Thanks Bern for sharing this. If you just Google plant forums or gardening forums many pop up to give members a look at how common this type of organizational structure for a group such as ours may be? Thanks, Mike On Wed, Nov 4, 2020 at 11:05 AM XYZ2 in Virginia via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > I'm a member of the online Forum for Epiphytic Myremecophytes. This is a > plant forum for epiphytic ant plants. The company that provides the Forum > platform and software is Invision Community. This platform successfully > allows members to post comments and photos. And it is searchable, so I > think the issue about archiving messages might be addressed. It is a > moderated forum and I've found it useful in providing me with archived > information as well as communicating with members about current questions, > as well as viewing and posting photos. In short, it's a plant forum > platform that seems to work well. The PBS board might want to take a look > at this software to see if it would be an improvement that would meet the > needs of the PBS and its members. The Forum for Epiphytic Myremecophytes > has an international membership ranging from scientists, specialty plant > nurseries, to general hobbyists, and this platform has apparently worked > well for them. I'm sure the Forum moderator would be happy to answer to > questions about this platform. There's no data mining that I'm aware of > and > you don't have to go to a different program like snapchat to post your > photos. I don't think there would be any of the major privacy concerns > that > have been discussed by members. It appears to be under the total control > of > the society, its members, and moderators. It costs about $20.00 to fund > the > forum each month. In 2020, I donated funding for 2 months. So, it seems > the > yearly costs would be modest. I'd be happy to help the PBS Board contact > the main Forum Moderator if interested. Here's a link to the forum > http://myrmecodia.invisionzone.com/. Here's a link to Invision Community > https://invisioncommunity.com/. > > > > Finally, I am also a member of the International Aroid Society and I use > their Aroid-List to post messages and photos. The IAS List seems to have > similar functionality to the PBS; perhaps it's a bit easier to post photos > on the IAS List. Regardless, the Invision Forum software might be superior > to both. I invite PBS members who are interested take a look at the Forum > for Epiphytic Myremecophytes to see if they like or dislike the platform. > I > hope you find this helpful. > > > > Bern in Williamsburg, VA > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>