be a standard format for the papers with the same data type found in the same section of each paper. I haven't thought much about the compost/mulch/manure type papers.
Don't be afraid to chatter about growing, growing techniques and plants. Sometimes chatter leads to some very interesting and informative directions.
Please give me the results of your trials even if they are an absolute failure or 'in progress' On that line, if you are snap happy then post some pics.
More variety reviews please.
Post some open ended questions about interesting subjects. All resources: books, websites, videos relating to aforementioned subject will be appreciated.
It would be great to have some more interviews from well established breeders but I would also like to hear from HG members about their projects, plot conditions, and favourite varietites.
It would be great if there was a centralized way to get seeds for all the things people mention. Trading is great, but it can get a little complicated. Someone needs to start a seed company where we can get Tom's taters&maters, Alan's corn, whoever's whatevers.
And some recipes from Jo, featuring the things you can grow from those seeds.
i would like to see more interviews!
i would love to see a recipe section, and we could post our favorites, with fruits and veggies that we've grown.
I like the centralized seed list.
We kinda do have a recipe section... But we talk on it. If it were more "book" like, perhaps we could really turn it into a book and sell it and use the money to buy the land, start the commune and there would be Telsing's centralized seed list/distribution center!
Maybe there needs to be a real website with pages of info all organized.
I would very much like to create a second site, perhaps a blog, a Homegrown Collective in order to give us a chance to do some more publishing, taking the best of what we collectively have to offer and posting it to the blog, this would give those just getting into the group a resource of sorts to look back on for information and invite in new members in a way which wouldn't be so imposing.
It would of course be pretty cool to in time publish some physical things of course after building this thing up.
Perhaps we need an area on a blog to categorize everyones projects, maybe a "portal" site with links to everyones existing blogs and ideas and those who don't have a blog can post on the portal or create a blog to link from.
I'm thinking of this portal as being our press release center essentially, with a link to individual blogs as well as unique new blog postings from Homegrown members and ocassional publication of our findings on such topics as:
cooking
soil fertility
plant breeding
plant trials
ext.
I still dont know how to get into the chat room.
Some pics of the research would be very cool!! Results of your stuff Alan, melons,corn etc your tomatoes.
lso really old posts are decieving because no one knows if those people still want anything or are offering an item.
an archive of "Sum of All Knowledge" information and FAQ's that can't be lost. Maybe a Google account, and use the Google Docs section to hold a backup copy of everything in the archive, with the access address available to all?
If you're thinking of expanding or changing this site in any way, at the very least, I think it would be a good idea by starting with the purchase ($15/yr) of our own domain name, and then trying to establish anything new you create on non-proprietary software. I think it would be a good idea to gradually move completely to non-proprietary hosting eventually.
"10 Most Recent Posts" should be all things posted since midnight, in my opinion. I would really like that much better. Anyway of suggesting something like this to Proboards?
One thing I would like is a list of the last ten or however many active topics, vs. last ten postings.
A minor detail:I'd like to see new post on top in the threads in stead of at the bottom.
The Google ads are part of Proboards and not anything that can be changed short of moving to paid hosting...(for about $10/year domain registration can be had...and about $30/month for decent hosting).
What Karen says in Reply #44.
You could set up a index, of various things, with links to threads already on the subject, and maybe links to threads started just so people could describe what methods worked for them
and if you can continue to find people to interview, breeders especially Id love to see it.....
I also would love a section for each person to show what worked or didnt for them with their conditions and materials etc,
Could keywords in search engines do that?
?? could a thread be filled with random keywords to draw people in from searches?
?? could a thread be filled with random keywords to draw people in from searches?
;D
Anyhow, I am no technowiz but let me at the info.