RickCorey said:
I think that Seed Savers Institute has that kind of philosophy. It was decades ago that I looked into it, so I may have forgotten or imagined this,but I thought they had a rule LIMITING the size of a trade packet to be some number as small as 30 (if I recall). Barely enough to maintain genetic diversity for some species!
Then you really HAVE TO multiply the seed if you want more than a small sample of it. That might be a goal of SSE.
Actually, SSE sets MINIMUM numbers of seeds to be offered, unless you specify "limited quantity available" for whatever reason... for instance, a minimum of 25 bean seeds, 100 corn seeds, etc. They also don't allow listing of seeds that you haven't grown out and collected yourself (you can't offer leftover or extra commercial seeds, for example, and you can't re-offer extra seeds that you obtained from a swap).
I definitely agree that for things like carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach, whatever -- you need a fair amount of seed to plant; whereas for tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, a pretty small number will give you a good chance to try the variety to see if you like it.
Also, with regard to the idea of a "spectator mode," I'd really like to hear more specifics about why some people find that objectionable; I totally agree with Jay that it seems completely harmless to me, and I think it could help to give some members the "courage" to join in on a swap for the first time. And truthfully, I doubt that all that many people will find it that fascinating to watch the progress of a swap they aren't involved in!
