There is a new forum on the site:

http://garden.org/forums/view/...

It's the "Ask a Question" forum but this forum is VERY different from the other forums. Here, people can submit questions through our "Ask ATP" webapp.

http://garden.org/apps/askatp/

They can get email notifications when a question is answered. I explained more about it in the introductory thread here:



If you're the kind of person who likes helping newbies (aren't we all?! ) then you should add this forum to your watch list.

It's in beta and I have some pretty fun plans for this. So stay tuned for more on this.

I'm on watch.

Wow, literally within minutes of launching this, a visitor came and used this app to create an account and asked a good question:

The thread "Crocosmia (Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora 'Woodside Select')" in Ask a Question forum

Everyone who answers them today gets 5 acorns from me. Let's flood this newbie with answers.

Ha ha, I answered BEFORE I noted your acorn-bribe! Silly me, though, I didn't catch that the person was brand-new to ATP and neglected to extend a welcome. I'll do so via Treemail.

I'd love to earn the brownie points aka Acorns but I know less than nothing about Crocosmia so I'll refrain....

Me, too. Hetty. I've tried growing them, but never did have them bloom, so I'd be no help.

I updated the system just now to disable posting new threads directly to that forum, and instead gave a link to the snazzy "ask a question" form.

So everyone gets balloons now -- it is so clear that you are a parent to more than one child...ha ha.

I like the new message requesting that responses be limited to the topic of the original question. Dave, you must have cats that you are experienced with herding.

The new member MKO returned and thanked everyone for the answers. That went really well. They came in, signed up and asked a question and got their answer, and we all enjoyed the process. This is a win, in my opinion.

We've had other questions asked today. It'll be interesting to see what kinds of activity this feature gets in the days ahead.

I like it! Once it gets finalized, you should update the Welcome T-mail to point it out.

Already did that.

Of course. Silly me.

I should get acorns for asking all the silly questions that I do!

Super new app Dave. Is it appropriate to link to a specific thread or post within the forums as part of an answer?

It seems to be pretty active already!

eclayne said:Is it appropriate to link to a specific thread or post within the forums as part of an answer?

Absolutely!

Dutchlady1 said:It seems to be pretty active already!

By my count, eleven different visitors signed up and asked a question yesterday. Very impressive!

I love this feature. Even if I don't know the answer to the questions I learn from others who do answer them.

Great idea Dave

And I also love seeing people get the help they came to get.