"Sacha" wrote ...
in reply to "Bob Hobden"
I give people a few chances to redeem themselves after
unsolicited nastiness otherwise they go plonk. Disagreement and
discussion
is good but there is no call for simple uncouth rudeness.
So, to me, this Ng is the same as ever just that a few of the excellent
regulars aren't here anymore.

Quite a few, sadly. We've almost lost one ex-professional who is now a
very
knowledgeable non-professional; we have lost one who was a professional
garden writer; we have lost some very knowledgeable amateur gardeners that
I
can think of and two other very expert amateurs rarely post now. And to
the
best of my knowledge all of those (bar one other professional who has
other
reasons as well) give the reasons I have raised before.
For those who wish to discuss the subjects that morph into newly
'fashionable' and increasingly long and irrelevant threads, why can't
those
go to email? Is it the potential lack of an audience that prevents that?
At one time the email route would have been the norm for urg and if it
hadn't happened, several people would have posted suggesting - *very*
strongly - that it did!
The problem with kill filing, to be frank, is that some of those who
appear
to enjoy these prolonged nit-picky discussions are also people who have a
good deal to offer to the group in other ways. I don't want to miss their
every post.
--

Well it is true there are some "old" regulars that are rarely seen these
days, and I can think of two across the pond and a very knowledgeable Tree
man from Essex amongst others.
Indeed all the "old" regulars seem not to post as much as they used to and
whilst it may be to do with the unpleasant tone and language of some posts
we see and the constant sad trolls, it may just be that the "oldies" are
getting a bit tired of answering almost the same questions time and again
and are leaving it to others. I have been guilty of that myself and only got
involved if/when I think the answer is not complete.
The missing "experienced posters"may still lurk here though, who knows?
As for the long pointless discussions, I try not to get involved. :-)
My Blocked Senders List is only for those I consider to have no manners or a
different agenda to URG so I don't miss much I might want to see. Some have
criticised folk for using their BSLs but I wouldn't want to talk or listen
to some uncouth louts I see in the pub either, same thing.
--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London