Forum Poll

[Murox]

I can understand - just about - why this forum may not like links to the BBKA Forum (a competitor)
.................snip.......................
Apart from run a rather ineffective organisation (and what organisation isn't?), and be a bit heavy handed in moderating a forum XX years ago, what have the BBKA actually done wrong to be censored?
........snip..............

I really don't think that they are competitor at all.
As far as I am concerned having had two specific communications in the past with the bbka and being told in clear terms that as I was in scotland I should go away I support banning their links even though I believe in inclusivity.

See 'What have the Romans ever done for us?'
For a start, funding from pesticide manufacturers makes me uneasy but there is potentially the pecunia non olet view.

I thought all the deceitful lying sculduggery around pesticide manufactures was a thing of the past now - is it still the case?
Money may stink but you don't have to have absolute power or vast wealth to make morally corrupt decisions.

 

[Boston Bees]

I agree no need to block it these days, not even the forum. It’s hardly competition. I shall certainly raise that with admin.

Thank you, that would be much appreciated.

As you say, any issues people have with BBKA can be aired and discussed publicly, without any need for URL censorship

 

[Ian123]

I really don't think that they are competitor at all.
As far as I am concerned having had two specific communications in the past with the bbka and being told in clear terms that as I was in scotland I should go away I support banning their links even though I believe in inclusivity.

I thought all the deceitful lying sculduggery around pesticide manufactures was a thing of the past now - is it still the case?
Money may stink but you don't have to have absolute power or vast wealth to make morally corrupt decisions.

I never thought the bbka accepting the money was an issue….I just think they showed complete incompetence in settling for so little…..

 

[pargyle]

I agree no need to block it these days, not even the forum. It’s hardly competition. I shall certainly raise that with admin.

Yes, I agree ... it was something that was put in place (for obvious reasons when you consider the birthright of this forum) by the previous forum owner and was carried over when the new owners took over. This forum has established itself in its own right and I recognise that there are occasions when a link to the BBKA website would be beneficial. It's a bar that has passed its sell by date and is no longer either relevant or required.

I know some forums do maintain a bar to links to other, competing, fora and I would imagine the owners would not want links to another forum being posted (although, with the amount of traffic the BBKA forum gets it's hardly a competitor in any way).

I'm not sure whether the BBKA allow a link to this forum from their forum ? I suspect not ...

 

[Poly Hive]

On roughly a similar note I passed the SBA expert exam some years ago. The format was a 3 hour written paper, an apiary visit and an extraction equipment inspection. So I did the paper and a guy came to see my apiary and was a bit taken aback at the 40 hives working away, then came to see the honey house, took a 30 second look from the door and said I know far more than he did. End of inspection. So... we move forward and my expert status seemingly is no longer valid as the cert is now 6 modules. I would argue that the knowledge is a body and whilst it can be examined in 6 sections or one it is still the same body.

If it weren't for the insurance aspect I suspect I would no longer be a member.

PH

 

[Newbeeneil]

I also hesitate as I try to put myself in their shoes - the closest I can come up with is if a company like Bayer were to offer me a contract to keep bees on one of their sites. I don't know what my decision would be...extra income plus the opportunity to teach individuals and maybe even have some influence on them vs. my own ethics of does this look murky and does it go against what I stand for.

I can understand that but do you think an organisation like the BBKA can have any real influence on a multinational?
You are probably right that it may be possible to influence an individual, and that individual may in the future have power to influence.
After much pestering by my tree hugging daughter who tries to influence government for a large animal welfare charity I changed my pension investments to an ethical holding. Over the last 5 years it's consistently out performed the standard investment portfolios so I think things are changing in companies. Maybe slowly, but changing.

 

[Anduril]

As the forum moves forward, should we have an area for treatment free, flow hive, top bar hive, beehaus, skep etc. This is not evident at first glance of the forum. As beginners join, they can see what part of the forum suits their needs. I would see this as a way of enriching the forum. We are all beekeepers and offer different practices to the environment, the public, farmers and the seed industry. Some on here only want the honey for themselves, others are happy to sell to the public. We just need to be mindful of the differences of opinion.

 

[Ian123]

As the forum moves forward, should we have an area for treatment free, flow hive, top bar hive, beehaus, skep etc. This is not evident at first glance of the forum. As beginners join, they can see what part of the forum suits their needs. I would see this as a way of enriching the forum. We are all beekeepers and offer different practices to the environment, the public, farmers and the seed industry. Some on here only want the honey for themselves, others are happy to sell to the public. We just need to be mindful of the differences of opinion.

In fairness there are specific forum/sites covering those aspects you mention, I think there is a limit of sub forum that’s required in a general beekeeping forum.

 

[Ian123]

Isn't this about reconciliation?

With whom?

 

[Swarm]

No it's not and neither is that other little dig.

 

[Murox]

As the forum moves forward, should we have an area for treatment free, flow hive, top bar hive, beehaus, skep etc. This is not evident at first glance of the forum. As beginners join, they can see what part of the forum suits their needs. I would see this as a way of enriching the forum. We are all beekeepers and offer different practices to the environment, the public, farmers and the seed industry. Some on here only want the honey for themselves, others are happy to sell to the public. We just need to be mindful of the differences of opinion.

If you did that you would need to include rather a lot of other hive types such as Warre, Langstroth, Dartington Long Deep and others such as Zest, Layens, WBC, Commercial, Dadant, Smith and National plus more........
Perhaps broader definitions such as 'Conventional ' Types of Bee Hive, 'Horizontal' Types of hive and 'others' might be suitable headings.

 

[pargyle]

If you did that you would need to include rather a lot of other hive types such as Warre, Langstroth, Dartington Long Deep and others such as Zest, Layens, WBC, Commercial, Dadant, Smith and National plus more........
Perhaps broader definitions such as 'Conventional ' Types of Bee Hive, 'Horizontal' Types of hive and 'others' might be suitable headings.

I'm not really in favour of comparmentalsing the forum .. we are all, mostly, bee keepers however we choose to look after them. There are relevancies that cut across different styles of beekeeping and the use of different hive types. I see no benefit in creating silos where only one or limited aspects of beekeeping are permitted to be discussed. We are all free to raise new threads within the general beekeeping section .. there will be discussion and challenges but as long as we keep playing the ball and not the player the present forum structure should be adequate.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I agree.
Ive talked to the owners already about setting up sub forums and apart from one the answer was ….. no

 

[Boston Bees]

The forum is already too sub-divided as it is. Click on Forums and there are 23 sub-sections - waaaayy too many

Most people don't know or care what sub-section a post they are commenting on is in anyway. It appears in "New posts", sounds interesting, so they click on it and comment if they want. They don't care whether it's in the Beekeeping Forum, the Queen Rearing Forum, Honey Forum, Beehive & DIY Building Discussion Forum or Honeybee Health Forum.

The whole thing could be simplified down to four forums, from the current 15 odd:

Beginners Forum
Beekeeping Forum
Pesticides, Environmental & Political Issues Forum
Off-Topic Forum

There you go - another recommendation for you!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Most people don't know or care what sub-section a post they are commenting on is in anyway. It appears in "New posts", sounds interesting, so they click on it

Yes that’s about it. Often I don’t notice what section it’s in which is why some contentious posts in beginners can get missed initially.

 

[pargyle]

The forum is already too sub-divided as it is. Click on Forums and there are 23 sub-sections - waaaayy too many

Most people don't know or care what sub-section a post they are commenting on is in anyway. It appears in "New posts", sounds interesting, so they click on it and comment if they want. They don't care whether it's in the Beekeeping Forum, the Queen Rearing Forum, Honey Forum, Beehive & DIY Building Discussion Forum or Honeybee Health Forum.

The whole thing could be simplified down to four forums, from the current 15 odd:

Beginners Forum
Beekeeping Forum
Pesticides, Environmental & Political Issues Forum
Off-Topic Forum

There you go - another recommendation for you!

To some extent I agree - it makes little difference when you (like most I would think) hit the new posts button when you log in - and everything comes up regardless of where it was posted.

However, when you actually look at the individual sub-sections, with two exceptions, they have all had recent threads/posts added so, perhaps, they are being used for the purpose they were intended for.

I would agree, if a sub-forum is not being used, it may as well be culled and combined with another related section.

At present we have:

Beehive & Bee Setup Registry

Set up by the owners Admin and largely unused,

Special Interest Group: Advanced Honeybee Breeding

Not sure why this was set up but it's also not being used.

 

[busybee53]

There have been a few comments, recently, about how people perceive this forum. It was originally set up as a platform for people to air their views, experience and opinions of beekeeping and to provide a collective knowledge to those seeking assistance in their beekeeping endeavours in a free, lightly moderated, format. This remains the position but this is your forum and it seems appropriate that we should seek your views about how you currently perceive the forum and what, if any, changes you would like to see. It's a poll where you can select more than one option and offer comments if you wish. The results will be published after it closes. You can vote without commenting.

I have been a member since 2011. When I first started beekeeping I got a lot of help from members but also got some very strong comments which made me reluctant to ask for more help at the time. The forum is a good place to learn and I did learn a lot. Unfortunately I had to give up beekeeping due to ill health. I still look at the forum now and again as I like to know what is going on but I feel that there is not a lot of point making comments as probably no one would take notice of a non beekeeper and anyway there are still people on here giving good advice.

 

[Anduril]

If you did that you would need to include rather a lot of other hive types such as Warre, Langstroth, Dartington Long Deep and others such as Zest, Layens, WBC, Commercial, Dadant, Smith and National plus more........
Perhaps broader definitions such as 'Conventional ' Types of Bee Hive, 'Horizontal' Types of hive and 'others' might be suitable headings.

Not really, a category of alternative beekeeping would suffice. This would incorporate treatment free etc.

 

[Erichalfbee]

To some extent I agree - it makes little difference when you (like most I would think) hit the new posts button when you log in - and everything comes up regardless of where it was posted.

However, when you actually look at the individual sub-sections, with two exceptions, they have all had recent threads/posts added so, perhaps, they are being used for the purpose they were intended for.

I would agree, if a sub-forum is not being used, it may as well be culled and combined with another related section.

At present we have:

Beehive & Bee Setup Registry

Set up by the owners Admin and largely unused,

Special Interest Group: Advanced Honeybee Breeding

Not sure why this was set up but it's also not being used.

These might be removed at our request but I doubt they would be replaced by anything else.
I have to agree that we have too many sections as it is

 

[Wilco]

Sub-fora based on type of hive/keeping will likely only compartmentalise interests- leading to cliques and dividing us as there would be decreasing incentive to look in on or discuss other disciplines. Over time the forum would dwindle.

Think of it like a fire or a nuc, there needs to be a certain mass of diverse opinion to keep things going and provoke response such that it's self-sustaining/grows.