[AlexC]

Originally Posted by J. Moore

Oops--thought it was around Roswell, NM (with all the space aliens). But I'm just a guy from Maryland; I'm ignorant of everything outside my home state, though I expect everyone around the world to know everything about Maryland.

Cheers,
Jim

Like Mr. Boh?

[citrinella]

Flags are of absolutely zero use - until you open the thread. The whole point is to avoid wasting time opening the thread, so forget flags as an assistant.

Please put the location in the title :-)

Mike.

[FlushUnderFoot]

since i'm a beginner, and i bird a lot, and im always alone when i do it, and i never trust myself to id a bird the first time i see it, i've been posting a lot in this forum

today i noticed this thread where someone combined multiple pics of the same bird into one so they effectively asked for 5 ids and posted 15 or so pics in one thread.

would it help if people like me who post a lot of ids just waited until we have 5 ids and only made posts like that?

[J. Moore]

Originally Posted by FlushUnderFoot

since i'm a beginner, and i bird a lot, and im always alone when i do it, and i never trust myself to id a bird the first time i see it, i've been posting a lot in this forum

today i noticed this thread where someone combined multiple pics of the same bird into one so they effectively asked for 5 ids and posted 15 or so pics in one thread.

would it help if people like me who post a lot of ids just waited until we have 5 ids and only made posts like that?

I don't think that's necessary. I think the last thing we want to do here is discourage anyone from posting requests, since it's rare that the ID forum gets too busy--usually the problem is just the opposite--that it's too slow! (for my liking at least).

The only problem I see is if you have say 20 photos and post them all at once in 20 different threads on the same day, which is pretty close to what happened recently. But that is quite rare.

My two cents,
Jim

[Pete Mella]

I think a problem is that a lot of people, as others have said, have got a fairly nice camera and are into wildlife photography, but don't seem to have a lot of interest in learning how to ID birds themselves when they can just post the pictures online and get someone else to do it for them. For example how many quite good pictures of dunnocks or female chaffinches have we seen titled "ID please"?

Then again, they're only doing what I've been guilty of in the past to a certain degree with insects, flowers and mushrooms. We can't all be experts at everything, but we all have a drive to name whatever we photograph. And we all have to start somewhere - it's just you wonder if some people have even thought of picking up a book or visiting the obvious ID websites before they post on here.

What's worse than "I have a nice camera, can you name this bird for me?" posts, is "I took this photo at a zoo but couldn't be arsed to read the information plaque", but that's been covered in depth elsewhere

[Steven Astley]

I don't have a problem with people posting more straightforward id questions. taking good photos is skill in itself. I like seeing other peoples photos and I like iding birds (apart from manky mallards). I have noticed that some people who used to post simple id queries are now answering more complex id.

Back to the original question, I'm now in favour of no split. Having just made an ID blunder I'm more than happy with id questions disappearing off the page

[J. Moore]

Originally Posted by Pete Mella

I think a problem is that a lot of people, as others have said, have got a fairly nice camera and are into wildlife photography, but don't seem to have a lot of interest in learning how to ID birds themselves when they can just post the pictures online and get someone else to do it for them.

This has been discussed before, and my view, as well as the majority view at that time, was that we have no problem with posters of this sort. Most of us who participate in the ID threads enjoy responding to the posts, and learn while doing so. The motivation or level of sophistication of the person who wants the ID is not really relevant or an issue.

Best,
Jim

[erisian.pope]

Originally Posted by J. Moore

This has been discussed before, and my view, as well as the majority view at that time, was that we have no problem with posters of this sort. Most of us who participate in the ID threads enjoy responding to the posts, and learn while doing so. The motivation or level of sophistication of the person who wants the ID is not really relevant or an issue.

Best,
Jim

Whew!

My main interest is photography. I have a ton of admiration for birds and do have an interest in knowing the names of birds as I see them. I'll be getting books and learning how to ID for real. In the mean time it's good to know that I may not be estranging this very very helpful forum with my combined enthusiasm for birds plus utter lack of knowledge.

[apbarr]

Originally Posted by erisian.pope

Whew!

My main interest is photography. I have a ton of admiration for birds and do have an interest in knowing the names of birds as I see them. I'll be getting books and learning how to ID for real. In the mean time it's good to know that I may not be estranging this very very helpful forum with my combined enthusiasm for birds plus utter lack of knowledge.

I'm sure you will not be estranged, in fact quite the opposite.
From memory, the previous discussion that took place involved a poster who had no interest in why an ID was being made or in learning how to ID the birds but simply wanted the name of the bird to label his photographs.

[SueO]

Originally Posted by Pete Mella

I'm with this - four subfora...

Manky Mallards
Marsh/willow tits
Chiffchaff/willow warblers
Everything else

Don't forget Sharp-shinned and Cooper's.
I really enjoy the forum the way it is. As others have pointed out, it is a learning experience. I don't even think it's a big deal when people forget to put in a location. It happens so infrequently that I can't imagine why anyone would bother to mention it.
Sue
EDIT: Oops! I responded to Pete's post before reading the rest of the thread. I see others thought the same thing as I did regarding the Sharpy and Cooper's. I'm not discouraging posting about them though. I understand why people get confused. They are difficult, I was agonizing over a Sharpy just last week. Didn't post it though.