Forum Poll

[pargyle]

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.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Do you think the people voting that the forum could do with improving might suggest how?

 

[user 20297]

Do you think the people voting that the forum could do with improving might suggest how?

Maybe you could add to the answer, "I only come here occasionally." some way to anonymously say what might make them visit here more frequently?

 

[Oscsbees]

When I first joined this forum it had 10-12 members who imparted a wealth of knowledge, but unfortunately they have either left of their own accord or were banned. This has had a detrimental affect on the forum.

 

[pargyle]

Maybe you could add to the answer, "I only come here occasionally." some way to anonymously say what might make them visit here more frequently?

Sadly, the Poll format is a bit limited - whilst it would be nice to be able to do that - the functionality is not there to do it ...

 

[pargyle]

When I first joined this forum it had 10-12 members who imparted a wealth of knowledge, but unfortunately they have either left of their own accord or were banned. This has had a detrimental affect on the forum.

It's interesting isn't it ? ...

I'd five minutes to spare so I looked back to the first thread you ever contributed to in 2015 .. I, like you, thought that there would be few of the people posting in that thread still here... I got a surprise ... more than 50% have been active in the last month and several of the members are here now and with recent postings. Two of the people on there were banned ... one was given several chances and allowed to return a number of times before being finally banned permanently and the other was given a second chance when the forum changed ownership but persisted breaching the forum rules (not that there are many) before being banned again. There are relatively few members permanently banned in the members list.

We don't know why people leave... I do know that drop out rate for new beekeepers in the UK is high and this would explain why some people leave; with an ageing profile in beekeepers in general there is bound to be age-related issues and a few deaths I'm afraid but, I think, the number of people I see on here with a join date going back nearly as far as you and a lot who are in the 10 year + membership bracket it does belie the perception that I had about membership drop out.

I'm certainly not denying that people leave forums for other reasons and it would be nice to know why they leave but ... we don't have that luxury.

Odd isn't it ? Perception ?

Glad you are still around and keeping bees though !

 

[Dodge]

I have noticed that under my details for the Forum there are only two choices for gender, Male / Female. Might be time to add the third. Does not affect me the slightest tbh but it may some.

Hadn't raised the forum only started in 2015, I ahbe been a member since 2017.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’m sure the forum started in 2008

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I’m sure the forum started in 2008

yep

 

[pargyle]

I’m sure the forum started in 2008

Yes ... 7th November 2008

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/welcome-to-the-beekeeping-forum.12/
Some of the people who posted in that first month are still dipping in .... and the longest running thread on the internet started in 2011 ...some sort of a record that it's still going strong - nearly 34,000 posts:

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/what-did-you-do-in-the-apiary-today.8543/page-1685#post-821230

 

[magor]

everyone , everything has its good and the bad times none is perfect all is a circle

am happy that found un active forum such this , mostly polite and welcome but main active thats matters most cause you know may not contribute much but reading threads keeps my bee mind on/active/thinking/searching/remembering.....no matter if i agree or disagree with a thread or a post it just makes me thinking and keeps me in form with beekeeping

so thats all and wish it keeps being active ,glad to watch many peepl different opinions and views

sry me wont vote( i dont feel the need to do ,dont get the reason behind this poll) but anyway just wanted to say my feelling about forum which it has become a habit for me and alsmot every day pass a quarter/half of my daily hours and really like those minutes

 

[Bluebell1985]

The forum from my perspective.

I'm a new beekeeper but someone who's been interested in it for many years. As such I believe I checked in every now and then before registering. For the past 6 or so months I think I have probably been logging in multiple times a day.

I cannot deny there is a wealth of knowledge here, with a huge amount of very friendly and informed contributers. I'm sure any question that gets asked receives an abundance of replies.

However.... What I see time and time again are responses that can quite often be blunt, dismissive or outright mocking. Generally when one appears the other often follows by another member. I'm not saying this is always the way but just something I see quite often.

As a new member this really puts me off posting. Fear of being accused of being an idiot who should have done X course, read X book and avoided YouTube like the plague before thinking of keeping bees.

I've heard from multiple others (YouTube, podcasts, etc) commenting that this board isn't friendly. To my knowledge there isn't really any competition, in written form, to this forum. I imagine if there was the friendliness of contributers would be a much bigger issue.

 

[Wilco]

For anyone suffering insomnia/who wants to read some drivel:

I've been on here a couple of years now. Initially, I also was cautious about posting because I was worried about saying something silly and beong called out/embarrassed. I think in my first posts that's exactly what happened. I didn't like it much but ultimately thought about what I'd said and what others had said and realised they were right.

I then decided that that (the questioning mindset which calls out untruths) was rather the point of this forum- learn new things and be corrected (ultimately to my benefit and that of my bees) when I'm wrong as this forum generally consists of actively thinking beekeepers rather than passive ones (even if I disagree with someone's thinking or views) This means being challenged.

Having read the forum for a while before and since first posting, there are a number of 'in-jokes' which some may not understand as humour gets carried between threads. Personally I don't have an issue with this and would encourage anyone to look for context as well as stopping to think whether the thing they're asking may have been disproven/answered multiple times already on the forum (often within a season) so you run the risk of a short answer.

I think it is a mark more of the individual whether one thinks before posting, considers than many of the longer term members whilst disagreeing with each other have often earnt the respect of others whereas the individual is the new unknown and also what ones does with the responses- take things as a mature adult, throwing their toys out of the pram or even flouncing off (which I've seen).

Sometimes it does go a bit far but that usually happens among those who give as good as they get and we do have a beginner vs. main forum. There is a wealth of knowledge here and even the most blunt commenters are generally more than helpful, especially when -as recommended by another in a different thread- you approach them directly. I recommend this approach if you're ever feeling on the sharp end of comments as we're all human beings.

I like this forum, personally try to be kind even if I disagree robustly but as a human don't always get everything right- facts or approach. I try to offer others the benefit of the doubt in the same way that I hope that they will continue to offer me. This forum is a rare thing in my experience and I like the spirit of it, even with the flaws.

As for improvements- it's up to each of us as individuals to try to think the best of others even if disagreeing robustly and to be(e) kind. I think most on here try to do that already.

 

[Swarm]

Never mind drivel, I love your last sentence.

 

[user 3509]

My big complaint with this forum is that very often when a question is asked by someone, there will be a few answers if you are lucky and then things seem to go off topic with people posting about everything under the sun except answering the original question.

 

[Boston Bees]

My big complaint with this forum is that very often when a question is asked by someone, there will be a few answers if you are lucky and then things seem to go off topic with people posting about everything under the sun except answering the original question.

True, but I think this is just the definition of the internet, to be fair

 

[Boston Bees]

It's the best place on the internet to learn about beekeeping, without a doubt.

It's the internet, so there are behaviour issues, but to fix that completely you would have to change human nature.

 

[Erichalfbee]

This forum is a rare thing in my experience and I like the spirit of it, even with the flaws.

If I were to pick out one sentence this would be it. Somebody else pointed out that actually there isn't an alternative to this forum which might be why those who do exceed the boundaries (and I must put my hands up to having done so on occasion) get away with it. Nevertheless we are unique. I look forward to seeing whether most people are happy or unhappy with the way we are. That's not to say there isn't room for improvement.

 

[Mint Bee]

It seem to me that we periodically get a wave of new joiners to the forum who don't like the way it is run and want to change this to a more acceptable operational style for them personally. Thankfully this hasn't happened. Some joiners leave the forum and probably beekeeping as a hobby. most seem to stay and understand the light touch model that was set up to be the antithesis of the BBKA forum of the late 2000's

If it isn't broke, don't fix it

 

[jeff33]

What I tend to notice is the 'seasonality' of the majority of threads. I have been on the forum for a few years now and you can be guaranteed to get the same topics being discussed over and over again. This probably shows that a lot of the newer members who post these threads never use the search function and perhaps why some of the older members drop out? I put my hand-up in saying that I don't participate to a lot of threads for this reason nor do I want to sound unhelpful by suggesting to the OPs to use the search function. Otherwise I enjoy the forum, I learn a lot from members and enjoy the usual benter.