AGS On Line Show 2011

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Maggi.

[ronm]

Anything yet Lesley?
Not being nosey about the content at all, but would you let us know when you get an answer please?

[Lesley Cox]

Nothing yet Ron, and frankly, I don't expect an answer now. After all it was a full month ago I emailed. Same day as his Forum post.

[raydrew]

Having just been told that this conversation is continuing I thought I had better make another posting. Lesley has left a number of open-ended statements littered around her posts which I now need to clear up. I did receive an email from Lesley and I apologies for not sending an acknowledgment but it didn't contain anything that required a response; I was tempted to copy/paste it here but life's too short! I was however intrigued by one of her her statements that 'surely the object is to encourage a greater VARIETY of images of DIFFERENT plants rather than more of the same' - I thought I set the objectives but this was one I was not aware of - obviously a greater number of images would be welcomed but, judging by the number of times it happens, a large number of people are happy with the rule as it stands (and see previous posting). As to 'not expecting an answer' - an answer to what? there was no question; perhaps Ronm knows as he seems keen to hear it. 'I had the impression that he didn't like that the show was being discussed at all'; where did this come from? - as an AGS member since 1961 (as you tell me) I merely thought you might have chosen a more direct route to discuss an AGS activity - why not contact me directly in the first place, or am I missing some point?
If this conversation continues, can someone let me know directly as I still have a full time job, a family life, plants to look after and a very busy AGS commitment with absolutely no disire to sit in front of a computer screen for more than I have to!

[ronm]

 Ray, I asked Lesley to let me know when she got a response from you simply to understand if the lines of communication where still open ( per your invitation ) or not. There had been nothing said for a while and the question I had was had anything progressed, or did the staus quo remain? Either way, I didn't mind, just wondered. Should I have written to you about Lesleys e mail to you? I think not. So how else may I understand whats happening? Dont worry about answering me because now I really don't care.

[David Nicholson]

Well if that's his usual sort of "friendly" response I'm glad he doesn't get here much

[Tim Ingram]

I think Ray's comment a little earlier on, and now, about spending time on the Forum is a pertinent one and understandable, because as with any group of people who converse it takes time to get into the conversation and take others points - simple exchanges often are not very effective, especially when you are involved in running things. I still feel that the need to judge the online Gardens is a mistake, but that is because I would like to see more people actually describing their gardening on the AGS website, because I think that would be more interesting for non-members viewing the website, and also more welcoming. To see beautiful gardens and plants is remarkably stimulating, but gardens are actually 'made' and that is an ongoing process. As Peter Erskine has said, 'unfinished business'. But that is just my view, and I also appreciate the huge effort Ray and others put into the AGS which goes way beyond the Online Show. So I think the friendly response should work both ways. At the moment there seems a lack of coming together between the Alpine societies which seems to ignore the fact that we all grow plants and would like more people to do so.

[Lesley Cox]

Perhaps I somewhere missed what the Online Show's objectives actually are. Having apparently done that, I would have expected them to include encouraging AGS members to show their plants on a medium available to them, if they can't actually attend shows. Of course, rightly, it is available to ALL AGS members. No problem there. I'd be surprised if at an actual show, the secretaries are not delighted to have more and better entries each year, rather than the same few every time.

As to "an answer to what?" I was sufficiently naive to expect - as I would always myself give - a "thank you for your email" response; maybe even, since I brought up the subject, some REASON, other than boosting numbers, for allowing the same image to be entered in several classes.

Mr Drew says he himself sets the objectives for the Online Show. I'll leave him to it. I won't however, swear not to discuss this or any other plant matter on this Forum and that may or may not include AGS issues. According to Mr Drew there is NO issue and that is so if no discussion may take place. That is quite typical of the AGS attitude especially to those members who are not NAMES and have no public persona in the UK. Contacting Mr Drew directly in the first place? What would have been the point? I think it sad that member's ideas and concerns are not worth considering once an apparently final decision has been made by a single person.

[Tim Ingram]

Lesley - I do think it would be good if more people involved in running the AGS were to follow some of the discussions here, especially one I started earlier on how the Societies might develop (and I have said this on the AGS website). Considering the remarkable range of alpine growers who use the SRGC Forum I think Ray is mistaken to dismiss it in the way he did earlier, but partly that is because unless you have spent some time communicating with people on the Forum, just like attending and Showing plants, it is often not a place you feel comfortable in. I often feel uncomfortable in both! (As now). Ray at least has responded which has not been true of others involved in running the AGS. Personally I think the problem lies in the AGS website which is not one designed to enable free exchange, and this seems unlikely to change much in the future despite my best hopes.

[raydrew]

Here we go again!  I did apologies for not aknowledging your post Lesley (or do I need to say Mrs Cox on this friendly site - re. your last posting) and fully accept that it could have been seen as a slight to you - which it wasn't - what else do I need to do? When I said I set the objectives of the show, that was figurative (if I said 'we' set the objectives that leads to another potential set of questions). If you re-read your email to me you will see you were making your VARIETY and DIFFERENT point based on an incorrect assumption, others reading this posting will of course not be aware of this. Ronm - why didn't you simply ask 'are the lines of communication still open?' I wouldn't have been given the impression that there was a question to be answered that I didn't know about. Surely its obvious to most people that my point concerning the discussion taking place on the SRGC site was not to discourage and/or dismiss but merely to point out that if you want your points to be heard you would have done better to send them direct (without the AGS bashing along the way which tends to offend!) ... and Lesley - you are certainly a NAME in the AGS.

[Lesley Cox]

In fact I did, today, add a contribution to the Online Discussion area on the AGS site, not so much about the show but about the area itself. As soon as I pressed "Contribute" it vanished altogether and didn't appear in the discussion. So - enough from me.

[Martinr]

Lesley, is it possible you were caught out by the 30 minute server time out?

[Lesley Cox]

Yes Martin, I think that's probably what happened. I thought, after looking at the previous posts about that very subject that it had been sorted so one could put a longer post but apparently not. I don't want to go on knocking the AGS site - the site itself is fine in my opinion, but the discussion area leaves a lot to be desired and it was about that I was posting. Having been brought up, so to speak, with this Forum, it's easy to find fault elsewhere. Maybe I'll go back later, but I'd put a lot of thought into what I said and to have it all vanish was disappointing.