Hi eeyore
Don't get me wrong, as other members of the forum will tell you I have both received and given out site information on this forum and I have no qualms about it in most cases.
I do however think that there was a drift toward mentioning specific sites for rare species in open mails on this forum that was going too far. For example in one thread a specific site for Lady's Slipper Orchid was mentioned at the same time as pointing out it had been dug up! Not cause and effect in this case but somewhere along the line it happened.
I felt that Kayleigh's initial comment was bang on in response to instant offers of information (and I don't know why she apologized for it) and I felt support was appropriate.
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Originally Posted by eeyore  you have a point up to a point, so long as the
information that is shared would otherwise be secret - but for example it took me less than a minuite to find the following via google, and thus i cant help feeling that anyone looking to steal or otherwise interfere with it would go that route rather than going to the bother of joining wab to ask |
I absolutely agree but there is a difference between "growing in a wood" and "on the right hand side of the footpath 100yds in" which is the sort of advice one might give or receive.
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Originally Posted by eeyore therefore we do need to strike a balance between being cautious in sharing info and not appearing unfreindly or unhelpful to new members |
Again I agree but most new members do at least attempt to introduce themselves in some way before asking for favours. When slim posted his request I checked his profile and his earlier posts: no profile and all his previous posts requested sites for rare species! Yellow warning flag to me.
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Originally Posted by eeyore Also I think slim has a good point that if anyone knows a location but isnt prepared to share it then this is fair enough , but in that case perhaps they should just say nothing as saying "well i know where you can find x but i'm not prepared to tell you" doesnt look too clever and is singly unhelpful to all concerned. |
I don't think the latter was mentioned until he sent out, what I still believe was a rather arrogant and presumptive response, i.e. rude. If he really was countryside ranger and now an interpretation officer I do think he should have known better.
We live in a world where, as you say, the sites of rare plants and animals can be found quite easily on the web and those same rare (and not so rare) species continue to be affected by digging up in the case of plants and nest robbing in the case of birds. Therefore anyone asking for information has to be treated with care.
In the case of Yellow Bird's Nest it is a local rather than rare plant that is highly adapted to very specific habitats. In theory no-one should want to dig it up!! Unfortunately you only have look at some of the terrestrial orchid growers fora to see that it has the same sort of fascination as many orchids. After a web search I would suggest seed is not easily available so where do they get their starting material from?
People should expect to have to earn your trust and respect before receiving what is after all privileged information (at least I think so). Although it is difficult to do this electronically I certainly don't think anyone can expect info in the way slim did. It is interesting that he/she has not yet responded to my mail, I would have thought that as an adult (obviously had/has time for a career) he would have done.
I also think that WAB should have a clearly stated policy toward open site info, what information people exchange by PM is up to them but at least make sure a warning is out there!
All the best