Do others have the same experience on other lists in Oregn, California, and
Washington? Or do others find them more civil? Wondering about commonality
of experience, and experiences for positive guidance.
Stephen
On Mon, Mar 1, 2021 at 1:04 PM Linda Gilbert <oregonjunco@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I thought I would take a shot at answering David Bailey’s question
about what it is that some birders find intimidating about OBOL.
I’ve been birding in the northwest for 35 years (25 in Oregon) and
been an OBOL member for about 20 years. I do not consider myself an expert
but I have quite a bit of experience, like to learn, and try to be accurate
with my listing and reporting.
When I first joined OBOL I was concerned about being criticized,
ridiculed or teased for misidentifying or even misspelling a bird. I saw
this happen and it was not always men commenting on women’s posts. I don’t
see this as much recently. I perceived that the expert males in the state
were carefully guarding the accuracy of state bird records and that they
thought women were more likely to make mistakes because their skills were
not as good. I will give a recent example of why I might feel this way.
Within the last 5 years I walked up to a small group of men at an organized
field trip. The two leaders were discussing birding in their county and
said that they really tried to keep good county records. One said that
before he took over record-keeping it was just the “bluehairs” doing it.
Most of the men chuckled at that. I was in my late 60’s at the time and if
not in the “bluehair” age group, pretty close. I would say both men are
about my age.
My other concern is that I would get a negative response to an opinion
or have a sighting questioned. It is my subjective observation that women’s
posts of many kinds are more likely to get a negative response than men’s.
I avoid expressing opinions on OBOL. I also rarely post sightings now that
I use E-bird. I will give another fairly recent example of why I might feel
this way. I was birding in another county and posted a spring sighting of a
couple of warblers that were a week or so earlier than “normal”. I think
that this was on OBOL but maybe on the county group. A well-known birder
questioned my sighting, writing that there were 2 birders (male I presumed)
doing big years in that county and if these warblers had arrived, those
people would very likely have seen them. I stood by my sightings.
On the other hand I’ve met a lot of nice people birding in Oregon.
Multiple times I’ve run across a lone male birder way out “in the sticks”
in Oregon when I’m birding alone and had very positive interactions. I’ve
never felt unsafe in those situations. Only a few of my OBOL posts have
gotten a negative response. I’ve gotten a few mildly “creepy” private
e-mails. Most posts have not been responded to at all.
I think posters to OBOL do bear responsibility to think about what
they post and whether it is accurate, kind, and might be interesting to
others. When I join a group now, I read it for awhile to get the feel of it
before I post. That helps cut down on negative reactions.
Linda Gilbert (still hanging it there on OBOL, but on vacation mode)
Eugene
Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
Windows 10
