I sure agree with Lin's post about how wonderful this site is. However, sometimes when I look up a plant in the database, there is very little useful information, even if there are pictures from members posted.

To encourage members to post comments about their plants in the database, may I suggest offering an acorn for a useful comment? eg. "this plant needs shade and lots of water in my zone" or "this cultivar is not as robust as some others I've grown". Those are the things that make the database useful to more people, I think.

I always try to write at least something about the plant when I post my pictures to the database and would like to see more people doing the same. I know you can go through the threads where the plant is mentioned, but that can be laborious, even using the "find" function.

Ps. while I'm at it, could I request a couple of new emoticons? I need one for "slapping upside the head" and one for "tearing my hair" . . in frustration y'know??

In actuality, acorns have always been awarded for comments.

Elaine, hi! When I saw your post it reminded me of "What are these Acorns I'm seeing around here?" You'll find this in your profile telling you how many acorns you have. At the end of that it says "What's this?" Click on that, and one of the ways it says to get them , is to offer a "useful" comment...I'm not entirely sure what is considered a "useful" comment...But I don't think I've ever gotten one...Maybe it's subjective? Or maybe it's those comments that get thumbs? It does sound like a good idea though.

Yikes, Now, I really need to 'slap myself upside the head'.

I guess it needs to be in big, bold letters up top for those of us who don't read or don't notice?

OOPS! I guess I was typing when Dave responded! I don't remember ever getting acorns for comments before.

Glad I'm not the only one, Tara.

Thanks Dave!

I've received acorns for accepted proposals, but not for comments...

Nope, Elaine You're not the only one!

Yes, you did receive the acorns but you don't get a system message telling you that you got them. That's probably where your confusion may lie.

To test this, go post a comment to a plant in the database. If it's more than a sentence or two in length you'll see your acorn count has increased by one. Tiny one-line comments don't get acorns.

To see every way to get acorns click on "Acorns" in the footer.

Well that explains why I have had more acorns than I thought, when I went to look. I have 39.50 acorns.

Hey, how the heck did I get a half an acorn anyway? Did I post half a comment? Or am I collecting interest?

dyzzypyxxy said:

Hey, how the heck did I get a half an acorn anyway? Did I post half a comment? Or am I collecting interest?

Someone may have given you half an acorn, Elaine.

Yes, I think you can award acorns in decimal form. But, due to inflation, I don't think half an acorn is a credible option anymore!

Also when someone proposes one of your pictures for the database (or the other way around) you get half an acorn.

I forgot about that.

Dutchlady1 said:Also when someone proposes one of your pictures for the database (or the other way around) you get half an acorn.

No, you get the full acorn. The one proposing the image gets added half an acorn.

At the risk of repeating myself: all of this is explained by clicking on "Acorns" in the footer.

oopsie

You can get marginal #'s (less than a whole one) of acorns for filling in missing data info. You know how you will find a plant & it has some of the fields filled in but some of the fields are missing info.? Fill those in or as many as you can find research to support & depending on how many were filled in before you started & how many you filled in, then the system awards you portions of acorns. Did I make sense?

Ann, it doesn't depend on the number already filled in and the number you fill in. That used to be the case, but now you get a full acorn the first time you add data to an entry and one-tenth of an acorn for every subsequent time you add data, regardless of the amount of data.

Oh, I didn't know it had changed. Thanks Zuzu.

Elaine, the acorns are for the emoticon suggestions, LOL!

"could I request a couple of new emoticons? I need one for "slapping upside the head" and one for "tearing my hair" . . in frustration y'know??"