A Modest Proposal - NABS
Kelly Irvin (Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:27:11 PST)

The potential difficulties from attempting a name change, besides the
variety of opinions on what that name might become, do suggest this
could be too big a hurdle to tackle right now, and maybe never. If a
name like the PBS becomes standard in the flower bulb enthusiasts'
world, then it's lack of inclusiveness by name won't really matter. If
PBS ends up stagnating in membership, a look at the name amongst other
things might be something to reconsider.

I would hope the idea would remain on the table for folks, though. To me
"Pacific" is more limiting than "North American", which is more limiting
than "International" or such. And I don't so much see a limitation in
it's more regional classification in the sense of "people" or "members",
but in it's application to flower bulbs. Essentially, when I think of
"Pacific", whether I'm correct or not, I think of hardiness zones 9 &
10, maybe 8. As soon as you expand to North America, you represent zones
4-10, which is, in my opinion, more representative of it's members, even
if from another country.

I really like the word "geophyte", but I would suggest that this
description will only attract major students of flower bulb culture.
Although no longer regionally restrictive in it's name, I believe it
then becomes restrictive in the realm of "people". Most gardeners are
not going to do internet searches on "geophyte".

I don't want to push any idea one way or the other, myself. PBS is doing
pretty good as it is, I think. I exited the IBS when most of the
original members of PBS formed the new society, but I didn't join for
quite awhile, believing it would only be about California bulbs, or
bulbs popular in CA, like South African bulbs.

It would be great if folks just mulled it all around in each's own mind
every now and then. Another list of names I like is:

The Flower Bulb Cooperative Society
The Flower Bulb Enthusiast Society
The Flower Bulb Enthusiast Cooperative
The National Flower Bulb Society
The Flower Bulb Culture Cooperative

No matter how you slice it, just identifying the meaning of the society
with the single word, "bulb", is not practical for society promotion, in
my opinion. This was also true with the IBS, which happens to also be an
acronym for a syndrome I'd much rather do without. PBS is going to be
more familiar in folks minds with the public broadcasting system.

Bottom line for me is, this is a solely (or almost so) internet based
organization, which means you should cater to that internet as much as
is reasonably possible. As PBS has been around several years now, it may
be too late. As has been suggested, the change could interfere with
visibility, although I know Google will correct search engine links if
you do some things with forwarding or parking. With all of this said,
you have to have the consensus AND the people power to make any changes,
not one without the other.

"What's in a name?" --Shakespeare

Mr. Kelly M. Irvin
10850 Hodge Ln
Gravette, AR 72736
USA
479-787-9958
USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6a/b

http://www.irvincentral.com/

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