Dear friends,
Nelson's email suggests its time for introspecting. I'm so glad he has written.
I do feel that the group is caught in a kind of limbo - "post image, identify,
appreciate, next image..."
ButterflyIndia is meant to be a group where information on butterflies is
exchanged. The exact charter is :
" This list is started to popularize butterfly watching in a serious way.
* Anything to do with Indian Butterflies
* General articles on butterflies.
* Checklists
* Id questions
* Pictures
* Host Plants, Pupa, Larva information
* URLs of interesting pages
* Report articles/ books published on butterflies from India/outside.
* Limmericks and poems on butterflies !!!!! " The focus is meant to be
balanced
and creative, all encompassing and offering something for one and all. But is
this happening?
The majority of posts are about :
* I shot this butterfly, look at it!
* I shot this butterfly, what is it?
* Social messages.
Few messages are about any of the items listed in the charter above except
pictures and ids. People coming here for learning more do not find easy means
or
resources to learn from. People coming for intelligent debating of issues do
not
find any arguments whatsoever. People coming for interesting information almost
do not find anything at all! There is simply too little of this to hold the
interest in the long run.
We have had a few successes - our group meets have been great successes,
budding
photographers have developed their interest first in photography and then in
natural history, the new image sets of life-histories is something we can all
be
proud of - but what part of this success is due to group support and
facilitation and what part to their own energy and drive? I suspect the answer
to be a humbling one. Our laurels (successes) are too few to rest on.
Coming to the focus of Nelson's memo - images. It is very important to have
photos displayed and for ids to be given. That is required to attract people.
But we need to give them wholesome fare to develop their
knowledge, curiosity and interest after that. Just few odd images without all
the things mentioned above wont keep subscribers, or rather they will skim the
list of posts, see one or two and ignore the rest. Mind-numbing repetition is
one reason for some of us being warnocked.
It is futile to expect a steady stream of remarks on photographs. Unless they
illustrate an issue or bring in a point to discuss - so many photographs do not
provoke anyone to comment at all.
Here I differ from Nelson - he feels we need more images to keep the group
alive. I say we if we are to make our group lively and interesting, we need
more
of people giving writeups, limericks, urls, suggestions, checklists etc etc.
My kudos to Nelson for bringing up the need for introspection and improvement.
BTW - Lack of responses to Nelson's and my posts will prove the exact points we
are making.
Warm regards,
Ashwin Baindur
________________________________
From: Nelson Rodrigues <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Mon, 27 December, 2010 9:16:17
Subject: [ButterflyIndia] Lets do something for Butterfly India
Over the years Butterfly India has been a fantastic source of inspiration for
butterfly lovers all over india.
We have made wonderful friends, gone on trips, discovered amazing new species,
then there were the lifecycles posted
that took our learning of this species to the next level.
Butterfly india was the first site we would visit, however as a regular
viewer of BI. I find that our member
involvement has hit an all time low. I know of a dozen good photographers
who have stopped posting
their images for a host of reasons like ... Arrey yaar nobody responds to my
pictures no comments ,no criticism
nothing its like a wall, then the other voice i wanted some id nobody
responded so i stopped sending pictures,
the third said people are too critical i would prefer posting my pictures on
flicker, the fourth said the viewers at
butterfly india are half dead they just dont respond to our pictures, so what
is the point of sending pictures. I only
have pictures of the peninsular india people may laugh at me sending these
pictures
Yes friends, i agree there is a grain of truth in what you say, but can i
urge you to take a broader view of this egroup
a group is collective strength of all members, that is what will make our
group survive and thrive.. so like you if
everyone stops posting pictures our group will die a slow death.
If you view images constantly and dont post your own images , then that is a
very selfish ,one way relationship
because every relationship needs a little give and take, Never mind if
people
dont appreciate your pictures, never mind
if they criticise, never mind if they dont respond to your ids, do it because
you are a part of this wonderful butterfly
family and your contribution is important to the group.
Even if your images are of common butterflies you could post them as at any
point of time there are lots of new members
Do you remember the time when you
too could id only 5 to 10 species. Posting pictures from your archives too is
also welcome
We need everyones suggestions on what we could do to make this e group more
vibrant. Maybe we need to upgrade
the format on the lines of India Nature watch, where one can see all the
postings made by a member even one or two years
in a seperate box etc
As the year 2010 draws to an end lets hope the new year will see a lot
more
involvement from everyone. Amen
Nelson Rodrigues
--
Enjoy
