Bonkersbon's Blog

Very relevant I think, gardening differs all over the world so its good to know what works where, differing climates & so on.

Hi Bonkers :o) I suspect you already know that you might be able to find out people's location by clicking on the 'About MemberName' link next to their profile photo?

I agree though, it would be good to get more people saying where they are, and the sort of climate they have.

Thanks Peter this is to those who not including this under members profile just submit a question.would be helful to know if we in UK speaking to someone in US/Can or vice versa.

Absolutely agree with Bonkers - we both gave considered advice on a question only to find that the member did not live in the UK so what we said was irrelevant!

Very good points Bonkers. Its nice to know where folks are living so that if its close to home there might be a chance to meet up and share ideas or view each others gardens.
Also we have had some lovely messages from G.O.Y members in other countries, and its great to keep in touch with them and also learn about styles of gardening in other parts of the world, but it really helps to know where members are located, particularly if they ask any garden related questions.

Extremely relevent Bonkersbon.

I agree. My memory is a bit of a disaster area, I have to look at profiles several times before beng able to recall where folk live. Even so, first impressions cause confusion, for some reason I have Bonkersbon gardening in Scotland and Mikec in NE England!
Some of the forums I have used provide the option of showing where people live below their name and/or avatar.
Would our software permit something similar, perhaps country and/or region/zone/county? My apologies to Peter and/or Ajay if this this adds to the workload ....... but it would be soooo useful, pleeeease :-)

How about if people popped their zone under their name as no matter which country you live in your climate can be very different,
lil
zone 8a

Not very helpful that Xela as both Mike and I clearly identified where we were from as soon as we joined and we both knew where each of us was located when we communicated. Apart from the fact that you were never very good at geography, your point being?

What do you think Peter and Ajay... Can our location be added either underneath our avatars or underneath our names and date to the right of a post ? It would be less confusing and very helpful I'm sure for members.

It should be possible to add our country, and our zone (I LOVE the zone idea!). Other message boards have that capability, it's just a matter of writing the code. Good Luck!
Tammie-Lee
Canada
Zone 4

Oh dear, I am very sorry to have upset you Bonkers. As you say, both your location and Mike's are in your Member Profiles. However, when new to the forum I imagine most will do the same as I did, ie. read the Member, Question and Photo pages first, and possibly in that order. On other gardening forums I have joined the Members were all from the UK, and initially nothing I read indicated this forum was any different. I didn't start looking at Member profiles until I had some idea who were regulars, by which time I had gained a first impression of where they were gardening from the content of their posts. Your comments about wild life suggested to me that you were somewhere in the Highlands and Mike's weather was indicative of North East England. When I started looking at regulars' Member Profiles and discovered the international aspect of the forum it was a bonus; with so many Members here I have find I have to refer to some Member Profiles more than once to recall where they are from. In some cases first impressions have been lasting and difficult to eradicate, maybe this is old age marching on but I prefer to think not.
Please accept my apologies again for any upset my post caused, rest assured no reflection on you was intended ... indeed I have a lot of respect for you and your contributions to the forum.
UK - Buckinghamshire

Hi all, We've made a few changes to get more members' locations and to make it easier for you to see where people are from as you move around the site.

More details in my latest blog, but try hovering your mouse over my icon :o)

P.S. Thanks for bringing it up, it's good to hear what people are thinking.

Wow, that's great Peter ! Very many thanks . :-)

I would like to chime in on this subject too. The climates throughout North America vary hugely even within the larger states and certainly within the provinces. I understand that you might not want to show specific towns and villages, but zones or more specific areas would be very helpful. Thanks, Sarah, Western Washington State, Zone 8! I am blessed because most advise for British or Irish gardeners works for me too :-)