How do you accept incoming friend requests?

[THERESA]

Originally Posted by TheLorax

Somebody sent me an invitation to be their friend. I don't know what that means but I know the person and have been trying to accept and it isn't working. I think if you accept someone as a friend you can give them access to private photo albums and maybe some other private entries. I dunno. Just learning like everyone else.

I suppose while I'm at it I should ask how to send a friend request.

To accept, click on the little box next to their name, and then hit save changes. If you want to reject it you have to click the reject box and then hit save.

Originally Posted by hazelnut

I have found there are a lot of needy people on the internet. For me a "friend" ought to have something to share that you are interested in and vice versa. If you find that the person has only trivial communications and is using up your time and computer space its time to end it and that is not easy.

I think it would be strange to get an invitation from someone who wants to be your friend. They should just do something friendly. I would be suspicious.

I like to befriend people on forums that I have had friendly interactions with. I am not needy by any means. Befriending someone on a forum does not thick as thieves make. Suspicion usually spells paranoia though. I guess we all know who NOT to ask to be our friend.

P.S. Getting rid of someone you have befriended is simple, use your ignore feature.

[doccat5]

I LOVE Iggy!!

[Prairiefreak]

thanks, Theresa. I'm the one who started it off...I'm the one who friended the Lorax, LOL!

It's a facebook thang.

Not particularly needy. If anything, I'm a bit of a misanthrope.

[TheLorax]

I'm not proud. I admittedly am still not getting it.

[doccat5]

Go to the Control Panel, click on the edit contacts and friends feature on the left and click one of the little boxes to become me friend,

[trout lily]

The "friend concept" in a site like this one is confusing. Its use seems more like FaceBook where one member invites another to be a friend. The new "friend" may now see profile information and exchange messages outside of FaceBook. Is this the direction that Wildlife Gardeners is heading? I thought that garden members have had prior experience with native plants and wildlife, on their own, as a volunteer, or being employed in the field. Ideas could be discussed colleagily. I am just not a person who would be comfortable using smilies. trout lily

[LadySapphire22]

I don't understand what the confusion is about. This site is in no way similar to Face Book or My Space for that matter. Those 2 sites are primarily designed for social networking. And here as there you certainly don't have to accept a friend request if you chose not too. Although as a courtesy it would certainly be mannerly to let the person know why you have chose not to accept.

But it does allow those of us who are evidently a bit more familiar with this aspect of chat to send private messages on a variety of subject to friends and others who have similar interests. It allows me to ask and answer many questions or share knowledge with may not apply to the main forum. Not a big issue.

I would personally have been very disappointed if this particular feature was not available.

[Fearless Weeder]

We conscientiously chose to remove virtually all elements of social networking save the friends feature because we share many of trout lily’s concerns. All ranking has been disabled other than that associated with post count. We believe social networking serves little or no purpose here. We have provided private messaging although we will be revisiting visitor messages currently available to those who wish to enable them.

I am unfamiliar with Facebook.

trout lily raises a valid concern about the friends feature. The friends feature was left in place to enable members to work together on projects privately. Point in context, there are two members currently working on a power point presentation, five members working on articles with the editor, and staff members working on anchor photos for the site. While I would agree this "friends" title is confusing, I do believe a need exists for some of the features it affords and I know of no way to rename it.

Regarding profiles, any member registered and logged on can see them. Same deal for the members list and the "Introduce Yourself Please" forum. No one needs to be anyone’s friend to read a profile but one does need to be registered and logged on.

We have provided the very basic smilies package. We have no plans to add any additional smilies packages although we have been asked to do so. The basic smilies package is present because of the caution symbol contained therein. The caution symbol was our attempt to acknowledge that nature can be a little messy. No attempt to be politically correct by offering the basic smilies package but more so an attempt to be considerate of members who might end up with butterflies in their tummies viewing a photo of wolves taking down an elk and there is the added benefit of helping some members compensate for the greater understanding usually gained by seeing facial expressions in an ordinary person to person conversation. No one has to use them if they prefer not to.

Collegial discussions are most certainly welcome and encouraged although we’re not going to be dictating that members use a collegiate level of citation. I’d like to take this opportunity to point out to all members that there are no beginner forums anywhere at Wildlife Gardeners. This was by design. Segregation is inconsistent with our Mission statement. It serves to divide not unite. Entry level questions will be welcome in all forums. Although the vast majority of members have good solid experiences; not all who join will. A WG staff member best summed it up when he made the following statement, “As a participant at this site, I hope that the more knowledgeable people in the forums for which I would be considered a beginner would welcome my participation, rather than telling me to go to a beginners forum.” We believed the philosophical concept of being all inclusive is most likely to be of greatest benefit to all members of an educational site.

A lot of time and thought went into our Mission Statement which appears on our home page.

"Singing to the choir" may be comfortable and enjoyable, but it doesn't accomplish the implicit goal of inviting more people to become environmentally friendly. We want to do more than exchange knowledge; we want to make it available to as many people as possible. We want to expose more people to it, and encourage them to put it into practice. Being friendly and pleasant is going to help accomplish that. Friendly conversation is an effective way to make people more receptive to the message.

Collectively, we need to do a better job making it clear that everyone is welcome in all forums regardless of their knowledge level on any particular topic providing they are sincerely interested in North American flora and fauna and/or sustainable practices, productive discourse, stimulating conversation, and the sharing of resources. Passion and curiosity make the world go round.

[trout lily]

I've never been a member of a forum like Wildlife Gardeners. I'm on 2 listservs, native plants working group & alien plant working group, where most of the conversation is done with the entire group. Messages are sent via a moderator. I'll be learning the ins and outs of messaging used in this format as this group develops. Bear with me! trout lily

p.s. the above listservs are fascinating to me because the members are making decisions about wildlife at state levels. They talk about ideas that are cutting edge. I have asked for their help several times in the past 2 years and explained that I was just an amateur with a bit of horticultural training. They are not put off by my questions; like most who love what they do, they are happy to help others along. I've learned so much. This forum will be one where I will feel comfortible asking questions about what goes on in a personal sphere. Well, sorry to be long winded!

[Fearless Weeder]

Thank you for your patience and understanding while we work through the burps and hiccups. We want everyone to feel comfortable, ourselves included.