Hi everyone!
I think Tom’s question provides an excellent jumping off point for
discussing the ways we as a birding community communicate and share
information about bird sightings. Before launching into that discussion, I
think it is important to acknowledge the work that volunteers like Kurt and
the folks who run the Listserv do in making this information accessible to
people, and thank them for their efforts.
That being said, I think Tom’s points provide a good opportunity for a
wider discussion about what modes of communication are best and most
efficient. As someone who uses eBird a lot, I admit I seldom post to the
Listserv, as it seems like a duplication of information that is already
available elsewhere. However, as the response to Tom’s question has shown,
there are many who do not use eBird and for whom the Listserv is their
primary form of communication. I think that this might be a good time to
consider upgrading the Listserv to something more efficient that can easily
integrate other sources like eBird.
I am a student at William & Mary, but originally from Maryland. Birders
there have replaced the Listserv with a Google group, which I think is much
more efficient way of doing things. The Google group is similar to the
Listserv in many respects. It requires people to sign-up in order to post,
and allows the option of receiving posts as e-mails. However, it also has
some advantages that the Listserv does not. In general, the interface is
more user friendly. The archived posts are very easy to browse, and you do
not have to be a member to see them. This is useful particularly for
out-of-state visitors who may be interested in reading the posts but don’t
have a reason to actually subscribe. Perhaps the greatest feature of the
Google group is that it can integrate eBird reports in a way that is easily
accessible, but does not clog inboxes. On the Google group, a gadget can be
installed which will list eBird reports of rare species, along with the
date, location, whether or not the report has been confirmed, and a link to
easily view the entire checklist. I think this is a great compromise option
that will allow everyone, even non-eBird users, easy access to rare bird
reports while also avoiding duplicate messages cluttering people’s inboxes.
The switch to the Google group has been very well received in Maryland, and
I think it has made communication much more efficient and streamlined.
If this seems like an idea that people would like to try, I know the folks
who run the Maryland group and could get them to provide help in getting
the group started.
Best,
--Matt Anthony
College of William & Mary
On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 10:02 AM, Tom Saunders <birdnerd53@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I subscribe to VA-bird in the digest format and usually end up reading on a
phone or tablet. I suspect that many others do the same. In the best of
times that means lots of scrolling to work down through the messages and
I've developed a keen appreciation for brevity. I find the daily posting of
" [Va-bird] Fwd: [eBird Alert] Virginia Rare Bird Alert <daily>"
particularly unhelpful and time wasting. For example, today's version has
nine reports of dark-eyed junco (among numerous other species), each of
which consumed at least seven lines of text. I have a hard time believing
that information useful to anyone. Anyone who wishes to see this report can
easily subscribe to it through eBird.
My instinct is to contact the poster and ask him to knock it off or, at
least, to edit the posts to eliminate duplicates, etc. Before I do that,
however, I thought I'd poll the list to see how many find value in these
daily posts vs. those who, like me, would prefer they be omitted. Contact
me off line to vote yea or nay and I'll report back to the list in a few
days, no matter which way the vote goes.
Tom Saunders
Kilmarnock
*** You are subscribed to va-bird as mhanthony@xxxxxxxxxxxx. If you wish
to unsubscribe, or modify your preferences please visit
http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/va-bird ***
