In an earlier post Allen expressed concern over the decline in
membership in the bee-l.
 
First let me say how much I appreciate the bee-l.  I read it every day and I
appreciate the hard work that has gone into maintaining the list and also
the information that some of the experienced beekeepers provide.  I do
think there is a serious problem with the list, however.
 
Is it a list for researchers?  Is the list primarily for commercial producers?
Are hobbyists encourged to post?  What about the very inexperienced
hobbyists, like myself?  Right now the bee-l is trying be all things to all
beekeepers, and lacks an identity.   Because I'm a hobbyist, I rarely post
to the list, mostly because I'm worried that if there is too much traffic by
hobbyists, the commercial beekeepers and researchers will abandon the
list because of all the noise.
 
Some months ago before Best of Bee was introduced, there was
discussion about splitting the list.  I still wonder if that wouldn't be a good
idea.  I wish that there were more posts by researchers and discussion
of their research.  Maybe researchers would post more if they had their
own list, which anyone could read, but with posting rights by invitation
only.  Maybe the commercial producers, both honey and queen, would
have more open discussions about their problems and ideas if they had
their own list.  When Allen set up the Bee Discussion Page on his web
page, I was initially optimistic that maybe it would solve these problems,
but unfortunately there has been very little use of it.
 
Secondly, there is too far too much unpleasantness on the bee-l, which
leaves people reluctant to post.
 
Just my opinions.
 
                                           -Steve Phillips-
                                              -Perry, KS-
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