I was included in one, which I totally missed. Not because I don't have a sense of humor...quite the contrary...but because I am cautious about clicking embedded links in emails. My policy is if it's not from someone I know or is high priority, I don't click it. I presumed it was a joke. As for non-sighting related posts, I for one would enjoy that. There is more to this, in my view, than listing, chasing, and profiteering. Happy April all...as Kent Miller said to me today: "waterfowl out, land birds in." Jon Cefus Sent from my iPhone > On Apr 1, 2014, at 6:36 PM, Gene Stauffer <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Those who say there were no April Fool posts were not reading the posts very > carefully. I suggest you go back and look at photos referenced in the posts. > > Gene Stauffer > Grove City > > Because we have had a problem with delayed e-mails through Road Runner (Time > Warner Cable) please send replies or new e-mails to [log in to unmask] > -----Original Message----- > From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Haans > Petruschke > Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 5:48 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Fwd: April fools posting > > Thanks Joe, I agree > > A few of points beyond curmudgeonly behavior on the part of some. > > 1. A good April 1 post requires planning. It cannot be done spur of the > moment or else it ends up being something like reporting an Ivory-billed > Peckerwood. Lame. > > 2. The person doing the post must have a high level of visibility and > credibility in the community. I don't really qualify anymore because I > only post a handful of times a year. > > 3. It must border on being believable, but, be a bit beyond. What this is > varies, but the idea is to just suck people in. Make it just plausible > enough that even experts will question it even though it is really a 1 in a > billion chance of being real. > > 4. It really helps if you have cooperation or collaboration. A classic was > when I posted a Boat-billed Heron at Shipman Pond and Joe Hammod > photoshopped a picture which he posted as a confirmation of the sighting, > having charted a helicopter to travel several hundred miles in 90 minutes > after my report. Fun! > > While I don't post much I do still read the list serve posts daily. I > think another reason for the lack of fun is the community has changed. The > Ohio Birds List Serve rarely has any interesting discussion as it did a > decade ago, and if you do post a non sighting you get plenty of hate mail. > Also the Ohio birding community has become quite divided or fictionalized > in the past 4 years or so. When it was a private entity run by VWF III, > discussion and having fun was encouraged. Now birding has become, for > some, an economic interest and so nothing which might discourage interest > is in any way received without protest. > > Finally a whole lot of the bird related discussion had migrated to > Facebook. We have some excellent groups here in Ohio and our state is on > the leading edge of this. I was hoping to see something there. I would > have done something myself but did not have time because I'm in the middle > of transferring computers. > > Haans > > > On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 5:17 PM, Joe Faulkner <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > >> Fellow birders with and without a sense of humor, >> >> It appears that a reasonably harmless tradition on this list serve > has >> been stomped to death like a wounded pigeon on a New York side walk. I >> speak, of course, of the bazaar sightings and events often posted on April >> 1st by some of the veteran birders on this list serve. I personally >> thought they were fun, and for the most part, quite harmless. If a few >> beginning and apparently gullible birders got fooled and chased something >> that wasn't there, then too bad. That's what April Fools Day is all > about. >> I fooled several of you and my good friend Rick Taylor into believing > that >> my dog was eaten by a Great Horned Owl. He stayed up all night trying to >> figure out how to keep me from killing the owl, and called me a very bad >> name when he found out the truth. I got many sympathy emails about that >> dog. Rick and I are still friends, and the dog is fine. >> Please note that the well regarded NPR does a April Fools day story >> every year, that fools a lot of people, including me. Two of my birding >> colleagues have already told me that they looked for April fools posts >> today, and were disappointed when they didn't find any. >> As I recall the composition of this group, we are all mature (mostly) >> adults(mostly) who can take a joke (mostly). So, I am personally hoping >> that next April 1, there will be a few more bazaar sightings and bazaar >> events that fool a few gullible people. If they are beginning birders, >> they would still have access to calendars , and would know, just like the >> rest of us, that it is April Fools Day. >> >> Joe in the woods >> Somerset, Ohio >> Perry County >> >> By the way, I found a NESTING SNOWY OWL at the Perry County Wilds, but >> chose not to post it. Didn't want anyone driving down here and > disturbing >> the nesting owl. >> >> ______________________________________________________________________ >> >> Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. >> Please consider joining our Society, at >> www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. >> Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. >> >> >> You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: >> listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS >> Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] >> > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Please consider joining our Society, at > www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]