Let me be the devil's advocate for just a minute.
The above suggestions sounds good in theory. But I can also see a lot of headaches for Dave or whoever administers the system. ("I paid a seed packet for woofie's seeds and she never sent them...")
Why not allow any member (not just new members) to trade seeds for regular old acorns? Members could still negotiate privately through tree mail as we do now. Suppose woofie and I arrange a trade- she is sending me 5 rare seeds. In return, I agree to pay her 2 acorns. Or whatever I have to offer, either seeds of my own, a division of a plant... That way no administrator has to play Mom.
All members have the ability to earn acorns, and the ability to trade for seeds provides extra motivation to contribute to the site to earn acorns.
Just a thought.
Karen
