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My experience...


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66 replies to this topic

#61 Offline nurbs - Posted July 21 2017 - 11:24 PM

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Cameron, your assumptions are completely wrong. I appreciate anyone from around the world who brings up these issues in a sincere, level headed, non-dramatic, and non-sensationalized post.
 
 
I could flash you credentials like you have so we could compare the size of our manhood, but I just simply do not have the time nor the energy to explain everything. 
 
But I've been on these forums since its inception, and while I do not post often nor try to win popularity contests, I visit and read all the posts every day. Do you?
 
Aside from answering the same questions on these forums every other week, the posts that annoy the most are the ones that stir up drama, make innuendos, use all caps and underlines to get other member's attention for the sake of self promotion or popularity and not because they are an Environmentalist Saint with a Heart of Gold.
 
So please. Do not encourage or egg Serafine on.

I didn't know underlining, using caps, or possibly even italicizing (if that's included) automatically enters the author of the post into a popularity contest or endorses oneself. Hopefully I didn't annoy or offend you with italicizing a word; I merely responded to a post expressing some thoughts/opinions. Certainly I am no "Environmentalist Saint with a Heart of Gold" if I must say so. Innuendos are also a pet peeve of mine too.
 

No one is talking about you.

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#62 Offline Cameron C. Thomas - Posted July 21 2017 - 11:25 PM

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As I understand our conversation at this point, there may have been some miscommunication or, at the very least, misinterpretation. Or maybe not, I don’t know.

@nurbs You are correct in assuming—at least, I assume from your question that you’re assuming—that I don’t log on every day and read all the posts. Maybe I should; maybe I would know individuals and where they’re coming from to the extent that you do, but I’m new to this community, and that isn’t the case. As such, I don’t know most of the people who post on this forum, so I don’t know who likes to stir up drama, who the trolls are, etc. So, as someone who doesn’t know the who’s who, so to speak, I will say something when I perceive that an individual is being treated unfairly, and if I end up defending the forum sensationalist, I’ll chalk it up to the learning curve.

As far as comparing credentials, I want to be clear that I wasn’t purporting expertise, or, god forbid, the size of my manhood. In fact, I included that specifically to add clarity to my comments. I don’t know you. We've never spoken, met, been in a general circle of conversation, and that’s the case between me and most people here; therefore, I included that information so that you, or anyone, who has never met me and knows nothing about me is clear on the means by which I see the world and treat ecological issues. I want people, especially those who I haven’t gotten the chance to meet yet, to know where I’m coming from and why I might have a certain opinion. Again, I try to be as clear as possible in conversation so I’m not misinterpreted.

And I disagree re: the term citizen scientist. Citizen science is a legitimate and important mechanism for collecting data. If it bothers you, maybe use civic science, crowd-sourced science, or some other synonym?

@T.C. You completely misunderstood my comments on the people here. I didn’t mean for it to come off as rude by stating the people here are by in large hobbyists and citizen scientists. Quite the opposite, in fact. I meant it as a compliment with the utmost sincerity. I think this community and its members are incredible. You are amazing. I’ll blame my naivety, but I was halfway through grad. school before I realized communities like this one existed. There are no active communities focused solely on the Cecidomyiidae, Acrididae, or Coenagrionidae, for example. But here you are! Talking about ants, learning about them, keeping them, documenting their life cycles, distributions, and flight behavior. It’s incredible! When I first visited one of these ant forums, I can’t remember which one it was, I was absolutely blown away! And one of the reasons I ended up here, aside from reading a few topics on each forum and deciding this seemed the most welcoming, was that James Trager’s name came up. I’m very familiar with his work, as well as Gordon Snelling. I actually cited his son, Matt Trager, several times in my thesis work, and have good friends down at UF. Again, and I want to be clear, I was in no way trying to tout my own credentials or demean hobbyists or citizen scientists in any way. I can’t stress enough how important your contributions are to our understanding of these animals, or, again, how amazed I am by communities like this one.

I don’t read every post on the forum, and I still don’t know many folks on here, so I don’t mean to cause a fuss by defending someone who is known to more attentive members as a sensationalist, but I can’t and won’t apologize for saying something when I perceived unfair treatment on a post I did read.

And, my apologizes for structuring my comments in a way that was so easily misinterpreted; I try to strive for clarity. We really don’t know one another, so I’m assuming that’s the case and it was a misunderstanding, but again, I’m am relatively new here and may have mischaracterized this community entirely.

Edited by Cameron C. Thomas, July 22 2017 - 12:01 AM.


#63 Offline Serafine - Posted July 22 2017 - 4:37 AM

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Drama's over, you can all go home.

 

 

Mikey has reacted in the best possible way and purged all invicta, unidentified and broodless colonies from the GAN page. This is good for the environment, because at least GAN doesn't spread RIFA to more places, and it is good for GAN, because now it doesn't look like a neglected mess and shows that they actually care, which can only boost it's reputation.

 

Also now with GAN getting cleaned up there's room for discussion on how to improve it - because a simple list and a complicated payment system may work for North America where there's literally no organized legal competition but it doesn't work for the rest of the world.


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#64 Offline Barristan - Posted July 22 2017 - 8:32 AM

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Also now with GAN getting cleaned up there's room for discussion on how to improve it - because a simple list and a complicated payment system may work for North America where there's literally no organized legal competition but it doesn't work for the rest of the world.

The best improvement: Don't participate in GAN, just sell ants via forums, facebook groups. I don't see any reason why I should participate in GAN project. It's a great idea for countries where trading across borders isn't legal but in most/all? EU countries you can legally ship ants across country and state borders, so there is no need for GAN project.


Edited by Barristan, July 22 2017 - 8:33 AM.

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#65 Offline Serafine - Posted July 22 2017 - 9:15 AM

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I can actually see a use for GAN in Europe if it's done right. That would need MASSIVE improvements in quality, use-friendliness and accessibility though.


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#66 Offline Barristan - Posted July 22 2017 - 9:30 AM

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I can actually see a use for GAN in Europe if it's done right.

 

Please explain.



#67 Offline Serafine - Posted July 22 2017 - 12:28 PM

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I'm gonna make a longer topic/post on that soon (probably in the AC forums as well). They key words are quality and transparency.


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