Modest Proposal and name change
Mary Sue Ittner (Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:49:42 PST)

I've written my thoughts to the Board and they will no doubt vote on this.
And Jim has withdrawn his proposal so perhaps they won't even need to vote.
However I found the discussion very interesting and appreciated that so
many people felt comfortable with offering their opinions. Hopefully there
will be a way to address the concerns of those people who don't like the
name without changing it.

We started the pbs wiki in early 2003 and since then it has grown to be a
substantial resource on the Internet. It is frequently a first page hit on
Google when you are searching for information about bulbs. I've not counted
how many pictures we have on the wiki, but I have a list of file names and
it is 75 pages long, double spaced and taking an average number of images
for each one of those pages, I estimate we have 8400 images on the wiki.
Each one is listed on one or more wiki pages with a url that starts
with http://www.pacificbulbsociety.com/pbswiki/files/
If you changed the name of the group to something else logically you would
retire the domain name and get a new one to reflect the new name and every
single one of those urls for the pictures would have to be changed on the
wiki pages if you wanted to continue to see them. There is no global way to
do it. There would be other things that would need to be changed too. I
estimate perhaps 9000 changes would need to be made. Not surprisingly, none
of the current wiki helpers are willing to take this on.

In addition a lot of other web pages link to the wiki. All of those links
would be broken.

In spite of the name a lot of people have found this group. The message for
the pbs list says:
"Welcome to an Internet discussion forum on bulbs, sponsored by the Pacific
Bulb Society, for people around the world.

Although bulbs (defined more broadly to include all geophytes) are the
focus, we recognize that people who grow them probably grow other things
too and will be talking about them from time to time." There isn't
anything in this description that limits us geographically. But I'm happy
to substitute this message with something else if someone wants to provide
an improvement.

The web site for the Pacific Bulb Society says:
"The Pacific Bulb Society (PBS) was organized in Spring 2002 for the
benefit of people who garden with bulbs. This includes both cold hardy and
tender bulbs, and all the bulbs in between. By 'garden with' we also mean
to include plants, shrubs, and even trees that we grow as companions to our
bulbs. Membership in PBS is open to bulb lovers around the world. We
welcome all to come forward to join us in the celebration of bulbs and in
mastering the challenge of gardening with bulbs. "

It may be time for the Pacific Bulb Society board to update and perhaps
enlarge the mission message. Once again there is nothing in this
description that makes this sound like a regional group. So perhaps Jane's
take on the word "Pacific" is one we should adopt. People around the world
may not know that in the United States pbs stands for public broadcasting
system. The funny thing for me is that perhaps because I've written pbs
wiki so many times, when I think of pbs now I think of our group instead.
Long ago when searching for something about IBS I found irritable bowel
syndrome which may be what non bulb enthusiasts think of when they see
those initials so it all depends on your experience. I think it may not
matter so much what we call our group. It has in it many friendly
knowledgeable helpful people who share a common interest. I know my life
has been enriched by the contacts I have made and I know so much more now
than I did before I became a part of this group.

Mary Sue