CactiGuide

[Ivan]

I'm permanently logged in. I'm seeing PHP warnings whenever I post anything but otherwise it is all working.

I made the mistake of clearing my cookies when I cleared my history to get a fresh start and now I can not stay logged in and I can not see any new posts. Hopefully Daiv can sort it out. I also see the PHP warnings.

[Lithos]

The imaginary Lord works in all kinds of the most rediculous ways.

[matchat]

For those grumbling about the ratio of cactus to succulent posts on the BCSS forum it's worth considering that this is now their dormant period. It's only natural that the forumites with winter growing succulents would showcase their own plants when they are at their best. Cacti will soon take over again come the spring.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

[Herts Mike]

Spot on Matt.

[Peter]

I don't agree.

This item has now progressed from Cactiguide to a discussion about the BCSS forum itself, however, here are my thoughts.

Matthew and I have contributed to this forum for many years - certainly in my case, for some years prior to the software (or whatever it's called) change in 2007.

Back then the majority of the contributors were longstanding cactus growers and the forum was packed with interesting pictures and discussion. The pictures were frequently of plants with some age and as such were indicative of what could be achieved by skilfull growing.

Sadly, some of those elder contributors have passed away and others have gone away - disliking the changes of format that have occurred and finding comments about posting pictures of 'trophy plants' offensive. There's not that many of us contributors from those days left.

The fact that there are nowadays few pictures of mature plants to arouse the interest of cactus folk cannot be denied and the forum is weaker for it.

We now are fortunate to have younger people joining the hobby - and that's great; however they tend to ask questions about seedlings, plant disease or whatever and do not, on this forum, get to know how the plants can develop, and that's a pity.

Matthew mentioned that this is the time of year for succulent growers and that has always been the case; however my firm impression is that the cactus contributors have subsided whatever the season. Perhaps it's because the forum is not as interesting as it once was.

But please, don't mistake my comments as some form of prejudice against 'the other succulents'. there's been banter between spikeys and cabbages since I was a lad. Believe me, that's a very long time.

[Aiko]

The fact that there are nowadays few pictures of mature plants to arouse the interest of cactus folk cannot be denied and the forum is weaker for it.

However, the thread with pictures of "C And D" are (very!) well worth having a look at. Even just for the following two threads I can recommend others to sign up for the CactiGuide forum.

Start at page 1 of (currently) 51: http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... 12&t=11195
Just as nice, even more pages: http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... =31&t=7179

Very tempting to move to California too, if you see how plants can look, both in winter and summer...

[Peter]

My comments referred to the BCSS forum, following on from Matthew and Mike's.

[DaveW]

I still cannot log on to CactiGuide, so moving the board is obviously causing a lot of troubles for Tony Mace.

Modern spelling only came about with the printing era when printers decided how the words should be spelt, not academics who lost control of the language when dictionaries were printed. In fact American English is probably nearer to traditional English spelling than we use in the UK, since it changed less after it was taken over by the Pilgrim Fathers. Most people used phonetic spelling before that, as in shoppe which was always pronounced shop as we do now and never shop-ee, and Gaol was pronounced Jail. The Spectator link below evidently did not know the mistake Goal came about when an illiterate stone caver carved the two middle letters the wrong way around over the door of a famous old English prison..

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2014/04/why- ... jail-gaol/

"Two things happened in the early 1500s that really messed with English spelling. First, the new technology of the printing press meant publishers—rather than scribes—were in charge, and they started to standardize spelling. At the very same time, the Great Vowel Shift was underway. People were changing the way they pronounced vowels in vast groups of words, but the publishers weren't recognizing the changes yet. This is why we ended up with so much inconsistency: 'ea' sounds different in knead, bread, wear and great. Along with the vowel changes, English lost the /k/ sound from /kn/ words, the /w/ from /wr/ words, and the /g/ from gnat and gnaw. But by the time the change was complete, the writing habits had already been established."

http://mentalfloss.com/article/13076/11 ... ey-got-way

There are many words with alternative spellings in English Ian and not just English or American versions. Nobody is qualified to say which is correct, it is merely an opinion since all languages have evolved.

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/20-word ... -spelling/

"English is currently the most widely-spoken language on the planet, yet it is the only language among the top ten most spoken that lacks an official regulatory academy to approve spelling."

http://blog.dictionary.com/spelling/

I admit to missing many mistakes when writing these days due to eyesight since I am now long sighted at 75 and no doubt now need new glasses. I relied on my spell checker to highlight my typo's, but it does not seem to work on this board since I updated to Windows 10. I also one finger type at great speed, therefore have to weed out the extra "fat finger" letters later.

If you still like pictures of "mature plants" Peter, this is one I obtained from a friend that died a year or so ago, therefore I can claim no credit for it.

Matucana madisoniorum.

[Aiko]

Cactiguide seems to be down for at least two days now...

[Aiko]

Still down. Two weeks and counting, that is quite a time-out.