Well, there's supposedly 4,283 members. We only hear from 30 or so, tops. I guess people just lose interest, or maybe we lost some in the conversion and they just wrote us off.
SeedO', I had to look for @M.A.R. ! Zero posts ... must have joined to send you a private message?
I really hope that we provide enuf gardening emphasis to keep most folks with that interest around. Maybe, it takes too much of a commitment for some ... not quite as easy as they had hoped ... or, we are just too nutz for 'em.
There have been several who's absence makes me a little sad. I'm afraid some attrition is to be expected if'n we are around long enuf. Aging is a matter of good fortune, one neighbor tells me ...
Yeah when gardening season rolls around we'll probably talk a lot more about gardening, but right now it's mostly friends chatting. I'm OK with that but I can see where it might turn some folks off. We'll get a lot of new members when it warms up and lose most of them, but a few will stick.
I think we're all happy to talk about any gardening topics that come up. If somebody has a question about something garden related, people jump in and converse.
Go to a garden club meeting sometime. There's garden talk and there's life events (and non events) being discussed also.
I always send non-participating members a private birthday greeting and invitation to stop back for a chat. Most of them have 3 or less posts and a "last seen" date of only a couple of days from their sign-up date. Only a few ever respond privately and none on site.
I suspect they were just looking and didn't find what they wanted or expected.
As for attrition, when I no longer post here it will be because I can't. There will be no 'smiles jr' to share a reason.
M.A.R. last year traded bean seeds with me. I actually just a few days ago messaged him about how they grew and what they were like.
2 that he sent to me are very old family heirloom Limas from his Grandmother in Puerto Rico.
One at first I thought was the same as Christmas Lima, but there are definitely some differences. His family heirloom is fatter, and the white portion is a soft off white. The pods take a bit longer to ripen. His Grandmother called it Speckled Lima. These are a true treasure heirloom Lima.
The other Lima he sent only one sprouted. He had told me they were old seeds. The one that sprouted did so very late, and I could not keep it from getting crowded. Tried to keep it alive through this mild winter, but I think it didn't make it. These are a small butterbean type lima, very beige colored. I have 3 seeds left to attempt to grow this coming season.
He also sent me his Grandmother's Pigeon pea.
SeedO, you grow Pigeon Peas, right? Want me to mail you some?