Treesa,
There may be more subscribers to OBOL than ever before, but in my opinion the
level of engagement is on the wane.
When I first started on OBOL (about 1999), most of the state's most birders
were actively posting their sightings via OBOL. This is no longer the case, for
a variety of reasons. First, the success of OBOL gave rise to numerous more
local listservs. These spin-offs were created by folks in Central Oregon, the
Rogue Valley, the Umpqua Valley, the Klamath Basin, the Mid-Valley, Newport,
and Pendleton area (I'm surely forgetting someone) who decided that they didn't
want to wade through all the Portland birder posts to find what is happening
closer to home. Heck, even Portland birders set a local listserv for just
Portland-area sightings. Despite joining and more actively participating in
their local communities, I suspect that many subscribers to these spin-off
listservs maintain an OBOL subscription for those times when a mega-rarity
shows up in some other corner of the state, or that hoped-for occasion when
they discover a rarity of state-wide importance on their home turf. There are
1279 subscribers, but how many of them have actually posted over the past year,
or even 2-3 years?
Another factor in this engagement decline was the advent of listserv
clearinghouses like the old Jack Siler site (now "Birding News" sponsored by
ABA) and the more recent Sialia Birding Lists Digest, where I can (without
being a subscriber) go and browse through recent sightings. Not only can I
access all of the Oregon listservs this way, but I can go look at recent
reports from neighboring states, or distant places that I may be planning to
visit. Sadly, when I sample other regional groupings of listserv reports, I
find the same thing I find for Oregon. The reporting for most other states is
similarly splintered and about one report out of ten (if that) includes birds
that are rare, out of range, or out of season. Lots of chaff, not a lot of
wheat. Some might say this makes me a birding snob, but I think I am fairly
representative of a lot of the listserv user base. OBOL came to be because
Oregon birders wanted timely information about birds that they want to go see.
If that goes away or becomes more fragmented, one asks, "why do I subscribe?"
Finally, there is eBird. In addition to providing a great way to enter, deposit
and archive one's personal bird sightings, eBird offers some nice social
features that allow its users to create a cafeteria style customized alert
system to feed them reports/alerts of species, and sightings from places that
are of the most interest to them. Once notified, you can readily get a map
and/or exact GPS coordinates for where a bird of interest was seen. With more
Oregon birders entering their sightings into eBird than posting them to OBOL
these days, this is yet another alternative that many are using to get their
bird news. One of the few things that I have followed on OBOL over the past
years was the eBird rare bird summaries that you have been posting. Shawneen
subscribes to the eBird alerts. I don't, because the pinging of messages on my
cell phone bugs me, particularly when I'm out birding. I get more than enough
of that through work.
I suspect that the number of OBOL subscribers is as high as it is because many
dormant subscribers have never bothered to unsubscribe. I don't know how easy
it is to pull out, but I would love to know how many individuals posted to OBOL
over the past year or so. This would be a better indicator of its vibrancy than
the raw number of subscribers.
My views about OBOL and its trajectory are an opinion based on my own 17 years
of experiences of use. I have no access to any statistics to back up what I
think I'm seeing. It's my perception, hence my reality. No ones has to agree
with it.
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
From: Autumn207@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [boo] Re: This kind of saddens me.
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2016 10:13:41 -0800
To: boo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dave,
Not sure if you mean OBOL has literally been "on the wane" or if you are
speaking somehow figuratively, perhaps as in the number of posts you find to be
of interest; but at 1279 members, OBOL has more people on it now than ever
before in its history.
Treesa
On Mar 5, 2016, at 9:32 AM, David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx> wrote:Greetings All,
Good morning America and BOO where the 1st Amendment is alive and well.
I will offer some defense of Rich Adney. When I read his post, I did not take
it as him telling me or anyone else to shut up and get back to talking about
birds. I took it as him lamenting the loss, or perhaps fading relevance of
something (OBOL and the other birds-only listservs) that has been part of his
life for many years. Note that his post was sent not only to BOO, but to OBOL,
the Mid-Valley list and one other listserv as I recall. I think he is looking
for a revival of what once was, not the suppression of what is happening on
BOO. I did not get the impression that he thinks BOO postings should now turn
to only bird sightings. I sent Rich a private note with my thoughts about what
is happening with OBOL and other "bird sightings only" listservs, some of which
is in the paragraph below.
I contend that OBOL has been on the wane for at least a couple of years now. I
used to depend on OBOL for my bird news and the occasional lively discussion of
other bird-related issues. Some of the discussions would go off the rails and
the moderator would have to drop the hammer, but as a general rule even the
disagreements were civil, certainly more civil than a 2016 Republican
presidential debate. For at least two years prior to the Malheur occupation, I
had noticed a decline in the number of OBOL posts that grabbed my attention. On
several occasions I had asked myself and Shawneen, why do I still subscribe?
Well, the decision to keep discussion of the Malheur occupation off of OBOL
pushed me off the fence. As I anticipated, I have not much missed OBOL since I
unsubscribed back in mid-January. To be frank, I have been surprised by how
infrequently "I wonder what's happening on OBOL?" thoughts pop into my head. I
do pull up Sialia now and again to glean sightings for North American Birds,
otherwise I wouldn't even bother to do that.
Before the Malheur occupation, I was toddling along with my head up my ass,
taking for granted all the things that we take for granted. As Jeff Hayes
suggests, those days are in the rear-view mirror. Thanks to BOO, Facebook
discussions, and my own quest to become a hell of lot better informed than I
was on 2 January 2016, I now know about the American Lands Council, who funds
it, and how they envision using my public lands. I now know about the American
Legislative Exchange Council and who in the Oregon Legislature is involved.
I've looked at the federal budget for the National Wildlife Refuge system and
the economic benefits it drives. OBOL could have been the vehicle that helped
the birding community become better informed on these issues, but the OBA Board
decided to go another direction. Instead we were provided with this
much-appreciated forum.
The statistics Treesa shared suggest that while BOO is not nearly as large a
community, it is (at least currently) perhaps a more engaged community than
OBOL. During January and February, OBOL averaged about 0.5 posts per
subscriber, while BOO was generating more than 2.0 posts per subscriber over
the same period. Of course there are large numbers of lurkers in both
communities and most of the posts are generated by a smaller group of the most
vocal participants. That is the case with any online community. That said, the
level of engagement and the quality of information being shared in BOO suggests
it is here to stay. It is the only birding listserv that I currently subscribe
to.
Too all of those BOO subscribers who may be content to just lurk, your voices
and opinions are important, especially if you disagree with the prevailing
opinions being expressed on some of these issues. There's not much to be gained
by preaching to the choir. Rich Adney's world view is quite different than mine
and we both know and accept it. I've met Rich, exchanged some emails with him
over the years and found him to be nice guy. He is a birder, a voter, and an
Oregonian (life-long I think). I don't want Rich to find another "coffee shop."
I want to know what he's thinking and have him hear what I'm thinking. Neither
of us is going to convert the other (we are old dogs), but we won't find the
common ground–and it's out there–unless we are talking to one another.
I think the ongoing discussion of Greater Sage-Grouse management in Oregon is a
great example of what this forum should look like. Where else can you go and
get thoughtful commentary from both sides of this debate. You may not agree
with the ODFW hunting regulations and the logic behind them, but having Dave
Budeau's insights into the ODFW decision to maintain a limited harvest was
informative. I know more about upland game bird management strategies than I
did yesterday. That is a good thing.
In a bit ofshameless self-promotion, I did launch a new blog yesterday. The
first post looks at the economic value of our National Wildlife Refuges. I hope
to delve into all of the things birders are interested in, even birds.
http://www.watercoolerbirder.com/home/what-does-1-58-buy-a-dollars-and-sense-look-at-national-wildlife-refuges
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
