Guests

[nightshade]

dear guests, do you not feel you want to say something ? It costs nothing to join, you may never visit again, sign up have a say you could be the one that makes a REAL difference!

[Boddie]

Here here.

It has struck me for a long time that people are only too happy to use the site for a quick reference but seemingly do not realise that that is how we all got involved. Through simply putting a few minutes in here and there the guests that have joined have built a really comprehensive guide which is destined to grow.

Personally, I feel quite proud to be part of someting that one day will be huge and that in some small way my efforts, and the interest they stimulated, helped the site to grow.

[nightshade]

Just what is it that our guests visit for ? As a guest you are interested enough to visit and view so we must be doing something right, are you frightened of commitment, no-one is forced to do anything after they join so where is the stress? there are no "experts" If you don't know ASK nobody will laugh or think you are stupid, we learn by asking questions,your new friends will do their best to help we don't everthing but we do try

[wildone]

May I say a word to our Guests?

Firstly ‘Welcome’, it is nice to have you visit us. Have you found us useful?

We are a bunch of people who enjoy wildlife whether in the country or in our back gardens. No one person can know everything about the natural world of Britain ( even our esteemed Administrator would admit to having gaps in his knowledge) but by each offering help and/or advice we find that as a group we are able to extend what we know.

Now, wouldn’t you like to be a part of that. Even if you think you have limited things that you could put into the group, don’t believe it. You will find that you know a lot more than you think and will also find that you will increase that knowledge. Also you will give the rest of the group food for thought. As nightshade wrote it costs nothing to join and you may well find yourself enjoying it.

You will not be asked to post unless you wish to. If you have a camera and wish to let others see your pictures of wildlife then they will be welcomed also. It is up to you how much or how little you want to contribute.

Please join us. As I say you will be very welcome.

[Words]

I'll second or third that, as someone both new to the group and new to wildlife watching.

This seems a very friendly place indeed.

[Boddie]

I don't see where this thread is going. This is a reference site with no obligation to join. If people want to contribute then fantastic but there should be no obligation to get involved in any way.

What makes this site great is that those who have joined, and do contribute, have initiated threads that are educational and stimulate discussion, often providing an answer that enlightens more than just the thread initiator.

On 20th September we had 363 members - today we have 468. Thats over 100 new members, or 28 percent growth, in less than one month. Pretty damn good so I am more than happy people visit and if they don't want to join, so be it.

[StuartDH]

While I can share your frustration nightshade, I don't think it's the sort of thread that will help to attract more posts. I've just looked through my browser history for yesterday and see that I visited over one hundred sites. I was only on most of them to view one or two pages and while lots of them were forums, I didn't post anything, but just viewed the pages instead. That's just the way the Internet is and it's the reason why they call it surfing.

As we build a bigger swell, more people will catch our wave and ride it all the way to the beach

Until then, I'm happy enough for them to bob around in the water a bit...at least they're getting their feet wet.

[nightshade]

I do apologise to the guests and other members that i have offended with my opinions, I will say no more on the subject my thanks to boddie in particular.
cheers