Sarah, I thought your request was very reasonable and gently stated. I share your concerns. �I am a scientist and even work with bird data at times. But unless one works explicitly with banding data or has done bird banding, granted as many Maryland birders have, banding codes are generally not familiar to most birders. I find banding codes distracting, annoying, and not always intuitive. And it is a real pain to have to look it up ESPECIALLY if you are on a MOBILE DEVICE in the field. �Although it takes a few extra seconds to type out the name in a message, consider how many other people would have to take extra time to look it up (for each person like Sarah with the courage to ask, there are is probably dozens of others out there who are probably silent).�
Although posted prior, not all subscribers may have seen previous posts in their email, which can fill up very quickly. In addition, if you are not familiar with banding codes, it may not occur to you that it is even something rare.�
MD Osprey had a "rule" not to use banding codes. I know many people were frustrated by all the "rules" on MD Osprey, but using common names I thought was a good one.
I would ask folks when posting to take a few extra seconds and type it out. Consider who your audience is. If you are texting your buddy, who you know to be familiar with the codes, fine. But on a public list, I think we need to assume that common names are the only ones everyone will be familiar with.�
Ross Geredien
Edgewater, MD
�
Follow Me on Twitter
@goodmigrations1
________________________________
From: "<wcbirding...>" <wcbirding...>
To: Sarah Anderson <sarahb3...>; MDBirding <mdbirding...>
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 12:50 PM
Subject: Re: Plea for decoding abbreviations Re: [MDBirding] WEKI OC Airport
This bird at this location has been posted to MD Birding I think three times previously over the past two day, hence I from my perspective there was no need to send out such explicit details. Had this been something new I would have been more detailed (as I was yesterday). Western Kingbird. Ocean City Airport.
The alpha codes can be easily be looked up on the internet (the new Crossley guide even includes them in the species accounts). They are used extensively in birding, so it would good for everyone to become familar with them. The construction rules are quite simple. MD Birding can be a learning tool.
Mark Hoffman
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
________________________________
From: Sarah Anderson <sarahb3...>
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:12:54 -0500 (EST)
To: <wcbirding...>; <mdbirding...>
Subject: Plea for decoding abbreviations Re: [MDBirding] WEKI OC Airport
While I find it really helpful when the whole bird name is used in the subject line of a post, I understand that typing on mobile devices is difficult and that there are times when people are trying to get information out quickly.� But please, please, please take a moment to type the whole name of the bird in the body of your email.� There are a lot of us who don't know what a "WEKI" is.�
It's also really desirable to give location and county name.� Pretty sure "OC" is Ocean City but .... again, please bear in mind that there are people looking at these posts thatare not familiar with the area and have no idea what "OC" means or where it is.� Marylandis a wonderfully large, geographically diverse state.� Not everyone subscribed to MDBirding is from Maryland, not even necessarily from a nearby state.
Thanks in advance for getting good info into the posts!
Sarah B. Anderson
Cabin John, MD
www.sarahanderson.net
-----Original Message-----
From: wcbirding <wcbirding...>
To: MDBirding <mdbirding...>
Sent: Mon, Nov 12, 2012 11:59 am
Subject: [MDBirding] WEKI OC Airport
Continues along fence line, with bluebirds. Mark Hoffman
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry --
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group
'Maryland & DC Birding'.
To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the
web at http://www.mdbirding.com
Posts can be sent to the group by sending an email to <mdbirding...>
--
--
|