For over twenty years ohio-birds has been where Ohioans look for
rarities reports. I don't see any compelling reason not to continue this
tradition.
        In offering this instant service, the OOS doesn't promote itself or
require joining anything. It allows posts of any length. It does not
encourage posters to use pseudonyms. It has no advertising, and has been
relatively immune to spamming and other manipulations. It is a free and
open instant venue for rarities reports.
        In addition, ohio-birds is intended to be a source of learning about
Ohio's birds beyond reports of rarities. It encourages participants to
share information about good birding venues, and discussion and debate
about the occurrence, distribution, identification, and ecology of Ohio
birds. It has informative archives going back a long way, with reports
of found rarities a prominent feature. It really has no rivals in these
realms.
        The lack of online photos is the only drawback pointed out by users,
especially those looking for rarities. Photos are reassuring when
unknown observers report things, I suppose, and including them on
ohio-birds postings might be a way to support reports. The drawback
would be burdening the site (remember Miami University generously
provides for ohio-birds traffic) with other more popular but less
important uses of photos (beginners' ID questions, bragging, routine
species, etc.), and I don't know how the OOS feels about going this way.
        It seems to me that restricting rarities reports to commercial sites
like Twitter and Facebook is a mistake, as also is not sharing by
confining some interesting reports only to local Ohio web sites. I say
this as a reformed lister, too; over recent years I have tried to make
my bird observations more meaningful than additions to my own or others'
lists.
Bill Whan
Columbus
Disclaimer: I was among the founders of the OOS, but have not been a
member in recent years, and I do not speak for the Society.



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