I'd like to thank and commend Kathi Hutton for her public service announcement this morning. To some extent, I can understand the feelings of those who miss the "good old days" of April Fools posts (and I liked Joe Faulkner's post about the cormorants on Clouse Lake). There was a time when serious birders made up a small clique, and they communicated only among themselves. If they made fun of beginning birders, no one heard them doing it - so even if they were being jerks, no real harm was done. In the past, my birding friends and I used to play outrageous practical jokes on each other - not just on April 1st, but throughout the year. I got some zingers in, and I got seriously pranked myself, and it was all in good fun. But this stuff just happened among friends who knew each other well, and it didn't affect anyone else. Pranks on the internet are different. Apparently some people don't realize this, but when you post on the Ohio-Birds listserve, your words don't just go out to hundreds of listserve subscribers that you've never met. Your post can be seen by literally anyone in the world who has an internet connection. And just as communication has been changed in a fundamental way, the birding community also has been changing. More and more people are taking up birding, and more of them are taking it up independently, connecting mainly online rather than through face-to-face interactions with other birders. It's wonderful to see the eagerness and excitement of these new birders. But these are the people who are most likely to be fooled by one of these bogus rare bird reports. Contrary to what someone else said in this thread, beginning birders are not "true fools" - they are just people who are new to the subject. Birds and their habitats face all kinds of threats today, and for the sake of conservation efforts, birds need all the friends they can get. We should be doing everything we can to encourage new birders, not making them the target for pranks. Joking is fine among friends, but when dealing with strangers, I agree with Deborah Smith that I'd rather err on the side of kindness. Special kudos to Alex Eberts for weighing in to support Kathi's position. Alex is one of the "Rogue Birders" - a group of young guys who are very sharp, very avid, very rapidly developing major expertise, and clearly having big fun with birding. No one could accuse them of being humorless! (Lots of other things, maybe, but not humorless!) For those who miss the old days when birding was an activity for a small in-crowd, there are ways to set up online discussion groups that are private. But when posting things in a completely public forum, let's try to do what is best for the whole birding community, and thus ultimately for the birds as well. Kenn Kaufman Oak Harbor, Ohio On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 7:09 AM, Kathi Hutton <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Traditionally, someone usually takes advantage of the date to post some > rare, unusual, or even mythical bird sighting on April 1st. Fair warning: > If something sounds too good to be true today, don't get in your car and > start driving. > > No foolin' > Kathi > > Sent from iVan II, my iPhone > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Please consider joining our Society, at > www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]