Hello, Being a beginning birder, I will put my two cents in regarding this question. First, I have had the opportunity to go and see many great birds from information I have read on this list. This I find invaluable and it is the main reason I continue to be a subscriber to this listserve. I have posted only a couple of questions to the list, and the responses I received were wonderful. Mind you, though, I have only posted questions. I feel a little bit too intimidated to post anything other than a question.The main reason being that yes I am a beginner and I get excited seeing the "ordinary" birds. The other day I about wet myself because I saw my first Kingfisher...but I didn't think that it would be worth posting to anyone on this list. To me a lot of the excitement is finding the bird and then being able to identify it. I have seen how others are reprimanded for posting something they thought was related to Ohio birds only to be "wrong" according to the list-god. The posts that list off every bird (and really, who can count that they spotted 117 canada geese...if they can, good for them, if not...who cares!) does nothing for me...I do skim by to see where the count was and what they saw. The posts that really helped me were ones such as those regarding the owl in the tree at Glacier Ridge Metro Park and the Blue Herons in Brecksville. I was able to use these posts to go and see the birds for myself. As for "off topic" posts, I would enjoy reading posts about what others are setting out for the birds in their feeders...isn't that about attracting the birds in Ohio to be seen? Or is it only birds that can be seen in a park? I also found the hunting topics enlightening as I had never thought about the deer disrupting the birds. I did not see a post being pro or con regarding the hunting, but I was kinda put out the way it was handled by the list-god. I don't see the reason to sound so nasty to get people to stop. Oh well, just my two cents, take it or leave it. I may just have to continue to lurk in the corner :-) Cheryl Delaware, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]