Regular visitors will note that I'm in the process of reorganizing the forums. One major change is the integration of what used to be the photo gallery section of the forum into different areas - so now the UBC Botanical Garden photographs are in the UBC section, while the forum contributor section is in the Hortboard. I did this because there used to be a split in photo galleries - most were in the "Photo Galleries" section, but it made more sense to have others attached to particular plant groups, e.g., the maple photo gallery, and so it was possibly confusing. A few plant groups generate so many questions and discussions that there is now a "Plants by Groups" section, with the forums for maples, palm trees and Araucariaceae. I've also added a separate palm trees and cycads photo gallery. There are a few more changes yet to come, but I'm still considering how best to integrate them.
I've completed the forums reorganization. I've tried to make the structure a bit more logical and leave room for continued growth, while also ensuring that anything that had already been posted had a logical "home". There is no doubt that the forums are steadily growing. Here are some stats: July 2001 (first month): 3 threads started April 2002: 35 threads April 2003: 41 threads* (an anomalous month, I was on vacation and a nasty spammer attacked the forums; better to use March 2003: 81 threads) April 2004: 275 threads (so far) The best practice with online communities is to start out with a few generic areas of discussion, and then branch out into more specific areas as needs arise. Here are the additional / revised forums: In the UBC Botanical Garden section: Suggestions for New Forums (new: I'm open to ideas. Organic Gardening? Your favourite plant group? Gardening in your region?) UBC Questions and Answers (revised: incorporated the "feedback" part of the former "announcements and feedback" forum) UBC Botanical Garden Photographs (revised: moved all photo galleries to do with UBC Botanical Garden into this forum) In the Gardening Community section: New to Gardening (new) Waterwise Gardening (new) Small Space Gardening (new) Soils and Fertilizers (revised slightly: wasn't receiving enough questions, so was sunk under the Hortboard section) Indoor Plant Identification (new: a lot of questions about unknown houseplants!) Photography (revised: moved to this section, as the former photo galleries section was removed) In the Gardening and Plants by Region section (new): Pacific Northwest of North America (new) Native Plants of PNW (new) Coastal BC (new) Interior BC (new) Northern BC (new) In the Plants by Groups section (new): Palm Trees and Cycads Photo Gallery (new) Monkey Puzzle Trees and Relatives (new) In the Botany and Horticulture section (revised: given its own section): Botanical Gardens and Arboreta (new) Plants in Collections (revised - used to have UBC focus, but may try to broaden its appeal) Botany (revised: given its own area) Horticulture (revised: given its own area) Integrated Pest Management (new) Plant Names and Taxonomy (new) Nomenclatural Changes (new) Feel free to comment on the changes.