It was great adding the photo upload feature, but you can only upload one photo. Would be great to have a multiple photo upload option. And, have a zoom feature on the photos, so if we click on a photo, it will pop up in a new page, and zoomed. Folks often post photos for help and diagnoses, so being able to zoom in on a photo is very helpful. And the search engine upgrade would really go a long way. If we could search by poster, key words, posting date, and then have the results sortable, and have the ability to click on one message, then page through them all, without having to exit back to the main search result page, that would be outstanding. Thanks for polling your members, that's great to ask what your forum members would like to see!

Patty S.

It would be nice to be able to edit posts at least for a short period after initial posting.

Fix the login, please?

Amen, Brother Fruitnut, amen!

Tamara, I think improvements to the search engine would be terrific- congratulations on your efforts, and the easier-to-post images feature is very welcome.

I enjoy the site (several of the forums, in fact) and while I think it's important to keep it as functional and as fun as possible I also have to say that the simple, direct quality of this site is much better than a Facebook or Plurk type approach. A few years ago Yahoo "improved" their message boards and I didn't like the new version at all.

Elegance (not so say simplicity?) is a huge virtue, in my mind.

Thanks.

Content is great, capabilities for adding photos also great.

The pop-up advertisements are annoying. Banners are fine, but I hate pop-ups, and standard pop-up blockers are only able to block some and not all.

Being able to login permanently would be nice. I always check the little box and yet I typically need to re-login every 3 days or so, and on each of my 3 computers.

I might also like an option to be able to skip the "Preview Message" feature. I don't usually need to preview my responses. I'd like to just be able to post the stuff right away.

Those are the biggies.

Tamara,

The photo upload is nice but it would be nice to upload more than one photo.

The thing I would most like is an exchanges page for Fruit and Orchard.

I would also like a spell-check.

Thanks for the input request!!!

hoosierquilt - just for info. If you press control and roll your mouse button anything on the screen will enlarge/reduce, including pictures.

Flora, I don't use a mouse, I use my trackpads on both my pc and Mac, and even using the zoom feature, it still doesn't really "zoom" as well as being able to have a larger, higher resolution photo image pop up. We can get that if we embed our photos from a photo sharing site (like photobucket.com), but that embedded feature does not work if you use GW's upload option. Which is why I never use it. That, and also because you can only upload one photo. So, it was a nice idea, but in actuality, not that useful for us.

Patty S.

Spellcheck would be great and a horticultural dictionary. Mrs. G

I would also like a way to mark the threads you have posted in.

A different color or bold text in the headline would be a nice way to return to where you have posted before to see followup posts.

Just get GW up to speed with all the other forums out there - its literally stuck in the 20th century with the primitive functionality it has. Get rid of the super-obnoxious underlining of ad words and I may decide to turn off my ad blocker -- I want to support the site but I don't want to be harassed. And, keep it possible to use at low bandwidth.

Scott

...its time to revamp this whole thing, not spruce it up... Upgrade. I signed up in Aug 2004...nothing has changed except way more pop up ads. Its either that or have a lot of members go to other sites like what has happened in the tropical fruit forum and the citrus forum (i would image others too)...same could (will?) happen with this forum (at least those that are serious about growing fruit)...

agreed frank/scott, OP should look at the new tropical fruit forum that was set up by those guys. they asked for changes for a while, nothing happened, and they left. to keep the base GW has and increase it, the forum needs to be updated to the current times/technology/features.

Keep up the good work! I would love to see the fruit tree forum broken down into something like (stone fruits...or tropical fruits) ie: many people are interested only in avocado or peach/plum growing. thanks

Not all of us are that fond of the "current times/technology/features." I'd like to see improvements but not changing the site into Gardenbook.

Well, if they had a poll feature they could get a better idea of who wants what!

Why wouldn't you want some things updated, like the ability to edit posts for one. Or the ability to upload multi-pictures. You don't need to use those features, and can continue to use forum the same as you have been, and others will have the new options...

To add another thing I was thinking of; there are too many forums overall, and some get very minimal traffic. It might be best to consolidate some and expand sub forums for more popular items.

vBulletin ...

$250 for a license?

I don't understand the point about the vBulletin. Was it meant for a different thread?

?

Thanks,

M

Thanks GW. Love the forum! And thanks for workingnto make it better!

My suggestions: It seems counter intuitive that when you click on someone's use name you don't see a listing of all their posts. I'd change that if I could. I personally don't need the fruit tree forum broken down further into other forums, but that's just my opinion. I'm glad you're upgrading your search engine. It would be great if search results had search terms highlighted when you go to a thread so you can easily find the term "spinosad" or whatever when there are 70 replies to a post.

Also, it strikes me as good that unanswered questions remain at the top until someone replies. I hope you keep that. It helps people get their more pedestrian/newbie questions answered (thanks, all) alongside the vigorous debates on the reality of organic orcharding in humid NE climates.

Thanks again.

It would be way cool if we had the ability to design our gardens with software and then publish it on our page. This way we could get real help planning and others could take a virtual tour.

I do like the simplicity of the posts. This format is easier for me than some other message boards.

Preventing double posts would be nice.

Franktank makes a good point. The site has been the same since ive seen it, in the early 2000s. Not that its a bad thing. People know what to expect. The only things is, times have changed. I think its time to put the site on an actual forum, even forumotion (NOT my favorite, but the most widely used as far as Ive seen).

Also, if the MODS?ADMIN are trying to modernize this place, (the app is a GREAT start), I would suggest adding a Wiki to the whole site, or at least one to each section.

Upgrading the search engine and results would make the most difference to me. Currently if you search for "urea", you get the whole thread, starting with the first post--a real drag if there are lots of posts. Let's see the posts with the key word, with an option to review the entire thread.

Thanks for listening.

Hi everyone!

You asked and we listened. Today we are very excited to be debuting our newest feature -- post editing! To use this feature, go back to the post you wish to correct and you'll find the link under the 'My Clippings' links on the right side of the page.

I want to give a special shout out to all the testers who tried to break the editing tool. ;) Your feedback was insightful and invaluable. Thank you!

You may have also noticed that we adjusted the login cookie awhile back so that you should not have to login repeatedly.

Stay tuned -- we have more cool things in the works!

As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Best regards,
Tamara

Wow thats great!
Thanks for your effort on this.
This was a major shortcoming for the folks that post here.

-Eric
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