OK let me first make it absolutely clear at the outset that, within the bounds of good manners, decency and relevance, folks are, and should be, free to post whatever they please to this forum. However, one thing is really beginning to bug me; why on earth does anyone feel the need to add the current status of their life, British, county or patch list and what it was they last ticked to every darn message?
Why do I need to know whether “Mr Spartypants” has a UK list of 410 or not? Each and everytime he posts. Or that his county list is 239? Each and everytime he posts. Or that his patch list is 112? Each and everytime he posts. It’s not even necessarily a good guide to birding competence. Let’s be honest about it, even more so than before, a massive British list reflects no more than a possession of a degree of mania, a pager, a car, sufficient finance and a compliant (or easily fooled) employer. That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t twitch – it’s their choice & good , very good, luck to them. Neither does it necessarily mean they are particularly skilled or knowledgeable birders (though they might be). I’ll admit though that in certain limited & specific contexts it can be relevant. If the debate is about life lists or county lists then fine! So if it’s relevant and in context fine (though note that context is only widely known for the UK, but not for local sites or by and large, individual counties).
Do people add their lists as a matter of one-upmanship? I don’t know, but if they do it largely backfires as far as I’m concerned. First the really big listers here tend not to post details of their list so if you need to boast about it ….. Second I find that there’s something undeniably vulgar about someone crowing about seeing the latest ‘big rarity’ when you know their last bird was something pretty darn common! I always suspect the competence of such forced flowers. (OK I know I’m being awfully provocative and entirely unreasonable here, but it’s a feeling that surfaces however much I try to repress it). Third as I’ve no idea what constitutes a good list for Borcestshire or Little Snoring gravel pits so why bother? On the flip side there can be something admirable in the person who confidently makes a truly incompetent guess about a bird’s ID, but honestly appends a UK list that most keen birders could muster in a decent spring. I admire their chutzpah.
So please tell me, why do you need to do it?
And for the record -
Life List – never counted.
European List – not counted that one either.
British List – have counted, but can’t remember off hand – it’s all those darn splits!
County List – it’s on the KOS website if you really want to know.
Patch list – I worked it out once & it’s in a notebook somewhere.
However, if suffixing list details to every posting was really that useful then I expect you can guess where I’m at!
John
