Hi all--coming from a younger, "tech-age-savvy" perspective (college
freshman), just wanted to support John's point about Facebook vs email. As
the population of young and young adult birders grows, we have shifted
gears towards Facebook's birding groups, and Birding Ohio has become a
tremendous resource, especially for those beginning and future birders who
are just discovering the great activity we all participate in. However, you
do mention the "old guard", and birding is nothing without legends,
leaders, standouts, and wisdom. The younger population of birders cannot
progress further without using the huge knowledge and skill of very
accomplished birders who may depend on the listserv instead of Facebook for
rare sightings and reports. The simple fact is that email is a more formal,
practical, friendly, and applicable medium than Facebook for birding
purposes, with the one regret that photo sharing is less accessible (and
this may be a plus because it encourages people to post better and
higher-quality photos of a bird).
 I know many birders, notably Jen, share all their posts on the three
groups she mentioned; the listserv, the Birding Ohio Facebook group, and
the ORBA Facebook group. It would be a good idea to follow this protocol so
that as many birders as possible are able to see rare bird listings and our
discussions about birds in general.
A side comment, keeping with the Facebook theme; Please, when reporting a
rarity on eBird, share your photos on a site other than Facebook, such as
Flickr or a personal website. Many Facebook photos are not viewable to
those who do not have accounts, which is inconvenient who those who do not
have Facebook to help with the ID. I know there was frustration about this
in Pittsburgh last year with the Kelp Gull.
All in all considered, the listserv should stay, and birders should take
the extra time and work to post across the listserv and Facebook in order
to serve as many birders as possible.
Good birding,
Sameer Apte

On 29 May 2015 at 15:55, John Edwards <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> We are the discoverers of the Loggerhead Shrike on Fairport Nursery Road
> in Lake County.  We observed the bird Thursday 5/28 from 2:00PM to 5:15PM.
> We posted the bird on the listserv and got an email response that our
> message was received, but it was never posted.  I am sorry for all those
> who wanted to see the shrike but missed it.  Hopefully it will return to
> the site.
> Checking through the archives I found a post from 6 months ago concerning
> posting etiquette which said in part, "Also disallowed are posts like this
> one, discussing problems on the listserv." I have seen this rule broken
> many times so I might as well join the group. If we can't discuss problems
> and solutions to listserv postings here, where are we going to do it? As
> three previous posts under the heading "Posting Bird Sightings" discuss,
> this listserv is no longer the "go to" place to find rare bird sightings in
> a timely manner.  I knew several old-timers who were not tech savvy and
> would not be able to understand Facebook and Twitter but were nonetheless
> still excellent birders who found rarities.  I'm sure there are still many
> around.  I'm getting to be one myself.  Everyone here will get old someday
> if they live that long.  As technology advances, today's social media will
> become obsolete, and some of us will have a hard time finding, let alone
> using our smart phone.
>
> I know we won't go back to the old dial-up phone trees to spread the word,
> but 10-15 year old technology, i.e. the advent of widespread use of email,
> is still a viable medium.  But if we all go to Facebook?  That's just it,
> some of us won't.  And all of us will be the poorer for it.  The old-timers
> will all need younger tech-savvy birding companions to report their
> sightings or they won't get reported; and YOU won't see them.  It would
> benefit us all to keep this site or a reasonable facsimile of it the
> "go-to" place.
> John and Ann EdwardsRocky RiverCuyahoga County
>
>
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