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'Alison' rose Reviews & Comments
Discussion id : 86-261
most recent 15 JUL 15 SHOW ALL
 
Initial post 28 JUN 15 by Charles Quest-Ritson
Thanks, Margaret. The answer is that HMF needs to have more knowledgeable and experienced rosarians - and more of them. They never reply to comments and never take action if I point out an error. In other words, they are allowing members and other users to be misled.

Please may I ask how you came across my comment? Is there a running page on HMF where all recent posts can be seen on one page? Or were you looking for information about this particular cultivar?

CQ-R.
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Reply #1 of 4 posted 28 JUN 15 by HMF Admin
Charles,

To see the most recent posts click the "NEW / RECENT" link in the navigation column on the left of most every page and then click the "Reviews & Comments" tab. Comments and questions are displayed in reverse chronological order.

Can you be specific about a comment of yours that has been ignored. In reviewing your comments that does not seem to be the case.

Regarding your comment "HMF needs to have more knowledgeable and experienced rosarians", exactly what are you suggesting; that we should hire a cadre of rosarians ? Could you recommend a funding source to pay them please ?

We've tried numerous times in the past to (obviously unsuccessfully) to explain HMF is a tool and not a service. HelpMeFind will only ever be as useful, and accurate, as the rose community makes it. You, and others, ARE the "knowledgeable and experienced rosarians" of HelpMeFind. Our website is merely the vehicle (tool) for the rose community to share their expertise and knowledge.

You once very aptly commented HMF had allowed several inaccurate photos to be uploaded and suggested each photo be reviewed by an appropriate expert(s) employed by HMF. Hiring individuals (recurring cost in perpetuity) with the breadth of knowledge plus the time commitment required to review every photo is well beyond HMF's resources. Instead, we incurred the one-time cost of modifying HMF to allow our website guests to flag any photo as inaccurate. The process takes seconds and photos flagged as inaccurate are appropriately noted on HMF. Hopefully this example is a better way of illustrating how HMF is a tool as opposed to a service.

We of course greatly value your participation on, and opinions about, HelpMeFind. HMF's mission statement from the beginning has been to provide a non-commercial, world-wide, evolving, mutable resource to collect, organize, and disseminate the knowledge and expertise of the rose community. It has been a tremendously costly resource to develop and continued operation, maintenance, and enhancement costs are likely significantly more than you realize.

Lastly, it's hard to imagine where HMF would be without the support of its dedicated volunteers. They are the heroes that have freely given their time and energy to help keep HMF viable.
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Reply #2 of 4 posted 2 JUL 15 by Charles Quest-Ritson
Margaret Furness is quite right – I did not see this post. Sorry!

Please don't be so scornful and defensive – we all know that hmf is supported by volunteers and there are never enough hands ready to help. Funds are neither the problem nor the solution. What I am suggesting is that you try to establish a network of experts within your membership so that when for example, the correctness of an uploaded picture is questioned, you can refer to some of them for an opinion. If, for example, someone queries a rose raised by Alister Clark, it should possible to pick the brains of 3 or 4 Australians who know Clark's cultivars well enough to give an answer.

CQ-R.
REPLY
Reply #3 of 4 posted 5 JUL 15 by HMF Admin
"They [HMF] never reply to comments and never take action if I point out an error." "Thank you, Behcet… you are the only person at helpmefind who ever replies to my queries".

Charles, maybe we wouldn't be so scornful and defensive if ...

We do not knowingly place any impediments or obstacles that would discourage anyone from participating on HMF. We welcome suggestions on how to "establish a network of experts within your membership".

This is a feat YOU would most likely have much greater success realizing. Do you value HMF's role in the rose community ? Do you want to improve HMF? Please consider using your contacts and prestige to marshal this "network of experts". We will be delighted to work with them.

Lastly, we have always had experts of various degree helping keep HMF viable. Their devotion has helped ensure there IS a HelpMeFind to complain about.
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Reply #4 of 4 posted 15 JUL 15 by Charles Quest-Ritson
This does not really solve the problem – which is that HMF appears not to have a system for checking the accuracy of pictures and comments that are uploaded to the site. It is not for me to 'marshal a network of experts', but for HMF itself. You need to enlist members with particular fields of expertise to edit and improve the quality and accuracy of your data. That's the way to make sure that HMF is a vehicle for the constant improvement of published knowledge about roses.

My apologies for not replying sooner but I have been out of action for a few days.

CQ-R.
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Discussion id : 86-207
most recent 2 JUL 15 SHOW ALL
 
Initial post 25 JUN 15 by Charles Quest-Ritson
I suggest that all the photographs uploaded from Rosaplant's garden in Poland are wrongly named. Cocker's 'Alison' is peachy pink and uniform in colour. Rosaplant's "Alison" appears to be a red-and-yellow bicolor. How does helpmefind resolve these conflicts? It would be nice to have some feedback - I have the impression that helpmefind is not very good at communicating with members. Charles Quest-Ritson.
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Reply #1 of 6 posted 28 JUN 15 by Margaret Furness
Helpmefind is kept going by a very small number of volunteers (I'm not one of them).
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Reply #2 of 6 posted 30 JUN 15 by jedmar
There is a photo of the correct 'Alison' on the website rosebook.ru, and it is as you say, uniform peach-pink.
The ways to interact with the posters of photos is
- address them directly via a PM
- click the "photo error" button at the corresponding photo - this will alert the poster. I have done so for a number of these photos for demonstration.
Hopefully, Rosaplant will react and remove the incorrect photos.
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Reply #3 of 6 posted 1 JUL 15 by Charles Quest-Ritson
Thank you, Behcet… you are the only person at helpmefind who ever replies to my queries. But is it not possible for helpmefind to remove pictures directly?
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Reply #4 of 6 posted 2 JUL 15 by Margaret Furness
I gather you missed a reply from helpmefind admin a few days ago.
I see problems with removal of photos that someone has flagged as incorrect: they may be comparing it with a mislabelled rose, or be unaware of (for example) how much Teas can vary with climate and season.
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Reply #5 of 6 posted 2 JUL 15 by HMF Admin
Again... exactly which posts has HMF not replied to ? This is a rather unjust characterization of our efforts to repeatedly explain just how HMF works.
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Reply #6 of 6 posted 2 JUL 15 by Charles Quest-Ritson
Well, you could start by replying to my recent request relating to 'Meg'. You have quoted from one of my books without asking me, and indeed have attributed that quote to another publication. It's not exactly a good way to build up confidence in the integrity of your contributors or of your management.

Please could you also answer another question - is it possible for HMF to delete pictures which have been uploaded under the wrong name?

Yes, HMF is a very useful resource, but it does need an editorial facility for the quick correction of errors.
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