Friday, January 5, 2007

Dave's Garden

I wish I could tell you all of these neat things about Dave's Garden but I can't. You see Dave's Garden requires you to register and be a paid subscriber to view most of their forums and that doesn't sit well with me. I'm sure they do it to keep their operating costs down and from having their servers strained by every internet search. But if they were really that concerned they could stop having their forums indexed and be done with it. Instead they take advantage of all of the benefits of having a high page rank without giving people on the internet anything in return, unless you want to sign up and pay.

I'm sure the content on their forums is every bit as good as the content on GardenWeb but on GardenWeb you can get it for free! Anyone searching the internet for gardening related info can easily access it and join if they want unlike at Dave's Garden. Yes I know that it costs money to run a site but I don't think Dave's Garden is really all that desperate those ads you see on the site are there for a reason-to make money and it has a base of subscribers which also bring it money.

Don't even get me started on the look of the site and forum or the horribly placed advertising that non paying members see when they come to Dave's Garden from a search.

I give Dave's Garden ★ ★ out of 5 stars. One for the Garden Watchdog and one because I know a lot of people on GW who also post there. If you're looking for a gardening forum where you can read the threads before you sign up and that won't cost you money to join check the list on this blog for more references.

My other gardening blog

39 comments:

La Gringa said...

It doesn't sit well with me either. It is very annoying that it pops up so often on Google searches, only to go there and find out that you can't see what you came to see.

Gardeners in general are very generous people -- generous with their knowledge and often with their seeds, plants and cuttings. Dave's Garden just doesn't fit with that philosophy.

MrBrownThumb said...

Right?

I don't think gardening or growing plants would be nearly as enjoyable for me if I could learn from other people or pass on what I pick up here and there and you're 100% right about it not fitting in with that philosophy.

DragonStone said...

I believe that Dave's Garden is also a christian site. I could be wrong but I'm just going by that big explosion where someone made a comment about a 'significant other' liking a certain plant and they got banned. A religious mentality likes that makes me nervous so I haven't made any efforts in being a part of the site.

However, I have to agree with you about Garden Watchdog. That's a really good site. I'm glad that is for public use instead of being a paying member to share your experiences.

MrBrownThumb said...

You know I'd heard of some of that around the web but I didn't include it because I haven't seen the thread(s) just what others said they have noticed while there.

But I've seen a couple of flame threads on GW by D'sG devotees where they mention stuff like that. If that's what it is-then it's great but I don't think the religious practices of a forum owner should extend to what is allowed to be posted by the membership unless it's clear that the site is set up for a specific group.

Anonymous said...

When I was surfing a few years ago I found a bible forum of the same system like DG which was offered by StandardOut, a company by the Owner of DG which was offering this plant-related site, too. But I think now it's all provided by NameMedia, Inc. or so.

Greetings from Berlin,
Florian

MrBrownThumb said...

Hey Florian,

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I should update their entry as they have just changed owners.

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you mention GardenWeb

It's the one place I know that if I can't answer a question there will be at least a dozen people who can.

MrBrownThumb said...

Hey wiseacre

Thanks for stopping by. I like GW too and am a member there. I just came across a new forum this weekend and will post about it soon.

Anonymous said...

Now a days you have to be very careful what you say at Dave's Garden or you will find yourself banned and you won't get a refund of your $20 subscription fee no matter how recently you joined or how long you've been a member.

There are lots and lots of names that are no longer active at Dave's and they were members for years.

TheGardenGeeks said...

LOL-so I am not the only one who went on to the site and discovered I was no longer a member. I was fortunate that I did get a refund but all of my data was lost to me. I had helped DG on a database and had used many of his journals to keep records. Do you know why I was banned...for posting my opinion about garden forums on my own companies website blog. In seconds all of the information I stored in my journal at Dave's were lost to me...and soon he banned anyone who contributed to a new forum I had created. So sad.
I never thought I would have to watch who I spoke to or what I did even off his site. But this in fact is the case. If he disputes me, I have his letter to prove it.
Look for other gardening forums where you are allowed to use all the resources out there without fear of being banned.

Anonymous said...

I made a post this morning about how unfair I think they treat people, and about a wonderful new web site called Garden Babble, and within minutes I had been kicked off. I was influenced in no way to write this to DG, but thought that because there are so many other sites that are referred to there, that there would be no problem in posting about a free site with all the same info that DG has, BOY was I wrong! I have even e-mailed them to ask for an explanation, only to be ignored. My suggestion is this...If you want to waste your money joining a site that rules with an Iron Fist, join DG.....if you want to make friends and save your money for plants, find another place that will treat you like a human being.

Anonymous said...

And get this.....At DG they are now banning paying members just for associating with members of another web site!! Talk about childish......

Anonymous said...

Geeeeshhh, come on, is it so bad? Sounds strange to me, current DG member, and NO you don't have to pay to be a member, we have thousands of members who don't pay, but we also have a WHOLE LOT MORE THAN SOME OF THE OTHER SITES DON'T HAVE! I AM PROUD OF DAVE AND WHAT HE DOES FOR US....PERHAPS IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE WITH RELIGION...YOU MAY NEED TO SEEK SOME.....

Fred Fredsky said...

I have been a DG member for a few months. I gladly paid the $19.95 for a year which is really a pittance if you think abut it. There are a lot of knowledgeable people posting there and just that alone is worth the money for me.

Having said that, it is an incredibly poorly designed site. The fonts, layouts, search capabilities, are antediluvian (Ok, pre-2000). Someone, it seems, added the tag feature to the site to replace the "Favorites" feature, which is of course not the replacement of, "Favorites" is still mentioned on the features page although it is no longer functional etc.

And while the posters are knowledgeable, I stared to wonder about some of the people who run the site. For instance I posted a pic of a plant at a public park. The plant looked bad (it was a philodendron, the tree it had climbed on got cut down and the plant was baking in the sun), and I added the rhetorical sigh at the end of my post: "Will it survive?"

My post was removed, stating (paraphrased) "You posted a question about the survival of a plant in an inappropriate forum."

I mean, please...

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that you are proud of Dave.

Whether you want to believe it or not, he has banned and threatened to ban people for associating with certain others. I have the proof to back up my words. He has stated on more than one occassion that certain people are off limits to associate with or you can lose your membership to DG. I swear those in Admin. over there must get tired of wiping the blood from their noses.....maybe if they didn't keep them turned up so high, nobody would be having this conversation. And yes, you are correct....there is free membership, but you are very limited as to what you can access. There are MANY garden sites with just as much info (if not more), and you can access the entire site for free!

As far as needing to find religion, I would suggest that you get a grip on yourself! I have no problems with religion, although it seems as if you might with idiotic comments such as the ones you have made here.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, I don't think you and Garden Geeks are telling us the whole truth. WHY don't you tell the whole story, and print the letter you sent to Dave? You and your friends need to get a life.

From one who knows

TheGardenGeeks said...

Hi-since I am The Garden Geek...I will explain what happened and will post all that went on. will all proofs. Now-when it all is displayed here, Dave will have you to thank for showing his true side and I hope he comes looking for you. I kept quiet and just went about my own business until you called me and friends liars...so here you go...chew on it for awhile. It is all here in black and white. Nothing covered over.
First my Blog on MY company website...you will see Dave refer to this in his letter to me.
http://www.thegardengeeks.com/Blog.html
This is from My Company-nothing bad was said about DAVE but he took it personally and sent this e-mail..

"Robbi, I know you have been pretty dis-satisfied with DG and theadministration here for a couple weeks now. This morning I readyour new blog at thegardengeeks.com and saw that you are advisingpeople to avoid DG altogether in favor of smaller forums. Clearly, you no longer have a desire to be at DG, and I believeyour continued presence here is unhealthy for all partiesinvolved. Therefore, I have removed you from the site. Your subscription was active through June 24th (81 days fromnow). As you paid $19.95 for a year's subscription, you areowed a refund of $4.43 based on the formula: (19.95 / 365) * 81 If you desire to have this refund, please give me your paypaladdress and I will happily send it."

I had never said I was unhappy at DG...and he owed me much more than the $4 he says here-I can show you the paypal that he did send and my account home page that says how much longer I was REALLY a member.

OK this is the e-mail with my answer and his last communication with me....

"On Fri, Apr 04, 2008 05:21 PM, Robbi Hoy wrote: > my Paypal address is hoyshome@msn.com I will look for the refund The refund has been issued. > I hope it is OK for other members to tell them that I will> still send newbies their seeds. No, that's not okay. Your association with DG is completelyover. Anyone found giving you assistance in bypassing thisbanning will find themselves also banned. > now I can honestly say-you kicked me off for my smilies-LOL I know you've been repeating this to many people. You can saythat, but then you would have to live with yourself being a liar.If you really believe you were banned because of smilies, thenyou are incredibly deluded. Good day,Dave"

I could have posted the bottom portion of his letter with his phone number to prove that this is true. I didn't think that was needed. If you still doubt what I am saying-get in touch and I will send you the originals.

I hope you notice that I was trying to make light of the situation...he did not find it funny. So please understand that this is NOT something I have enjoyed, and it is NOT something I am making up. There is plenty more...do you want all the members who were booted to contact you directly...like Mr. Crocosmia, Lauri, Jenn, BHaugh? They can all send you his letters.
Now lets move on...it is all there-Dave had a bad week or month or something-now get passed it PLEASE. I did!!

BHaugh said...

This is the letter that got me banned from DG, which only proves that truth is not tolerated there.


free new web site!!! http://www.gardenbabble.com/ please come and check it out!
All the info you need, and you can save your money, we don't charge a dime for your time!!!!!

When I joined DG I thought I was joining a community of people that
looked out for each other. What I have found in the past few months
is far from that.
DG used to be a fun place to learn about gardening, chat and visit.
Anymore it has become a place where only those who have been a part
of this community since the beginning are made to feel welcome.
It all started with The Princess Game. By now you have all heard about it,
so I will not go into a lot of detail about the game. There were people that
were annoyed by the game, Critter I hope you don't mind me using your words,
and others that were down right nasty, Hello Sugarweed......Yes, Sugarweed
was so nasty to Kathy/jordankittyjo, that Robbi/distantkin and a few others
(including myself) took great offense to it. As you can see, Robbi is no longer a
member here. If you want the real reason, here it is......Dave got so upset that
people would actually take up for another person here, that he threw Robbi off this
site. He became upset with Robbi because she posted on HER blog that is on
HER companies web site. Was Dave
justified? In a word NO. Was he being childish.....YES.
Yet, when we all jumped to Dave's defense against Garden Web, he applauded us.
Go Figure, yet it doesn't surprise me.........
The blog post never even mentioned DG. Is Dave so egotistical or just that insecure
to think that everything put into print is about him? I can tell you this, most of you will
not get a chance to read this, because Dave can't handle the truth. He will be busy
removing it from the site instead of standing up and explaining himself.

And I would also like to mention that Mr. Crocosmia was banned for talking to Robbi.
And, Lauri Wilson was banned because Mr. Crocosmia used her computer to log onto DG!!
And, your D-mail is not private!! There is someone there at admin that reads all of them!!!
what an invasion of privacy that is!!!!!!

here are supporting documents.............

Robbi, I know you have been pretty dis-satisfied with DG and the administration here for a couple weeks now. This morning I read your new blog at thegardengeeks.com and saw that you are advising people to avoid DG altogether in favor of smaller forums. Clearly, you no longer have a desire to be at DG, and I believe your continued presence here is unhealthy for all partiesinvolved.
Therefore, I have removed you from the site. Your subscription was active through June 24th (81 days fromnow). As you paid $19.95 for a year's subscription, you are owed a refund of $4.43 based on the formula: (19.95 / 365) * 81 If you desire to have this refund, please give me your paypal address and I will happily send it. Dave
Robbi : my Paypal address is hoyshome@msn.com I will look for the refund
Dave : The refund has been issued.
Robbi : I hope it is OK for other members to tell them that I will still send newbies their seeds.
Dave : No, that's not okay. Your association with DG is completely over. Anyone found giving you assistance in bypassing this banning will find themselves also banned.
Robbi : now I can honestly say-you kicked me off for my smilies-LOL
Dave : I know you've been repeating this to many people. You can say that, but then you would have to live with yourself being a liar.If you really believe you were banned because of smilies, then you are incredibly deluded. Good day,Dave
And for Mark, it went like this.......
Mark,

For secretly promoting the competing website of a banned DG
member, I have removed you from Dave's Garden.

Dave
Last time I checked, there were references and links to all kinds of garden sites posted at DG, including their largest competer, Garden Web.
Well folks, now you have the rest of the story. If I get banned for this, so be it. It is better to be an honest person than to be like them. Dave is so insecure, that he has rerouted all kinds of google searches to DG. Like it is the only place to get information. I have found that there are quite a few sites out there that contain more info, and much better advice. All you have to do is look around.
Thanks for your time,
Beckie

BHaugh said...

On Thu, 3/27/08, Dave Whitinger wrote:

From: Dave Whitinger
Subject: Removed from DG
To:
Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008, 2:26 PM


You have been removed from Dave's Garden and are not welcome tore-join.Dave

From: Dave Whitinger
Subject: Re: Removed from DG
To: "Tammy S."
Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008, 2:34 PM

On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 12:29 PM, Tammy S. wrote:> ALSO, I expect a full refund since this was your choice to do!!!!

Your credit card has been issued a refund.You had a little less than a year left on your
subscription, butI refunded the entire years worth, as I'm feeling generous.Dave

On Thu, 3/27/08, Dave Whitinger wrote:
From: Dave Whitinger
Subject: Re: Removed from DG
To: "Tammy S."
Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008, 2:49 PM

On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 12:46 PM, Tammy S. wrote:> You can feel generous enough to refund my subscription, but not generous> enough to tell me why I got booted, and those that had the ability to> speak
their peace did not??? Doesn't make a bit of sense to me,Dave!!!

I have no need, nor desire, to allow seditious attacks against DGand its management. Your post was unproductive and you knew thatit would likely result in your being banned when you posted it.I deleted the post and gave you several opportunities to backdown. You did not, and you left me no choice but to remove youfrom the site.Dave

On Thu, 3/27/08, Dave Whitinger wrote:
From: Dave Whitinger
Subject: Re: Removed from DG
To: "Tammy S."
Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008, 3:09 PM

On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 01:03 PM, Tammy S. wrote:> this is a site that I would NEVER EVER want to subscribe to> again in my life!!!!

It looks like we both have what we want,
then.Dave


This is the letter that caused the above e-mails. I don't know how they can say that the writer of the letter did not back down, since they banned her before they even asked any questions.

Dave,

First, I would like to thank those who have supported the game. And for those who knew for a fact that if they expressed an interest in the game, or just chatting, they would have been more than welcome, and welcomed with open arms. We never intended to tread upon anyone's toes, offend anybodies senses, or make anyone feel as though they were being left out. There are many members on this forum, and I know that a majority of these members, have paid their subscriptions and are in good standing just to gain knowledge and information, without interaction within the Forums.

I was a "lurker" for months after finding DG, only paying the $5 for 2 months at a time. I finally decided this month that it was somewhere I thought I wanted to stay. I was really accepted by most people, with warm welcomes and helpful information. Earlier this month, I signed up for the full years subscription after researching many other sites, thinking that this was the fairest and most acceptable, but with the recent turn of events I am beginning to wonder. I am sure my $20 is a small drop in the bucket compared to the overall amount brought in by other memberships and advertising. I am quite sure that there was not a bandwith problem due to the vast information already stored on DG, I am sure the Princess Game did not take up that much space. I still cannot see where we had a "Clique" problem when all throughout DG has their own "Cliques"/preferences/favorites. In my opinion, "Clique" is a "politically correct" nasty way of labeling a group of friends. There are many, many, many threads on this Forum which I did not care to visit because they just wasn't "my cup o tea". I didn't find them to be "Cliquish", and if I did, I didn't really care because I had my own preferences/favorites.

As far as "Cliques" go, we never intended for the Princess Game to be defined by the outrageous definition stated in the above hyperlink that Dave posted. We did not, nor ever intend, to create a conflict, start a conspiracy theory, or create any type of negativity towards anyone, or any group of DG. Just the very idea that Dave has referred to our group as a "clique" is both spiteful and hurtful. Why do I mention spiteful? Because when it was brought up that our game was disruptive, it was not a comment or complaint, it was a downright nasty, spiteful statement made towards Kathy-AKA jordankittyjo. From there, to further their cause, the game was brought up to further entice the powers that be that something needed to be done immediately. We did not deserve to be treated as we were, without being able to represent ourselves. We were, however, asked to moderate ourselves ASAP, which we obliged. HOWEVER, we stopped, the other party did NOT! It was requested numerous times that two comments posted hereafter be removed, but it took a long time for this to happen, as we were told that it wasn't felt there was anything derogatory in their statements. Why is it that what we do is felt to be so bad, yet the ones making these derogatory and slanderous statements be allowed to continue??? "FOR GARDENERS BY GARDENERS" has reverted into a Capitalistic Totalitarian format, IMO. Sorry if I step on your toes here Dave, but we are paying members, you have your advertising revenue, without ALL of us there would be no DG!!! AND I feel that we should be allowed to have a voice when need be.

Well, there ya go, I have said my peace on the matter. I assume that this thread would be open to honest opinion and rebuttal. If my opinions, and the way I see the way things have gone, give cause to have me removed from this site, then I would like to thank everyone that I have met here and all the good times we have shared!

Sincerely, Tammy-AKA Mistygardener

PS Dave, I will await your Dmail

I would have been able to leave well enough alone had it not been for anonymous asking for this to be posted.

I have more from Dave too, if you feel the need to see it, just let me know.

Unknown said...

The one thing that really annoyed me is the fact that I spent many many weeks sorting out his Crocosmia database for him and his admin.
After banning me for no reason I told him I wanted all my info that I supplied taken off his website. I never did get a reply!!! The info is still on there as far as I know..

For all you christians on DG, I wrote to Dave and asked him if he thought he was the reincarnation of Jesus. I truely believe he thinks he is........

Oh well, at least we have now found Garden Babble...... we have fun on there and we are building up the database that will put DG to shame.

Mr_Crocosmia

Anonymous said...

Mark, What do you have against Christians? Are you an athiest?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said,
Mark, What do you have against Christians? Are you an athiest?

Once again, someone taking verbage out of context to make it seem as if the poster, Mark this time, was a baaaad person. I would think that in today's society of political snippets being bandied about and constantly misused to cast the opponent in a negative light, we, as competent and reasonible people, would know the difference. Apparently not. I believe it is blatantly obvious that Christians weren't attacked. People posing as a Christans, but behaving completely opposite was the true meaning of Mark's post. That, my friend, is called a hypocrite. Love, Peace, Harmony, and Hugs on the outside, but Arrogance, Manipulation, and Degredation on the inside doe not a good Christian make.

But to the ORIGINAL QUESTION you asked here, did you read the above posts, Anonymous, as you have not made a comment on those. You wanted the proof and it is there. What are your thoughts?

You stated, "I don't think you and Garden Geeks are telling us the whole truth. WHY don't you tell the whole story, and print the letter you sent to Dave? You and your friends need to get a life."

The letters are there in black and white. What say you?

On with life...

Anonymous said...

traci, we have a great life, thanks

TheGardenGeeks said...

Just wanted to update everyone-Garden Babble has had a name change to The Garden Geeks!
You can now find all of us rabble rousers at www.thegardengeeks.com CLICK ON FORUMS. Come see how Gardeners should treat each other, and how much we love to share when no admin is editing, deleting or name calling their members-it actually turns into a very friendly, informative and wonderful site!
Thanks Dave for giving us the opportunity and the courage to go it alone-It was well worth the heartache!

Anonymous said...

Dave's Garden has very wrong info about out website. The negative comments are not about us. How they got us mixed up (address, name, etc) with another worm dealer is a wonderment to me. They do not seem to want to fix their error either. REALLY BAD WEBSITE. LET'S BOYCOTT
!!

Anonymous said...

I would like to know what Dave is so afraid of? He closed the Co-ops at DG,(most people from there are saying it is because he personally doesn't make any money from them), and as soon as people started coming to The Garden Geeks, he panicked. He has now re-opened the co-op forum, after stating emphatically that it would never be back. He has once again started banning people from DG for talking to us at Garden Geeks. Is he really that worried, and if so about what? What exactly is it about distantkin that scares him? What have you got to say Dave? Why don't you come on over to The Garden Geeks and tell us what the problem is? As we already know, you and others from DG have been there on several occasions, and you are reading the posts. I hope you saw the ones that have welcomed you and Terry with open arms.

Anonymous said...

I was a member of Dave's Garden for about 3 years. Dave had sold the the site to a corporation about a year after I joined. The fee jumped then to $20 per year.

Just this week I made a comment to the affect of Dave doesn't own Dave's Garden any more he sold it to a major corp. and I added a link to where he made the announcement of the sell. I told no lie. Just the truth.

I was banned for that. Not only was I banned but I was verbally beaten by Dave in his email to me. He stated that I seditiously attacked him and the site. I didn't see that coming.

I asked him to point out specifically what part in the user agreement that I violated... no response.

I take from this and I learn. I put a lot into Dave's Garden in information, posts, photographs and other things. What I could not see in the beginning, I see now...

Dave's Garden is a .com.... a business. Although it is proclaimed "For Gardeners By Gardeners"... that's not the case. More accurately it's by gardeners for a major corporation. And the kicker to it all is that I,among many others, paid for to do it. We all contributed and essentially built the site little by little... and we paid to be able to make a site that would be sold for $3.4M dollars.

Never again...

Anonymous said...

... to further my story. He made a post in some thread, not sure which one... stating that I had left on my own and that he expected me to start rumors.

I have no idea where that came from... nothing could be further from the truth. Why would I leave on my own when I was in the middle of hosting a very good co-op, running a Round Robin and in the middle of 2 trades. Why would anyone leave?

In the past few days I've found out a lot that I didn't know.

Just before I was banned I had joined 2 different small gardening groups... I used the same username as I had always used at Dave's Garden, I thought nothing of it.

Also, they have what's like an inner email system called dmail. I have since learned that the admins of Dave's Garden read the dmails. They have scans and filters looking for specific things, and sometimes they just read it for the fun of it. They don't tell you it's not private... they just don't bring it up anywhere. So one would assume that there dmails are relatively private when they are not.

I could go on and on about the fascist Dave's Garden. But I think you get my point.

Anonymous said...

After being a member at Dave's for over 5 years I was banned. Last year, only a couple of months into a year subscription, I got banned for no apparent reason. Not only did I not get a refund, I also didn't get back any of my money I had paid into numerous co-ops.

Missing the camaraderie I started The-Garden-Fence.com last year, but folks are afraid to use it for fear Dave will see it and ban them, as well.

Small wonder Christians have a bad name in the secular world with people like Dave behaving the way he does.

Anonymous said...

Dave and his gang are obviously keeping an eye on this blog. Shortly after my last post someone from Murfreesboro, TN (home of Dave's second-in-command, Terry) checked out The-Garden-Fence.com.

Shame they haven't been willing to gain a positive learning experience from all they've read here.

MrBrownThumb said...

I've been busy so I haven't been keeping up with the comment section of this blog. I've just deleted a couple of comments that I thought were inappropriate in that they used some pretty foul language even though it was masked.

I don't mind people commenting here and sharing their thoughts and experiences I just don't want to be a vehicle for such personal trashing that leaves me open to litigation.

With that feel free to comment but please keep it civil.

Unknown said...

If you are a former Dave's Garden member and wish to have your copyrighted material that you own (which according to the user agreement at Dave's Garden is everything you have posted or uploaded)removed from their site, please contact me ASAP at eaglesoarshigh@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Kathleen said...

Just found this blog and these comments and they are so apropos. DG was just resold to Internet Brands. Dave started another site called cubits (where people start and administer their own "cubit"). IB just delivered a cease and desist order to Dave and cubits will come down today for some period while the attorneys for both sides talk.

The religious righteousness abounds in all the crazy comments and anger on DG. Dave has followers - some rational, some not - who are sounding off mightily. These rants (I'll include one here for anyone who is curious) are public: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1101381/

There are thousands of members on DG who just want to garden and maintain friendships. But these angry followers have been doing their darndest to ruin other subscribers' experiences to vent.

IMO, it will be a very good day when the sanctimonious conservative Christian religious tone of the site moves elsewhere.

Kathy

MrBrownThumb said...

Kathy,

Thanks for the tip. I blogged about the thread over at one of my other blogs.

http://www.gardenbloggers.com/2010/05/revolt-at-daves-garden.html


Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Message boards are competitive,self serving and unfortunately self limiting. I know how they make decisions and they all have to do with business. The downfall of the message board is it hurts a lot of people`s feelings when you mix friendship and business. It is better not get too involved with message board communities owned by a company that is mainly interested in the advertising revenue and work on being nicer to people you meet face to face.

Kathy said...

Actually, I would say the opposite. I'd much rather get involved with a message board community owned by a company that is only interested in advertising revenue. That I can understand. That is defensible.

But to have a site that purports to be about gardening, but which really serves only to keep it's fanatic religious community happy is kind of scary - especially when you find that out about it AFTER you've paid $19.95.

I guess, in retrospect, I should have known that significant ego was involved when I read the url. Even if one garners millions when selling his site, it's too easy for him to believe that he still owns it if the domain name includes his.

This "Christian" person only incited his followers to panic and leave the site after it was sold. Megalomania, if you ask me. No impact to him - he had his millions. But there were many isolated retired folk who lost friendships out of some (I believe) misplaced sense of loyalty . . .

Anonymous said...

One thing is for sure. I`ll never pay any website to work for them building their databases again. If I can`t post web based images I have control over then I don`t do it. I`m tired of being a sucker.

Anonymous said...

I was removed from DavesGarden for posting my images of flowers. They say they removed my account because I was using the forum for self promotion. I however feel that I was singled out. And I was only was participating like all the others.

I don't understand why people stay there when there are other sites that are better and free. I have to admit I was not satisfied with the longest 1 page threads, no multiple image uploads, no chat and the rules... etc.

If you decide to join you e-mails are read and your forum threads will be deleted if it doesn't fit in there little perfect box.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I can`t even have a free membership with my Garden Watchdog. They can monitor my business listing while keeping me from being able to post on it. They told me I could reply to my Garden Watchdog with permission. I have no way of being sure if they really mean that.It makes me angry they can have control over me and my business and push me around like this.

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