Well, of course I agree. However the committee has the
right to set the tone and determine what kind of list this is to be, and it has
done that quite clearly. End of discussion, take it or leave it, save the
preaching. It was informative to take up David’s suggestion and
look at who was contributing in 1999 and to see what was of interest
then. My decision to move on from the nom-de-list of ‘Gretel’
was, I think, a correct one.
For me the real fore-runner of the list was a keen observer who
ceaselessly patrolled the wetlands when they were not so congested with
bike-riders and such, and pioneered Macrobinoculars, “Rusk’s
Crossing” and the panorama from the Duntroon Dairy (a vantage point now
sadly neglected). If I was not home for one of his telephoned bulletins I
would later be advised of it in the terms: “That Scotsman’s
been on the phone again. I think he’s found a new bird or something”.
I still remember the Day of the Rufous Cormorant.
From: Sharon Rusk [
Sent: Sunday, 18 October 2009 11:42 PM
To: COG
Subject: [canberrabirds] Standards
I
might as well put my two bobs worth in also regarding the emails
I doubt if anyone can dispute that over the last couple of years
the emails to COG have changed in content and context, in changing
from being a birdo news and info service in to being an almost a
"Twitter" type of format. In days of yore when the
method of the reporting anything of interest or some unusual sighting was
by phoning in to the Hot Line. These reports, received by Ian
Frazer, who very ably compiled a tape of those reports which he thought
were newsworthy and discarded those that weren't ,alas most of mine
fell into this category . Since we don't have an
editor I think all email senders should consider if their emails
are genuine questions or have a worthy information content to them before
sending them off Also after a subject has been reported 3 to
4 times on the list, everyone knows the where, why and when, I don't think that
it needs a head count of people that's seen it also, try to
get one of your own to report. This is not a go at the new
chums either, we've all been one at some time or another,and I'm not saying
this to be politically correct either, I just think its time to stop
using the service as a gossip line and use it as it was meant to be.
PS
- Maybe we should consider incorporating a Dorothy Dix column
PSS -
It should be noted that none of these suggestions apply to either Geoffrey or
myself.
