Q: What discussion forum do you recommend?


Drosera brevifolia


Ibicella lutea


Utricularia lateriflora There are actually many, and they seem to all have different flavors. You do not need to be a member to read the postings on these sites, but you do have to join in order to participate in the discussions. This is invariably free, but I always wonder just who they provide my email address to.

The ICPS has a new forum which began in March 2007. It has been cool to see this forum develop. I have high hopes for it, and it is where I spend most of my discretionary forum-time. This is a moderated forum, which means there is a cadre of volunteers with administrative powers, and they keep an eye on the posts to make sure that no one gets nasty or behaves really poorly. Inappropriate posts usually get deleted within a few hours, making this an ideal site for young readers.

Another, really excellent forum that I read a little more frequently is associated with the CPS (i.e. the Carnivorous Plant Society, in the UK).
Try here: http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/
This site seems to be the most prominent English-language forum with a heavy emphasis on European participants. Many of the readers on this forum are extremely knowledgeable, so if I am doing some research this is one of the first places I turn to look for experts.

No matter how open-minded you are, after a while you start doing things the same way that the people around you do them. Reading the CPS forum is really a great way to get a fresh eye on your own activities. For example, I read a criticism of my book by a reader there, who said it was strongly biased to USA content. Funny---when I wrote it I didn't think so, but now I can see what he meant. Ah well.

If you are interested in Nepenthes, you should consider the very technically advanced discussions at http://pitcherplants.proboards34.com/
The participants really know their stuff!

Perhaps one of the oldest is http://terraforums.com, which was originally populated by a lot of beginners. As such, it was viewed with a certain amount of derision by old-hand growers. But with time, this forum grew in membership and experience. While it is far more likely that you'd see a message like "I LUV MY PLANTS!" posted there than on the ICPS forum, it is also more community-oriented, where people talk about whatever they want to.

Bob Ziemer has told me of a number of other groups. You can cut/paste the following urls into your web browser to see if they are still active. I won't hyperlink these, because the urls of forums tend to become stale rapidly. Cut and paste the url text into your web browser.
http://www.forumcarnivore.org/
http://www.carnivoren.org/
http://freeforumzone.leonardo.it/viewforum.aspx?f=31012
http://www.fumpan.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi#Carni

Page citations: reader contributions, personal observation.