Dear KK, I have gone through your mail and am glad that you have given apt clarification to many points that have been floating in ButterflyIndia (EM + FB). I just want to suggest one thing if feasible: 1. If there is really some important discussion or thread going on in FB... should be transported in to EM for refinement, rectification and archiving. I am really learning a lot from the new FB group on Host Plants.... These information should get its place here on EM and also in IFB.
Bottom line: I was struggling to get myPseudocoladenia fatih ided in FB. Which was ultimately IDed by you here. regards, Ashok ________________________________ From: Krushnamegh Kunte <[email protected]> To: butterflyindia <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, 2 February 2012 8:16 AM Subject: Re: [ButterflyIndia] Something to think about Dear Milind and others, I am a little bit late to respond to this email thread, but I thought I should respond, anyway, and make a few points: 1. Facebook-type of groups (FB) have some advantages and email-type of groups (EM, like ours) have other advantages. For people who want quick responses, FB is certainly better. For people who like to archive and revisit things as they learn, EM is much better. You would not go to a 20-day old post to look at it on FB, but you would do that on EM, as I am doing it here. FB-type of groups have come and gone (does anyone still have an active account on Orkut or MySpace)? Email has been around for 20 years and all indications are that it will go on. Our EM group is 10 years old, with the full archive still accessible. I suspect that the FB group will not be around in another 5 years by the very nature of that technology. When that happens, all the messages and information associated with that group will vanish. Thus, I think messages on EM have a much longer shelf life than messages on FB. For research purposes and for serious communication, there is simply no alternative to EM. This is not really an ‘illness’. 2. You may disagree and we could debate this, but the quality of information and the nature of discussion on EM is much better than on FB. There have been some studies indicating this as well. There is a tradeoff between how quickly you can post a response and what quality information is contained in that response. FB is strong in the former department, EM is strong in the latter. I like the latter. 3. People like Ullasa and I are not on FB on principle (is Sanjay on FB?). I will not go into what those principles are, but suffice to say that if you want to hear from us, EM is the only option. Rohan’s Pointed Palmfly (Elymnias penanga) and Sanjyog’s Bhutan Treebrown (Lethe margaritae) were either not identified or incorrectly identified on FB before I identified them when people emailed them to me. This is not to say that identification requests of EM always get answered or that requests on FB are more prone to errors than on EM because all experts make errors once in a while. But it seems to be true that currently EM has a greater number of experts than FB, so you are more likely to get a correct ID on EM than on FB. Considering these points, it seems to me that different group models have different strengths and weaknesses. I do not think it is a good idea to complain about one model on another because it creates unnecessary negative impressions. I hope that people will understand this before making similar comments. Now, what can we do to make EM better? That, apparently, was the main reason why Milind started this thread in the first place. First, Vijay has already promised that he and other moderators will try to check and post messages as frequently as possible in a day, bringing the lag time down. Second, I will try to respond to as many ID requests as possible, but I will have to stick to more challenging species when I am very busy (which is often). Other members at various stages of expertise can respond more quickly and more frequently, as they find time. If we all decide to take a small step towards this improvement, the net effect could be substantial. Third, if you do not receive a response to your ID query in a reasonable amount of time, send a reminder. Several people have done this on our group, with satisfactory results (Subhasis, I will respond to your re-post of the Royal soon). I think this phenomenon is universal. Finally, people who post their messages on FB could also post them on EM. I am sure there are people on one group and not the other. Posting messages on two groups does not hurt; indeed, this may be more inclusive and the poster may learn something different from each group. I would like it if there are any improvements on this group without hurting our strengths. And I also hope that Vijay will not have any sleepless nights worrying about this :). With best regards, Krushnamegh. ------------------------------------------------- Krushnamegh Kunte, PhD Ramanujan Fellow and Reader National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS) Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) UAS-GKVK Campus, Bellary Road, Bengaluru 560065, Karnataka, India. Ph: +91 80 2366-6001/02/18/19, ext 6410 Mob.: +91 9403-975-925 Email: [email protected] Website: http://biodiversitylab.org/ Indian Foundation for Butterflies: http://ifoundbutterflies.org/ Email: [email protected] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Min Sb <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 10:58 PM Subject: Re: [ButterflyIndia] Something to think about To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> it was me who commented this in hope that the group will be more active in the sense of immediate replies as well as better presentation as is for example on indianaturewatch or facebook for example. with the knowledgeable people interacting seriously and their immediate reply as well as the guidance will certainly encourage the new comers as well as to those butterflying for yrs. if i am correct, it needs sometimes 1 or 2days to find a proper id reply inspite of someone's quick responce because of the delay in mails appearing on the group. also you need to see the replies to a querry seperately by opening individual mails which sometimes disuades me.i have learnt a lot as well as am learning a lot and enjoying this group too, for a few years but change is what will make this group much more active and interacting and social too. how , when is what all of you need to suggest. NO OFFENCES MEANT. thanks vijay for raising this issue over here........MILIND ________________________________ From: Vijay Barve <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 12:27 AM Subject: [ButterflyIndia] Something to think about Hi I had a sleepless night yesterday because of a comment about our group elsewhere. "[ButterflyIndia] yahoo group is seriously ill !!!!!! need to change whole skin to make it active." Well this could be a casual comment in lighter vein but could a loaded statement too. I wish to hear from members what they feel about the progress of the group. I am perticularly interested in knowing where we need to improve and suggestions on how. And I am open to criticism on way I am facilitating the group. You are welcome to share it here on the group, or email me directly on [email protected] with subject ButterflyIndia. Eagerly waiting for your emails. Regards, Vijay -- --- Vijay Vasant Barve http://gplus.to/vijaybarve --- -- Enjoy
