I had a thought yesterday that it might be nice to have a new forum topic (not sure if that's the right term, but I mean at the same level as "Growing Bamboo", "Bamboo Discussions", "Exchanges", etc.).

"Bamboo Species". Better yet, 2 forums, one for temperate species and one for tropical species.

It would be intended as a sort of "encyclopedia" area where each topic was a specific type of bamboo, "Phy. glauca", "Semi. yashadake 'Kimmei'", etc. People could post photos, information about spreading, height, color, etc. I started thinking about this when looking for some info on my glauca 'Yunzhu', including photos. Searching the forums is a lot of work ('Yunzhu' for example gets mentioned in a lot of posts that have no photos or other info on 'Yunzhu' in them), and going to the photo gallery to look for images seems awkward now. It's much nicer just seeing photos in the posts themselves.

The hardest part might be moderating it so people don't post "looking for japonica" or other non-informative posts there. (The question posts belong in other places -- this area is intended to be more of a reference.)

I know there was talk of a wiki at some point, and that might be a better solution, but this one takes very little work (I think).

Good idea?

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

I would think that this would be the function of the Wiki, or am I missing the point?

I am learning Wiki entry as I document some stuff in Palmpedia and once you learn it, it flows well.

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John Case
Rookie Gardener
Veteran Drinker
'Circular logic works because circular logic works!'

Oh, I didn't realize the wiki was up already, but I see now it is.

Now just need to figure out how to work with it and set up a section for species.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Ok, so how exactly do I use the wiki? Do I need to login? Do I create a new account?

Help!

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Hey Alan,

I added a "bamboo species" page to the wiki, and put in all the species we have on the website, it needs a lot of cleanup, and each species to be made into a page, but at least its started. Im in a time crunch right now, but will do bits and pieces as I can, Have fun!
Gene

Thanks (I think, after looking at a page filled with LOTS of species names).

I still don't know how I can edit the wiki though -- that's what I really need to know.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Under getting started with wiki there is a link to the user guide.
Here is the link to the editor section.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Editor

Bill

Sorry, I'm just not asking the right questions.

Do I need to login on the wiki page in order to edit?

If so, do I use my forum account info, or create a new account?

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

It is the same username and password as this forum. You should be able to go to the wiki from here without having to log in again. Everyone that is a member here can edit the wiki.

Bill

had a case of delayed inteligence today... after I did that, and left the message here, I was thinking about it, and I think you are right, it would be better to have a forum for species, for a couple of reasons- one is that each person who had that species could post on it, and it would be thier own post, not a large bulky document, and the photos would fit in better... make any sense? a Wiki is an article, so unless each person remembered to put thier name or info with the photo, we would not know who put in the photo... kind of like reading a magazine article. it also sounded like you were thinking of having an area for discussing each species- how it did for someone, what they like about it, etc, and that would not be possible for a wiki, I think...(?)

anway, there is another 200 pesos, the more I think about it the better I like the forum idea.

Something like #2 on viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2260&start=0

Bill

yeah! I see you had that idea (ahem) a bit over a year ago....



its ok though.... for doing this for free, you put ALOT of time into it!

I guess being zonally challenged means you get to spend more time with online boos than your own.....

I played around with the Wiki a bit over the weekend. I broke the species list down to a listing by Genus with links to individual pages for each Genus.

http://www.bambooweb.info/wiki/index.php?title=Bamboo_Species

Anybody have any ideas for how pages for the species should be designed?

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Southern Indiana. Theoretically the same climate as 'needmore' & 'Eastlandia'.
My Bamboo List.

"Take Dog apart. Disinfect. Reassemble."

I suggest working on one species first, something common (Yellow Groove?), and once we get the info there in a format we like, use that as a "template" for the rest.

If you were hoping for specifics, just add something and we'll edit and let it evolve for a little while.

I was also going to suggest not adding pages for every species at the start -- I hate getting empty pages. If there's a link, there should be some useful info there I think.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

you could have a link on the page that would link the wiki back to the species info page, so at least there is something there, and then fill in the page around it with other info.