You are deluded janet, My comment : "helpful comments only" was directed at the person who advised me too burn down any sumachs, after I had quoted it was my favourite tree in my opening paragraph. I CREATED this thread with the intention of aquiring suckers from someone local, I didnt CREATE this thread to discuss Sumachs with people. Thats not being rude, its being honest. If I misunderstood the purpose of this website, I fail to see how that is your concern? You obviously have a serious attitude problem and if you cant say anything nice, might I suggest you say nothing at all???

Yes, you do seem to have misunderstood the website.

It is Janet's concern, and that of all users of the newsgroup, because the posters to the newsgroup are what have created it.

You are very welcome to join in the newsgroup, but it's a bit soon to be trying to change it!

Im not trying to change anything Kay, As ive written before, I simply didnt understand the purpose of the site. Ive asked my friends there opinion and they agree there was no reason to be so rude to me. It doesnt go any further than that.

No, I know you weren't trying to change things, but given that it isn't the norm in the newsgroup for a thread to stay on topic, asking people to stay on topic does sound like you're trying to change things, and, from this side of the fence, sounds a wee bit rude.

But now we've sorted out the confusion, there's no problem. Hopefully you'll get the answer you need, just relax about all the other advice that you don't want, and remember too that there's an army of "lurkers" out there who may not know as much about sumach as you, and for whom all the information on suckering etc will be useful.

I didnt ask anyone to stay on topic. Im not the sort of person to recieve rude comments on a gardening forum of all places and siliently brood about it. I did nothing wrong and wasnt rude. If people got confused with what I wrote then thats that. As ive said I was confused about the purpose of this website. After comments from my friends/family Ive come to the conclusion the negativity from here is probably an age related issue, as im only 25 and couldnt possibly know anything about horticulture!

We didn't know your age and you don't know the age of anyone on here, so that's not a valid conclusion.

I've tried to explain why, although you had no intention to be rude, your comments did seem presumptuous - and "helpful comments only people" and similar responses sound remarkably like a request to stay on topic!

I quoted my age in my opening paragraph. Thank you for your advice.