Listen Up moth fans (1 Viewer)

We are going to take Moths and all this Forum out of the public Domain this evening. You will need to Register to see it and post a bit like Ruffled feathers.

Rgds

steve

It's got that bad has it?

This could become the moth-er of all battles . . .

Sad, very sad.

Forgive my naievty Steve, but could you (or someone) explain to a relatively new member what this means and why it is being done?

Are all other forums getting the same?

How does this affect us after thisevening?

And what is 'ruffled feathers'?

Many thanks

The Drinker said:

Forgive my naievty Steve, but could you (or someone) explain to a relatively new member what this means and why it is being done?

Are all other forums getting the same?

How does this affect us after thisevening?

And what is 'ruffled feathers'?

Many thanks

Click to expand...

I second all of Ian's questions

I will come back and Answer the questions, after We have looked at it in more detail.

Thanks

Angus T said:

I second all of Ian's questions

Click to expand...

Saves me asking.

I thought I was registered and yet I cannot access "Ruffled feathers" and neither can I see any way to regster for it. Does that mean I won't have access to this forum either????

The Drinker said:

Forgive my naievty Steve, but could you (or someone) explain to a relatively new member what this means and why it is being done?

Are all other forums getting the same?

How does this affect us after thisevening?

And what is 'ruffled feathers'?

Many thanks

Click to expand...

Hi Ian,

It means you'd need to 'sign up' to see moth threads, the same as you need to sign up now to see 'Ruffled Feathers' threads.

Ruffled Feathers is where people post jokes, etc, etc, anything not really connected with birding. To sign up for it, go to the lower of the two red bars at the top of the page. Click on 'My Profile', then from the drop-down, 'User Control Panel'. On the left side of that page is a box of options; near the bottom in 'Miscellaneous', click on 'Group Memberships'. You'll find the option to subscribe to Ruffled Feathers (and, presumably soon, also Moths) there.

Michael

Seeing as how some people's computers do seem to have trouble with odd bits of BF, I think Alan has a point there. If admin feel that moth & butterfly posts are getting in the way of the birdy ones (it doesn't worry me, but I accept this is primarily a bird forum), then wouldn't a better solution be to make those posts accessible separately in the same way that new gallery photos are: via the drop-down options box near the top right of the page?

Steve said:

I will come back and Answer the questions, after We have looked at it in more detail. Thanks

Click to expand...

Thanks Steve,

I may not be available later to enter any lengthy discussion that may arise. That being the case, can I put forward the following views in anticipation.

Having looked a bit closer at it thisafternoon, I can't see any reason for this forum being shortlisted for 'special attention'. It was when a possible suggestion from Bluetail was posted that I got a feel for what may be behind this move (ie:not strictly birding and presumably objections from other members (though can't work out why?)).

If objections are being made, can we presumably complain about sections we don't like and have them consigned to the dark side! Is it that easy?

I've never seen 'ruffled feathers' and that is due to it being essentially inaccesible (though a clear subscription route has now been posted) as access is not easily explained. Those 'members only' forums seem daunting and unwelcome to the casual enquisitor (speaking personally)

Butterflies and moths may be a popular section (based on the statistics, however, it receives a lot less threads and posts than other 'not strictly birding' forums (look at the photography/computers section by way of an example).

Two pages I looked at from the Butterflies and Moths forum contained 205 posts from 54 different members and over 3,500 views from presumably many more. I find it an excellent resource and surely it is in the spirit of BirdForums as per the heading 'Many birders have an interest in insects'. Just how many members have come across something out birding and been able to have it identified on this forum - plenty from what I see.

Given that even insects can be protected species under law, surely the prospect of a rare or protected species being identified by a birder by virtue of this facility is also a resource not to ignore. Imagine if that very fact was enough to enable protection of a habitat or prevention of a development that would damage the enviroment for that insect and any birds utilising that area? Now that surely is 'dedicated to wild birds'.

Just my views, I enjoy this particular forum (obviously) and clearly don't expect everyone to agree, but just consider the last paragraph carefully - can the even remote chance be ignored in the interest of birding and the enviroment.

Perhaps a better option would be to make it possible to opt out of any or all the different furums, rather than have a few that are specifically opt-in. Personally, I'd stay with some of the insect forums (even though I'm not hugely into insects), but would like to opt out of all the camera / digiscoping / optics stuff, as I don't find that very relevant.

But I don't know if it would be feasible to do so with the software. One for super-techie Ollie, I guess.

Michael

Time for a splinter group...

I find the lack of explanation rather confusing. As a birder of over 30 years standing, I must admit I find the moth postings far more useful and of greater interest. Perhaps we need our own website, something that perhaps the Atropos site should offer, as it is aimed at serious mothers ( I can never type 'mothers' without thinking of my dear old bat...).

It is good to have a rounded and wider interest than just birds, so I can choose what to look at. There are many of the forums I am just not interested in, so I just don't look at them, so what's the problem?
:h?: :h?: :h?:

The problem has been solved, I will explain later but things will stay as they are.

Steve

Grampy good luck with your splinter group , turn the light out on your way out it attracts moths.

Steve said:

The problem has been solved, I will explain later but things will stay as they are.

Steve.

Click to expand...

Phew, glad about that.

Harry

What a fine mystery. Can't wait for the explanation!

Still waiting.....

You're not helping, Grampy.
Just chill-out and I'm sure Steve will be along in his own good time.

Some Members (double figures) Had written in asking if we were a Bird forum or a Moth forum, Perfectly reasonable question. they pointed out that when they logged on there were on occasion more moth or other Nature post's than birding posts, again true.

So we were left trying to find a balance, and changing this forum to an "option" forum like ruffled feathers was really the only sensible way of solving it.

As it turns out I took the less favourable option and changed the Members who had written in default system so they see only birding subjects, this was not only time consuming but complicated as I had to unregister them save settings, re register then upload files on there posts, all individualy.

Anyway it is now resolved , and as I said we will leave it as it is for now. There were many points raised in the posts above, none of which were really relevent to the problem, and to some extent I do sympathise with the birding only members.

One more thing we do have several boards that can be used for Insects moths etc, I will gladly knock one up if there is enough of you that want your own board, it would be exactly the same as this one, and may be worth thinking about in the future if enough of you think you would make it worth while.

Matter now closed.

Steve

Thanks for the explan, Steve. You guys do a huge amount of work and it's much appreciated. And I'm sure it's impossible to keep everyone happy all the time.
But now that there are 10k+ members, I think we are all faced with having to pick and choose which threads we want to look at... just as I personally would ignore all the ones to do with cameras (as Harry well knows ).
I'd be sad if we created a completely separate forum for insects...
a) because I'm interested in many of the bird threads as well
b) I don't think it's a bad thing if increasing numbers of birders expand their range of interests to wider areas of natural history.