Poll: Should Caudata.org include forums for the other Amphibians?

[ralf]

"No"

Caudata.org is unique. Despite of experiencing "anuran-encounters" once in a while, I feel very comfortable in the presence of other "newt-nuts" like myself and want to stay it that way.

 

[michael]

"yes" I think their is nothing wrong with a little frog talk now and then. I do most of my frog stuff on Dendroboard or Frognet. That's pretty much limited to darts, mantellas, and atelopids. I also use xfrogs but not much. I don't think their is a good overall frog site.

I've been thinking of these c.b. Vietnamese mossy frogs. I might need a good site to discuss them. We should maybe skip the "I found a froggy in my front yard" stuff.

 

[michael]

If you didn't get it the last sentence is just a joke.

 

[peter]

I don't really feel that the frog forums hurt the site or detract from the caudate portion. As it is, the other amphibians section receives much less attention than most areas of the forum anyway. Lots of forums have "Off Topic" areas; at least frogs are almost related to the subject matter. I can see how you wouldn't want frog specialists coming in and ignoring the caudate section, but that's really not been happening. At the very least, the other amphibians section serves to point people interested in them towards better sites to discuss them. Given the recent influx of people to the site that are just beginning to keep caudates, it's reasonable to assume many of these would like to try keeping frogs as well. It's no sweat off our back to point out that you shouldn't keep that new pet in a heated aquarium, and in other cases, educated discussion about other amphibians can't really hurt either.

Regardless, the site's been growing, and if you take the other amphibians area away, people will still post about them on the caudate section, and moderators will have to delete them, leading to misunderstandings by people that take things way too personally.

It's a lot like the fruit flies in my apartment; I provide an open jar of media near the sink so that they can be contained in one area and dealt with properly.

Should the other amphibians area cause problems with the main sections, or take from the emphasis on caudates, then sure, they should be removed. However, I don't really see that happening at this point, so I vote "yes."

 

[foster]

John,
Sorry but I was reading these posts from work and was in somewhat of a hurry, missing some of the points (why can't these people realize that I have more important things to do!). Anyway, the quality of information on this site is top notch so as long as that continues then why not - I'll change my vote to "yes". No jokes about flip-flopping please

.
Chip

 

[edward]

Hi John,
In addition to Jen's comment, as the other amphibian boards have been moved to the bottom of the forum page, the people who want to read the caudata info can easily skip over this portion of the site. I would suggest that if the traffic becomes really any heavier than it is now, then we may need to reevaluate the offering of the other forums as the main focus of this site is for caudates.
I agree that there are many other sites that offer information on the other types of amphibians but I like hearing and seeing what the other enthusiasts here have in their collections, it makes it a more welcoming place for those of us who have more varied collections.
I vote yes,

Ed

 

[ed]

By my count, it is a close 9-7 in favor of adding a new forum on the first day of voting.

If a newcomer's opinion can be included, I'd like to add a "yes" vote. I recently joined after re-discovering this site. I have found the members here to be dedicated and knowledgeable. There is no snarkiness as has been observed elsewhere. Perhaps this is due to diligent moderators, but I prefer to believe it is at least in part the nature of the members.

If a forum could be maintained with the same standard of quality, without overburdening the current moderators, I would look forward to such forums. I suggest alternately link to a high-quality forum (maybe one yet to be created by one of the caudata members with a wealth of knowledge of non-caudates). I do think that affiliation with this site is essential, though.

Again, I am a newcomer, so take my comments with a grain of salt (except, of course, those in praise of this site and its members)

Ed

 

[pin-pin]

Tentative "Yes" until further sampling of the traffic and posts from non-caudates.

Orange is such a nice colour as well.

 

[TJ]

I vote yes. I like the idea of discussing frogs with people I already know from discussing caudates. If somebody were to suggest snakes, turtles, etc., I'd vote no. I think there's no harm in having the anurans section as long as it is kept low-profile.

 

[henk]

I would vote yes, why not ... the people just wanting to read the caudata are ot forced to read those sections, no and from time to time I do bump into frogs that I may photograph... I got to post those shots somewhere no ... No serious there are other people keeping anura aside caudates so if they want to post here no harm done as long as we don't get overflooded with frog posts and due to diskspace have to move away to another site... but I'm sure that would be the exact moment where the caudata people would start a mutiny and I don't think John has the intention of ever letting the caudata part die out or else wx'll just take it to his doorstep

 

[dot]

I vote "yes" too. As someone who doesn't read the "Other amphibians" sections more than once or twice a month, I don't think it'd really hurt to have them as long as it's known that this is a caudate-oriented site, which hopefully the 29,580 posts in the caudate forums (not including the adverts section) compared to the 998 in the "Other Amphibians" forums drive that point home nicely.

 

[andrew]

Yes,

I don't know of another forum with as many experienced and knowledgable, intelligent and well informed members as this one, it does not detract from the caudate sections but enhances them.

 

[colin]

My Vote is YES...

I also keep several anurans and again have swapped bits and pieces with Mike, Tony and others...

In this community of amphibian keepers, you make friends and share common interests and gain information from people you trust. Its nice to have broad horizons and much of the information can be adapted to caudates or anurans...

keep the forums, they dont get huge ammounts of posts anyway

 

[rose]

I also vote yes. I like the idea of being able to get info about anurans from people who are obviously experts about caudates. Since it seems that many members keep or have kept other types of amphibians, it seems like it would be a shame to have to hunt around for quality advice at other discussion forums when the knowledge could be gained right here.

 

[john]

Thank you everyone who has posted so far. Please keep the views coming.

The original reasons for the "Other Amphibian" topics were, as people have said here, to allow newt & salamander enthusiasts to discuss their other amphibians with other Corgies - (tm) 2004, John P. Clare - without having to leave the site, and to make sure there was a place to put the off-topic posts we occasionally received.

I don't think there's any danger in those topics "taking over". If that happens, then I'll move them off our site (make of that what you will...).

Rana temporaria, the European Common (Brown) Frog, is a species I undoubtedly know more about than any newt (that wouldn't be hard, considering the brain power of a newt... *duck*). Frogs are a group of animals I have a great interest in and I do intend some day to start keeping them seriously along with my newts.

Regarding bandwidth and size - bandwidth isn't a problem for the site right now and hopefully never will be again. Size isn't that great an issue right now either.

 

[william]

Yes even though i don't keep any frogs, toads, caecilians, i think it would be a shame to get rid of that part of the forum because of the quality of the knowledge and as a little break from pure newts. as other people have said newt keeping and other amphibian keeping come hand in hand. so as long as it doesn't take over the site my vote is, YES

 

[jesper]

I think the original point was that the Anura fans are a much bigger group than the Caudata supporters

. There are already plenty of sites where the Caudata community is in minority to the Anura one. Improving the Anura section means that the only site where "we" are in majority might become just another minority site. Don't get me wrong, I like anurans.

 

[john]

This quote from Alan has been pointed out to me:
"It would be a pity if Caudata.org went all elitist."

Since when did we begin our trek towards elitism? And I fail to see how not having the Anuran and Gymnophiona topics would make us elitist.

 

[javier]

My vote is yes.

Xavier.

 

[david]

Looks like we're getting our butts kicked Nate (and others who voted no). I'm still against it and think that it detracts from the focal point of the site, caudates, and makes the site more generic. But since we appear to be in the minority, I guess we get to learn to live with it.

(Message edited by dln on October 23, 2004)