Hello Laurel and Tweeters,

I am still alive believe it or not. Since I am still alive, and since I
was the compiler for the RBA for a while, I thought that I would take a
moment to respond to this suggestion to take the chickadde thing off the
Bird Box, and why I think we should leave it on there.

The main problem that having it helps keep to a minimum is the number of
junk messages left on it. With the RBA tape, well over half of the message
would not be reporting birds that should be reported on the RBA. Many of
them would not pertain to birds at all. My favorite was "Eat my ass, you
bunch of at %*%&# at bird lovers!"

I am absolutely certain that messages like that would be left on the
BirdBox if we did not include the Chickadee screen at the begining.

Since messages are kept in digital form on a computer, they require lots
of hard drive spcace. This is one reason we have the messages limited to
the 12 most recent. If someone called in with a report of a new and
exciting bird for the state, and we got a lot of junk messages after it.
The one that everyone would want to hear would fall of the end sooner than
we would like.

I hope that helps explain why we have the password.

Russell

--------------------------------------------------------
Russell Rogers
4510 Glenn Way SW
Seattle, WA 98116
(206) 935-6280
rrogers at halcyon.com
--------------------------------------------------------


On Fri, 7 Mar 1997, Laurel Cheap wrote:

>
> From: Norton360 at aol.com
>
> >The Washington BirdBox is a voice mailbox sponsored by the Washington
> >Ornithological Society. To leave a message about a notable sighting,or
> >to listen to the most recent messages, call (206) 454-2662 and follow
> >the prompts. First-time BirdBox users may find it convenient, before
> >calling, to review the status of Washington's chickadee species."
> <snip>
>
> >The Washington Ornithological Society would like to see the BirdBox
> >become a statewide aid to Birders.
> <snip>
>
> (If I could just borrow the tweeters soap box now, thanks.)
>
> IMHO, if WOS wants to see the BirdBox become widely used then I would
> suggest that the chickadee screening question be removed along with
> the elitist rejection message ("The BirdBox is a public service for
> active field ornithologists. Good bye.").
>
> I find it tedious and very confusing to try to explain this setup to
> people who haven't used the BirdBox before and who might be a little
> technologically challenged. If you want people to use it then it
> should be made easy to use without the fear of amateurs treading on
> official ornithologist's territory.
>
> (jumping down now)
>
> The BirdBox is a great service and I appreciate all of the effort that
> goes into maintaining it and transcribing the messages. Thank you!
>
> -Laurel
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Laurel Cheap lcheap at u.washington.edu phone: (206) 543-6383
> Information Systems University of Washington fax: (206) 543-0831
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>