Orchids Interactive remains a great place

Well said Jacob . I agree. I very much enjoy and appreciate OI. This is a great online community of orchid growers--particularly dedicated to what we grow. In many ways this is more "my orchid society" than my actual society because there are so many great growers who love their species orchids. .

So, onto the more productive and enjoyable use of the forum . . .

 

Hmmmmm, it seems all these problems began with the change of ownership. . . I personally don't see why anything had to change, as the forum was great the way it was before all these changes. It's sucks that is probably gonna be down hill from here, or it'll turn out like another SV-OrchidTalk.

 

I agree with your observations, Marni. I avoid forum politics and will stay out of this mess. The interesting observation I've made is that the forum has more posts and more interesting posts in the last week. Maybe it's your increased participation? I appreciate the high caliber of this forum, but fear it can't be maintained with the exuduse of people. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

My fear is this place will become another forum where all the question are about if it's a root or a spike, or when should I cut a spike. Or someone post a photo and there fifteen replays acknowledging how pretty it is.

Kyle

 

I don't know much about the previous owners, but before this forum switched hands, everything was running smoothly. I just don't see why Enrique had to go and change a lot of stuff, as it seems that these changes have been what is eating away at the core of this forum, and the cause of all this unnecessary trouble. That is what I JUST DON'T GET!!!! WHY did things have to change, and why did Enrique, whose barely been here for a month, and apparently doesn't grow much for orchids, have to keep on changing things when most of the members were displeased? His actions speak pretty clear and it's obvious that he doesn't care much for this forum or the members who were here from the start.

 

Well, one easy explanation is that someone has to pay the bills for keeping this forum up. Internet space isn't free! And I wouldn't say that the core is being eaten away...what does that say about the rest of us who are still sticking around?

 

Haha, I'm guessing this lame attempt to stand up for Enrique has to do with him putting ads on the site. The main cause for the problems was this clause in the Terms:

To me, this sounds like downright stealing while trying to make it sound like its not. It is pretty hard to have a real copyright over an image when you are swindled into giving an irrevocable license to some random man to us worldwide, without getting any compensation! He might as well wrote that he is going to steal your pictures and you can't do anything about it. This was perfectly displayed with Tom. He did not agree to the terms, so he asked a moderator at that time to delete his posts with his pictures, and then ban his account. Obviously, tyrant Enrique didn't enjoy the free use of other pictures being taken away, and both members were banned before much could be deleted. I'm sorry, but WAKE UP!!!!!! Enrique cares nothing for the well being of the forum, and wishes to do nothing but exploit the members who have posted over the years.

 

If you're so concerned about the sanctity of your orchid photos you probably shouldn't be posting them on a public internet forum in the first place.

 

'course the best defense against photo theft is to take crappy ones. I'm pretty sure no-one's ever used one of my photos, with or without permission.

 

Cody - I hope you'll stick around a while. It's always nice to have young enthusiastic growers, and we need more people like you. I took some time to read the terms, and I've also done some reading about the current situation here and on other forums. It is a regrettable situation, but I also think it might be premature to jump to conclusions. So far, all I've really observed is an overly-heavy handed approach to forum moderation...and the ads, which I just ignore. I suppose I am being exploited, but the way I see it, it's pretty benign compared to some of the stuff I put up with on Facebook and some of the other sites I visit. Maybe a 'wait and see' approach is better? Unless, of course, you are hoping to earn that 'banned from OI' badge of honour oke:

Also, I host all my photos on flickr...if I really wanted to pull the plug, all I need to do is take them off there and poof - all gone. An easy solution.

 

I am not wishing to get banned, even though the next statement might lead to it. I do not have anything against this forum, as this place is actually quite neat, with many species devoted people posting a lot of cool stuff. I DO, on the other hand, have something against the attitude of Enrique and what he has done with this site in a period of a month. After being banned off of SV OrchidTalk by that crazed owner for stupid reasons, I don't want to see yet another forum ruined. Forums in which the owner is overly repressive are simply not fun at all. (which is why I love BLOF! No repressive rules, no fights, no big egos, nothin but a big, happy family!)

 

Well said, Calvin! I agree that the worst I have seen here lately is what I would call heavy-handed overmoderation. It does really bother me that some recent comments have been deleted, even though many (not all!) consisted of little more than pointless ad hominem attacks. I'd rather see what people really have to say and I've never read any content on this or any other orchid forum that actually seemed harmful, no matter how offensive or distasteful. Personal attacks generally reflect worse on the originator than the target. Then again, I've never had much directed at me on forums so perhaps I'd feel differently if I had (and maybe act on it if I had moderator power, I don't know)...

What concerns me more is the lack of a process to transition content from old TOS to new. Since some content submitted under old terms may not be subject to the new terms, most obviously that generated by users who have explicitly chosen to opt out of participation under the new terms, it seems like there's a substantial gray area around continued use of that content. While remaining on the site for ordinary page views shouldn't violate anyone's copyright since that's why material was originally submitted, new activities not covered under old TOS (ad-revenue generation from page views, republishing on Facebook, etc.) could violate copyright particularly when commercial gain directly results.

I do NOT have any reason to believe Enrique would intentionally misuse anyone's content, but since commercial activities like page-view ads are now an automatic part of the site, even just viewing (and thus generating ad revenue from) a now-banned user's photos violates that user's reserved right to control commercial use of his/her own content... Whether or not this would be actionable and if so serious enough to result in penalty to the site/owner, I really don't know, but I do think it would be wise to address this before it comes up. Enrique, is there a way to selectively exempt certain threads/pages from ad displays and other uses not included in the previous TOS? That might be a simple solution.

Sorry if this is all just :horse:!

 

In fairness, I believe the last thread(s?) in which I posted this was 'moderated' away, I hope not for what I said as I believe this is a fair and legitimate concern that could stand discussion by the group (if anyone else cares, that is)...

BTW, tried to PM you but your inbox is full.

 

Most of you know that I have been involved in several orchid forums over the past sixteen years or so. I watched this forum get started and I am very familiar with why it was started. It was unique. The reason it was unique was because of the caliber and the personalities of the people that started it and founded it and participated in it from the beginning. There are many orchid forums on the internet. Each has its own flavor. This one had a very unique and mature flavor that is now gone with those founding members. The change of ownership and the attempt to remake this forum into something just like all the others drove those founding members away. It will never again be like it was. It will be up to those who stick around to make it work. It's up to you now. It's your forum.

 

How would one go about doing that?

 

Make an account at flickr, upload photos there, and then hotlink them here via "Insert Image from URL". If you modify/remove your photo on flickr, it will change the url and the link to anywhere you've hotlinked it will be broken.