Public Request: Please Use the Proper Naming Conventions

[Azizan]

This thread has taken an odd turn, hasn't it?

I'm not trying butt in but this thread is going south. I am interested in learning about the naming though.
It may be very hot in summer, should everyone take a chill pill and relax a little bit?

[Brutal_Dreamer]

As the creator and administrator of this forum (not to mention one-half of the guys who pays the bill to keep the site online), which, I can add has been in operation for over 13 years now, let me say to everyone and let me be completely clear: If I find a post in this community that I feel violates our community standards, I will remove it and contact the individual regarding the post. Many of our long-time members know this and will attest to this. I believe, passionately, in this community and our mission of Bringing People Together to Grow Orchids Better. There are seventeen points that we have put into writing as a guide to help all members understand how this community operates and they can be read by simply clicking the FAQs link at the top of the page. I want to highlight a couple now that we may need brought back into daylight.

This information in full can be found here: FAQs I will only be re-listing a couple to aid in understanding of my message.

Before posting on OrchidTalk, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the following rules and guidelines.

1) Personal attacks, "flaming", or rudeness towards another member is not allowed, and will not be tolerated. While we encourage debate and discussion, we do insist that you, as a member, treat others here with courtesy and respect, even if their opinions differ from your own. Failure to follow this rule may result in your immediate and permanent removal from this community.

4) If someone posts something that you feel is inappropriate or in any way violates the rules of this forum, do not respond to the post. Instead, report the post to a moderator by clicking the "Report Bad Post" icon. We will take action on it as quickly as possible.

(I see upwards of 20 reports each week. I assure you that 9 out of 10 were simply people trying to help and or being a bit sensitive because they are passionate about helping or seeking help. In most cases a simple e-mail to the member is all it takes and discussion rolls on. That is part of my job - not your job unless you would like to apply to be a moderator and then we can talk. Trust me, orchid (plant) people are passionate, dedicated, and loving people in general and only want the best. Yes, there are people who are angry and have something to prove. They last about as long as it takes me to ban them -- permanently. I don't mess around. If I believe someone is being vicious or attempting to cause harm to another member or this community - they are gone. I block them from the site, I block their ip addresses from our server, I tag their member name and email address so that the system blocks them in the future if any of their info changes or they attempt to access the site from another ip or as a 'different' member. Let me be the police - the bad guy. Use the "Report Bad Post" button and I will investigate and make a final decision. That way we (our members and friends) can remain focused on growing and caring for these amazing plants that have so mesmerized us.

...... I did not mean to call anyone an expert in a derogatory way.......

Of course not. An apology goes a long way to solving a misunderstanding. Thank you.

Sorry for jumping in bit late. I feel, all of us are here as hobbyists to share, grow and bloom our favorite passion of orchids. Knowing names does help but it is not mandatory.

As an example, say I am visiting France and my objective is to communicate with people there and grammar is not really important but interest to communicate and subject of discussion is. On the other hand if I want to write in a newspaper, grammar is important.

Thanks BD for creating this forum. I feel the objective of the forum is to connect people across the world in sharing our passion for orchids. In my view, knowing the name or not knowing the name should not be coming in the way of our passion or sharing it.

Thanks. I believe there is much truth in both opinions. While we are here to communicate - it is also really awesome to learn as much as we can too. Learning about naming conventions is difficult for many reasons - most already shared in this thread. We are all lovers of these cool plants, so sometimes we must keep our ego in check and realize that just because we want to learn more or help better, we don't always know what another person wants. I appreciate so much your example of visiting a country that speaks a different language and how the objective is to communicate - regardless of grammar. Spot on! Official articles may be a place for the proper explanations and we have a pretty darn good article section of this community just for that purpose. I think the following is pretty good advice from Harvey:

....... Just ask yourself before you post a 'correction' to someone else, 'How would I feel if this was directed at me?'

If you are good with that, then hit "Post". If not, soften the tone and then post it.

Tone is so hard to read in text, especially from strangers. I'm sure there will be people that are angry that I'm closing this thread. That's okay. Send me a message and we can talk. A great way to help others understand your tone is to use some of our 'smilies' or emoticons. Sometimes a statement that might sound harsh without knowing the poster's intention is cleared up with a simple or one of the other 100+ we have in our library.

One thing to keep in mind about forum activity is that it is summer. A lot of people are on vacation. many of us who live in colder climes are getting as much as they can out of the few months remaining before winter returns. Perhaps those of us who hang out all the time need to get a life? Another point, a good forum is like a family. There are members who hang around all the time to keep house. Many others drop in from time to time to eat or drop off potlucks of there own. I think I may have gotten off subject

Forum activity always fluctuates. We have grown more over the last two years than probably the five before that. I know I have been less vocal after I was told that "I didn't need to respond to every post" and that "I seemed too intrusive because I read every post"...hahaha... I still read every post (or do my best to do so) but figured she had a point about trying to respond to every post. I'm not a writer and my grammar is often terrible. I just love seeing all the beautiful orchids people post and wish I could grow over half of them. haha...

Blessings to everyone. You are all important and a having a membership in this community is special. There are those who cannot. You can chose to come and go. You can choose to be happy or angry. I just hope you choose to participate when you have something to share and help where you are able. Lots of learning goes on in these threads and posts - even ones that get a bit off track and cause a few bumps.

cheers,
BD