This issue keeps coming up over and over every year and I'll bet most of us are tired of it. New birders keep getting intimated instead of supported as they should be and seasoned birders keep getting annoyed at the volume of what they consider trivial junk email and they should be.
These complaints and misunderstandings won't go away until there is another MOU list-serve that is strictly for hard to find/unusual/rare sightings (species, out-of-season, out-of-range), and esoteric ID questions/discussions, etc. Is that possible or too much work/expense? Years ago I remember seeing the start of an mou-ornithology listserve for this purpose but I never saw any postings. Maybe its time to consider that idea again. respectfully yours, Mike Engh Wayzata, MN