Aveschapines

I grew up playing 45s and 78s on a record player. And my first stereo as an adult had an 8-track player, so you could enjoy that lovely "clunk" in the middle of the song on your tape.

It's a certificate of deposit, of course!

Welcome to WhatBird and I'm glad you were able to upload your photo. I agree, this is an American Goldfinch.

A few points (although I can see could get out of control...) -There certainly has been friction. People complaining that other members are clicking some people's posts to reduce someone else's ranking, complaints that some members get more clicks than others because of favoritism, things like that. It hasn't come up recently but it does come up. -I didn't design the site and I have no influence over its format. So my opinion about the reputation scores has no relationship to whether they exist or not. So asking why they are there when I don't like them - it's because I have no say! -I didn't say the reaction clicks don't mean anything or that they should be removed. I said that in my opinion the "reputation score" doesn't mean anything and I would remove it if it were up to me. Looking at reactions to individual posts certainly has meaning and I would not want to remove that feature. Again, it's not something I can control anyway.

I don't follow you here... nobody's reputation has been changed. And it still means little if anything. It's simply a total of the number of times other users have clicked on ANY of the reactions to your content. And I certainly hope nobody is posting in an effort to "earn" reputation points. I suggest that everyone ignore the reputation scores and try to participate in the forums in a way that will enhance the community. (By the way, I'm not trying to defend the update, which I had nothing to do with... but I see no purpose to the reputation scores except to create friction and resentment. I'd get rid of it completely if it were up to me.)

And I thought I was going to have to be a mean moderator! Even seeing the ID was a bird I was still confused

I didn't notice the reputation being gone. I never pay it a bit of attention because it's meaningless. It only counts how many times people have reacted to your posts, no matter what the reaction is (like is not the same as confused) and it's just a count, not a ratio. Someone who posts 100 posts and gets 100 reactions will have the same "reputation" as someone who posts 100,000 posts and gets 100 reactions. To clarify the above post, I see the reputation and post counts when I hover over the person's avatar.

Thank you for doing all of this! I'm thinking maybe once the typos and corrections are fixed I could split off these posts into another thread to keep this one "cleaner"? I'd do it now but I don't think people would go to post new corrections in the other thread; but in the long term it would be better for new birders not to be distracted by this stuff. Thoughts?

Thank you both! I don't remember making this comment either... going to look through the other thread and see if I can find it: 🦃 Put up a feeder! This way you can watch birds in a relaxing setting, and they come to you! This way you can start to notice the little things about birds, like their behavior, or other subtle characteristics. Also, if you’re able to sit outside and watch the feeders, listen to the birds as well. Trying to learn calls can be overwhelming, as each species makes a variety, so start small! Once you’re familiar with your regular yard birds, when something new pops up, you’ll know! (Aveschapines) EDIT: Found it - this was also Avery 😄

What should it be? (I don't want to edit and get it wrong again...)

I can't do that but I can make the changes for you. Another typo: the following suggestion isn't mine. No problem for me but the actual author will want to be correctly credited: 🐦 If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of birds in a field guide, or even after you’ve whittled it down to the birds of your area, maybe find a group of birds that interests you, then start branching out from there! That’s how I started. I got into birding because of a small hawk on my walk home from school, and just looking through the field guide we happened to have and watching the bird, I found it so cool that I could know what species it is! I then tried to learn all the raptors in my area, then the US! Then I learned about warblers, and down the rabbit hole of birding I went! (Aveschapines)

Thank you for letting me know. Merging was the answer here because both threads had responses.

You can't, but as moderator I can!

I'm reading this notice as saying that your host/provider is denying you access, not WhatBird. Can anyone more knowledgeable confirm or correct?

I don't see anything wrong with your account, but I'm not given all that much information. The address you wrote to should be able to help you. But I wonder if it's possible that it's something to do with your network rather than WhatBird? I'm not aware of any mod tools that would give a user that message; and if you are able to enter on your VPN it seems like the account itself is OK. (We are now at the very edge of my knowledge of this area, or possibly I've already fallen off the edge...)