How do you just post a picture to the Plant Photos forum, without going into someone else's post; reply to that and then uploading one of your own ?

Hi Elfie.
I think the photos in that forum have already been added to the database and some one has posted a comment to the photo. That places it in that list of photos in the Photo Forum.
I see you have added a new photo to the multi plant photos. If you remove it from there and enter it in the database it will show up on the home page under the single plant photos entered into the database. Then if some one post a comment to your photo it will show up in the Photo Forum.

Let me know when you move it. It is a great photo and I would love to know what it is. I will post a comment to it as soon as it shows up in the database.

Hope I made sense in explaining?

Why would you want to post a photo in that forum, Elfie? We may be able to give you better suggestions if we know your reason.

Lynn is right, the Photos Forum is not technically a forum for uploading photos but a forum with threads started from comments made to individual images within the plant database. (maybe it needs a name change to make it clearer? @Dave)

As Zuzu mentioned, if you could give us an idea what type of photo you want to share, and/or why, we could perhaps suggest a forum for it.

And Lynn also pointed out that you had an image in the Multi-Plants feature that would be best placed in the appropriate database entry since it's a shot of a single plant and not of multi-plants. I moved your image of the Pacific Chrysanthemum into it's correct entry here: Pacific Chrysanthemum (Ajania pacifica)

Thank you so much Sue. Now I will go post a comment to the photo.
It really caught my eye, and I found it very interesting.

Or maybe Dave could put an explanation at the top of the page?

Elfie, go look in the Photo Forum.

I think the forum title "Plant Photos" may be a bit confusing ... especially to new members. With so many listed forums, new members may see that title and think it's a place where everyone is posting their plant photos. Perhaps a name change to the forum is necessary; maybe "Most Recent Database Photos" or something like that? I love that forum so I'd hate to see it removed; browsing those photos always gets me clicking and going to the database to check out other information and looking at the other pictures that have been uploaded to the entry.

I've been trying to figure out how Plant Photos forum worked, so I'm happy to see this thread. So if I see a photo in the data base and comment on it, then the photo and comment will appear in the Plant Photos forum? That's how it works?

Yes it is Donald. A great feature here at ATP.

It can also be confusing when people add an image and then add a comment about the plant at the same time. They don't read Dave's caption that the comment should be about the image itself like 'new spring growth' or 'Photo courtesy of...'. So it then automatically starts a thread to the Photos Forum. I scan the forum often and when I see one like that, I often request that they add their useful plant comments to the entry itself where it can be read by anyone looking at the entry.

By the way, people often don't read Dave's header caption when adding a comments to a database plant entry, it says "You are posting an informative comment about a plant. If you were wanting to post a comment about a photo, you are in the wrong place!"
I see questions about the plant or images all the time. To post a comment on a particular image or even ask one of the image submitters a question about the plant, you have to enlarge the image, scroll down and there you find where you "Post a comment about this photo". Maybe Dave needs to make those captions in red font. Although it still may be ignored.

Great information Sue.

I agree that even with bold red font it will be ignored sometimes. I think the gorgeous photos just grab our attention and folks forget to read before commenting.

It's true that very, very few people read the messages and helpful informative boxes that are placed on web pages. It's a phenomenon I discovered long ago and I have found it to remain true to this day. People skip over prominently placed instructions and then get confused because they don't know what's going on in the page. So the solution is usually to provide an intuitive interface that explains itself.

Anyway, having said that, I did add an informative info box to the top-right of the Plant Photos forum page. It might help a bit.

Wow - a lot of information. I will go back to read this a couple of times, I'm sure. Thanks for all the input and advice. I was on the same page as "Needrain" and couldn't figure it all out. I really just wanted to share the photo.

Wow, I didn't even know there was a forum for discussion of the Plant Photos in the database! Seems like I learn something new every time I look in at the Ask a Question forum!

And am I happy you shared it Elfie. I found a new plant I would like to try, because of your photo.

Better check that forum list, you may be missing out a lot more than you thought!

I have all winter now to scroll through that forum. Wonder what my list will look like by the end of winter?