Progression Forum?

[TreeJunkie]

Would it be a good idea to have a forum dedicated to progression posts?

I often wind up scrolling through other forums just looking for progressions.

Thinking it would be nice to have a dedicated place to go and find them. Thoughts?

 

[Paradox]

I think it would add more confusion with the fact that we have a bunch of dedicated forums for different species

If someone is interested in Maples, they can go to the maples section and see progressions for those rather than wading through progressions for pines, junipers, maples, Brazilian rain trees and everything else

 

[Kullas]

Could add a sub thread under each species like the pot making thread in the pot section

 

[TreeJunkie]

Could add a sub thread under each species like the pot making thread in the pot section

Yes! I didn’t know that was there but I think that would be great.

 

[TreeJunkie]

I think it would add more confusion with the fact that we have a bunch of dedicated forums for different species

If someone is interested in Maples, they can go to the maples section and see progressions for those rather than wading through progressions for pines, junipers, maples, Brazilian rain trees and everything else

I don’t want to make major changes to the site or anything but i think there are some easy solutions to that. Cross-posts/tagging for example.

We already have forums for styling. What if I want to find a windswept maple? I’d have to dig through all the species of windswept posts to find a Maple

 

[MHBonsai]

I have had the same thought. I’ve been compiling them as I find them. I’ll eventually format this by type of tree for ease of searching.

Progressions Resource - I need your help!

Bonsai folks - one thing that I value almost above all on this forum is the time and effort that people put into educational progression threads. They are absolutely invaluable to newbs like myself and experienced folks alike to show what's possible and how to get from point A to point B. I...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Paradox]

I don’t want to make major changes to the site or anything but i think there are some easy solutions to that. Cross-posts/tagging for example.

We already have forums for styling. What if I want to find a windswept maple? I’d have to dig through all the species of windswept posts to find a Maple

Exactly my point of the problem we already have. The styling forums already complicate things and already give us even more places to have to search than we need and honestly we should have less categories not more because of that. Imo the whole styling section and perhaps parts of the special interest section (the size categories) could be consolidated.

I guarantee that people will not just post progressions in the progression section. They will post them in the species section, the style section, the special interest section, the general discussion section and the progression section. It will be even more of a jumble you have to hunt through. Even now, some people post only in the general discussion section because they think that is the only section people actually read or comes up in 'new posts'

If I want to see a progression on a maple, I'd rather just look in the maples section, not the section with maples, pines, juniper, etc etc etc

I like the idea of putting a sub category under the each species category

 

[LittleDingus]

I mean you click a button to search across the forums you want or you manually browse for the content you want. The problem is not the forum organization...the problem is contributors poorly worded subject lines.

Some contributers are diligent and name progression threads by their user name or by species name or some personal convention that sets the thread apart as a progression. Then you have something meaningful to key a search on. How many threads have subjects like "have a question" or "hey it's thursday" that tell you absolutely nothing about the content of the thread and why I should bother reading it...and provide nothing to key a search on.

 

[Lorax7]

Some contributers are diligent and name progression threads by their user name or by species name or some personal convention that sets the thread apart as a progression.

Yep. For example, all of my progression threads have both my username and the word “progression” in the title. I don’t see any point in creating a progression forum. I barely use the forums that exist now. 99% of the time, I just browse New Posts, which covers all the forums. If I’m looking for information on a particular species, technique, etc. I use the site’s search feature, which works pretty well.

 

[Mikecheck123]

I don't think a new forum would change anything. You'd still need to search all of them.

Maybe "flair"/tags could work, similar to the flair used to distinguish different types of posts on Reddit.

That would also combat the bad title phenomenon.

One of the most incredible progressions on this site is Brian van Fleets 10+ year trident maple progression from garden stick to show tree.

But I'm pretty sure it has this mundane title: "Maple project."

Good luck searching for that!

I'd link it here, but can never find it.

 

[MHBonsai]

I don't think a new forum would change anything. You'd still need to search all of them.

Maybe "flair"/tags could work, similar to the flair used to distinguish different types of posts on Reddit.

That would also combat the bad title phenomenon.

One of the most incredible progressions on this site is Brian van Fleets 10+ year trident maple progression from garden stick to show tree.

But I'm pretty sure it has this mundane title: "Maple project."

Good luck searching for that!

I'd link it here, but can never find it.

The 2010 BonsaiNut Maple Project

Al, I love this idea! I've been working on trees for quite a few years, and have never once had a trident maple in a bonsai pot. I've always figured that they were so easy to grow, that I wouldn't have one unless it was a damn good one. I have several trident maples in the ground, and so...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[TreeJunkie]

I have had the same thought. I’ve been compiling them as I find them. I’ll eventually format this by type of tree for ease of searching.

Progressions Resource - I need your help!

Bonsai folks - one thing that I value almost above all on this forum is the time and effort that people put into educational progression threads. They are absolutely invaluable to newbs like myself and experienced folks alike to show what's possible and how to get from point A to point B. I...

www.bonsainut.com

Very nice. You summarized my thoughts exactly

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I don’t know how the software works, but another forum using the same XenForo platform has badges which are hyperlinks to specific threads. Wonder if the badges could be coded to list all progression threads by that specific member…? @Bonsai Nut FWIW, I also like the OP tag that shows up on that person’s threads.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

The functionality exists in the site... but we don't use it enough.

When you create a new thread, at the top add the tag "progression" (you can see it on this thread). NOTE - you can tag SOMEONE ELSE'S THREADS, so for example if you find a good progression thread from ten years ago, you can still tag the thread "progression" after the fact.



Then, when you do a search, click advanced search and the last tab will be "search tags". Simply start typing "progression" and the tag will pop up. Search by the tag "progression" and every thread that is tagged "progression" will come up. As people use tags and they become more popular, they will show up with greater significance in the "tag cloud" and you can click on them directly.



Tagging a thread allows the thread to show up in more than one "list". In other words, say you posted a thread about a Japanese Maple Book, you could post in the Books forum but also add a tag for "Japanese Maple" so anyone searching that tag will also see your thread. @TreeJunkie @Brian Van Fleet @MHBonsai ... what do you think?

 

[MHBonsai]

The functionality exists in the site... but we don't use it enough.

When you create a new thread, at the top add the tag "progression" (you can see it on this thread). NOTE - you can tag SOMEONE ELSE'S THREADS, so for example if you find a good progression thread from ten years ago, you can still tag the thread "progression" after the fact.

View attachment 434570

Then, when you do a search, click advanced search and the last tab will be "search tags". Simply start typing "progression" and the tag will pop up. Search by the tag "progression" and every thread that is tagged "progression" will come up. As people use tags and they become more popular, they will show up with greater significance in the "tag cloud" and you can click on them directly.

View attachment 434569

Tagging a thread allows the thread to show up in more than one "list". In other words, say you posted a thread about a Japanese Maple Book, you could post in the Books forum but also add a tag for "Japanese Maple" so anyone searching that tag will also see your thread. @TreeJunkie @Brian Van Fleet @MHBonsai ... what do you think?

That is a great feature with a lot of utility. It’s going to take a lot more site participation to get it to work.

I think part of my struggle at least with finding progressions, is that there are many threads that start…with good intentions of tracking progress - but we just don’t see much follow up. If all of these starter juniper progressions are tied in the same manner of tags, we will still have the same problem of how to hunt down the high quality instructional posts that we all like to see.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I think part of my struggle at least with finding progressions, is that there are many threads that start…with good intentions of tracking progress - but we just don’t see much follow up. If all of these starter juniper progressions are tied in the same manner of tags, we will still have the same problem of how to hunt down the high quality instructional posts that we all like to see.

That gets into an entirely different area - which is rating/ranking content. Easy to solve technically - but people being people, difficult to solve socially. "Quality" is always in the eye of the beholder, and people will have differing opinions. Also, as soon as you give people the opportunity to vote on content, there will be some people who will yield their vote punitively, perhaps because they don't like the OP, or because they want their own content to look "better" in the rankings, or whatever.

Additionally, because this is a forum, threads can take on lives of their own. Many people start "progression" threads to track their progress. A thread that would get a low vote today might turn into a great thread two years from now.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

The functionality exists in the site... but we don't use it enough.

When you create a new thread, at the top add the tag "progression" (you can see it on this thread). NOTE - you can tag SOMEONE ELSE'S THREADS, so for example if you find a good progression thread from ten years ago, you can still tag the thread "progression" after the fact.



Then, when you do a search, click advanced search and the last tab will be "search tags". Simply start typing "progression" and the tag will pop up. Search by the tag "progression" and every thread that is tagged "progression" will come up. As people use tags and they become more popular, they will show up with greater significance in the "tag cloud" and you can click on them directly.



Tagging a thread allows the thread to show up in more than one "list". In other words, say you posted a thread about a Japanese Maple Book, you could post in the Books forum but also add a tag for "Japanese Maple" so anyone searching that tag will also see your thread. @TreeJunkie @Brian Van Fleet @MHBonsai ... what do you think?

It’s definitely worth a shot. I went back through all the progression threads I started and tagged them with the species, the word “progression”, and also my initials. If it is a shohin progression, I also added the shohin tag.

The Advanced search feature has a lot of functionality I hadn't tried before, I would encourage people to try it out.l.and to tag their progression threads similarly.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

It’s definitely worth a shot. I went back through all the progression threads I started and tagged them with the species, the word “progression”, and also my initials. If it is a shohin progression, I also added the shohin tag.

The Advanced search feature has a lot of functionality I hadn't tried before, I would encourage people to try it out.l.and to tag their progression threads similarly.

Yes, the functionality has grown over time so it can sneak up on you. Tags weren't even available until 2015.