As Ken points out there is more than one argument here.
>From mid October for a couple of weeks I was receiving from a thousand to
over 100,000 spam emails a day. Most had Chinese addresses, but because
they ended in bigpond.com, my email program couldn't filter them out.
Three very smart technicians in the Philippines were able to reduce the
initial flow, but then I spent several days playing Round Robin between
other technicians and Telstra after the latter cancelled my account for
reasons related to the junk messages.
The flow of spam meant that while I was away recently I was unable to access
emails from my BigPond site resulting in my missing some important meetings.
So for this reason (and many others) I hate spam, and that includes most
unsolicited emails.
I say most, because some years ago I replied to a couple of such emails, one
to do with a cultural and natural history website called Earthfoot and the
other to Sustainable Travel International. The friendships I developed,
particularly through Earthfoot, have been very important. Through both I
received a degree of support that was never forthcoming in Australia. And
of course as a guide I get a lot of mail from people I don't know interested
in guiding or just learning about birds and other wildlife of the Top End.
Often I really enjoy the Birding Aus discussions - it's a welcome diversion
from these other things. But I do sometimes wonder about the breadth of
life experience some contributors have. After dealing with some of the
horrific issues that have befallen Aboriginal relatives I see Balangara
breaching regulations as very minor indeed.
As for supporting Balangara's venture financially, if I could have I might
have, after first replying and sussing out the operation. But we're a
little poor at the moment having spent all our spare cash on another
computer. This iMac we're taking to Arnhem Land. Some little relatives
won't go to school, but with the computer my grand-daughter can teach them
all sorts of skills. And my daughter-in-law can start her community
newsletter.
I'd like to buy another iMac and a printer next year for other family
members. Given Laurie's point about Birding Aussers' dislike of being asked
for money, I promise not to appeal over the Birding Chatline for funds.
--
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow B.A. Grad.Dip.Arts
1/7 Songlark Street, Bakewell NT 0832, AUSTRALIA
Ph. 61 08 89 328306
Mobile: 04 386 50 835
Birdwatching and Indigenous tourism consultant
PhD Candidate (Southern Cross University, NSW)
Interpreter/transcriber, Lonely Planet Guide to Aboriginal Australia
Vice-chair, Wildlife Tourism Australia
http://www.denisegoodfellow.com.au
http://www.earthfoot.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baby-dreaming
www.fatbirder.com/
For copies of Birds of Australia¹s Top End or Quiet Snake Dreaming, visit
amazon.com
http://www.facebook.com/Wildlife.Tourism.Australia
http://wildlifetourism.org.au
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him
to hold in higher regard those who think alike
than those who think differently."
(Nietzsche)
on 20/11/11 5:41 AM, Ken Cross at wrote:
> Hi Laurie,
> An interesting email.
> However a few small points if I may;
> The 'drama' about the lyrebird film did have arguments for both sides so it
> is unfair to say 'we' [the good folks of birdingaus] don't like being asked
> for money as clearly many stated that they supported the project. And
> perhaps many others also did but said naught. It is true that there are a
> very vocal number of people who got hot under the collar about the requests.
> [I felt that that was very sad as clearly people thought that this very
> small principle that had been breached was more important than a project to
> help promote birds and their conservation!! I wish more would see the big
> picture.] Anyway your comments did not reflect the variety of opinion on
> birdingaus.
>
> Regarding being asked for money - no one likes it.... But on the other
> hand occasionally we are persuaded to assist worthy causes financially and
> we cannot do this unless we are approached in some way. I personally find
> emails easier to deal with than direct solicitation and cold calls.
>
> Laurie said, "Anyhow, it is interesting to compare the length of the tread
> on the Balanagara spam to the follow-up to Del Richard's post about birders
> behaving badly at Wonga Beach. The behaviour of the birders intruding on
> private property to twitch the Spotted Whistling Ducks illustrates an
> important "cultural" issue that needs to be addressed by the birding
> community.
>
> However, we don't want to talk about that. We want to twitch Hoopoes and
> avoid fundraisers."
>
> I think folks want to talk about anything and everything related to birds -
> including fundraisers, hoopoes, behaviour etc etc.
>
> Regarding getting a consensus about things - why not start a thread? Why not
> state clearly the ethical standards for birders - there are plenty of
> models? Or re-visit the illegal activity of trespass and consider if, as a
> group, we can do anything useful about it? Why not ask the group via the
> moderator if requests for bird related funding could get the nod for
> publishing through the network - perhaps clearly flagged as such in the
> header?
>
> Laurie, you have established surveys regarding various topics through this
> email chat before - perhaps you could again? So that if there is a consensus
> of opinion it could be clearly expressed............
>
> Maybe these threads will fall on deaf ears but I doubt it. Most birders want
> their hobby and interest to be well regarded and they want conservation to
> occur and many would be willing to engage in discussions around these
> issues.
> Cheers now,
> Ken Cross
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of Laurie Knight
> Sent: Friday, 18 November 2011 4:09 PM
> To: Birding Aus
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] The things that cause angst on Birding-Aus
>
> The discussion regarding the bulk posting from Balanagara soliciting funds
> for it's lyrebird DVD production provides an interesting insight into the
> online birding community.
>
> It appears that the one thing that we dislike the most is being asked for
> money :)
>
> One of the most annoying things about walking through the CBD are the
> fundraisers on the street trying to get us to sign up for regular financial
> contributions to their worthy cause. We develop the ability to walk
> purposefully so they know we aren't going to "buy" (and then they remember
> not to look hopefully at us the next day when we pass them again).
>
> The thing is that you never know whether people are what they say, so you
> develop a natural suspicion of everyone asking for something, particularly
> if they are doing in online, and especially if they are "cold calling".
>
> Anyhow, it is interesting to compare the length of the tread on the
> Balanagara spam to the follow-up to Del Richard's post about birders
> behaving badly at Wonga Beach. The behaviour of the birders intruding on
> private property to twitch the Spotted Whistling Ducks illustrates an
> important "cultural" issue that needs to be addressed by the birding
> community.
>
> However, we don't want to talk about that. We want to twitch Hoopoes and
> avoid fundraisers.
>
> ;)
>
> The interesting thing about online forums like birding-aus is that they
> don't appear to have a basis to reach and record consensus on issues like
> birder behaviour, fundraising and organised activities ...
>
> Regards, Laurie.
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