BCSS WhatsApp Group / Other Plant Groups

[Rich45s]

Now I know this will no doubt draw traffic away from the forum to some degree but could a group be created for a ‘group chat’ style messaging back and forth service that will enable people to get answers quickly, chat about certain plants with input from lots of different people or alternatively just talk rubbish amongst likeminded people.

Not fussed either way but seeing as these multiple IM groups are becoming the norm (PPE Procurement/ Govt business by WhatsApp etc) I just thought I’d raise it as a point of discussion

[Chris L]

Whatsapp is a good idea - I know a couple of the branches have chats, and it can be great chatting to people in realtime and getting IDs for stuff.

However......

Whatsapp needs a phone number to work best and people may not be willing to give that out to strangers.

Also if lots of images are shared then very soon a phone is going to fill up with other peoples images if there are more than a few dozen people on it.

I've tried unsuccessfully to get stuff to save to an SD card - if anyone knows how it is done, please.......

No reason why you couldn't start one with people you know however, or you could tag onto one of the Branches.

[MatDz]

The Facebook group might be what you're looking for.

[Herts Mike]

Not for me I'm afraid.

[Chris43]

I believe that WhatsApp is best for smallish groups who know each other. So no, use the forum, or the Facebook groups which seems to be replacing forums. The advantage of a forum is that you can search and find what you're looking for. Facebook Groups appear to be ephemeral, and finding things more than a day or so old is a nightmare.

I know, old fogie spouting again, but I do believe that there is no need for such immediacy. The world won't end because you don't get a reply in twenty four microseconds!

[esp]

The Facebook group might be what you're looking for.

My thoughts exactly.

[Rich45s]

Whatsapp is a good idea - I know a couple of the branches have chats, and it can be great chatting to people in realtime and getting IDs for stuff.

However......

Whatsapp needs a phone number to work best and people may not be willing to give that out to strangers.

Also if lots of images are shared then very soon a phone is going to fill up with other peoples images if there are more than a few dozen people on it.

I've tried unsuccessfully to get stuff to save to an SD card - if anyone knows how it is done, please.......

No reason why you couldn't start one with people you know however, or you could tag onto one of the Branches.

All valid points as are the points raised below. Wasn’t sure whether it was a goer or not, but may well try and get one up and running.

As for your WhatsApp eating up your phone space. You mention an SD card which suggests it’s not an iPhone and that’s all I have knowledge on

I’m almost 100% sure there will be a function to NOT store any pictures from WhatsApp to your camera roll.

Alternatively if you like to keep the pics, you could open a Dropbox account which is cloud computing that I back up any photos I take or receive as soon as I get them.

You may already have that option if you’re on an PC rather than iMac as it will be called OneDrive which is Microsoft’s version of Dropbox

I could send you a referral link to Dropbox that will give you a bit more space than usual. It should also give me more space but I think I’ve maxed out my ‘free’ amount of storage.

EDIT: As irrational and no doubt pointless (especially as WhatsApp is now owned by Facebook) fear I have of Facebook I try to steer clear of it as much as possibly but maybe I’ll try it again

[fatich]

If you dont want someone to see your phone number, telegram has that option, you can hide your phone number in the groups.