[mou] What are the requirements for posting to the list server.

[jeff fischer]

It was my belief that the purpose of this list server was to share bird sightings that other birders may be interested in. It appear, however, that I may be mistaken. Last week I posted about a trip that I made to the bass ponds and about spotting a palm warbler there. I do not post most of the birds that I see, since they are not usually anything spectacular however this was the first palm warbler that I spotted this year and since warblers have just recently started migrating back I thought that maybe others may be interested in it. I guess that I was wrong, or so I was told. I received a reply back stating that palm warblers had been reported all over the Twin Cities and that I should confine my thoughts to new sightings. 
 
Now it is very possible that others have posted about seeing palm warblers. I did check around a bit before I posted it and I did not see it listed anywhere but since I subscribe to 4 different list servers, and receive hundreds of e-mails per week, it is very possible that I may have missed that fact in someone else's post. 
 
So is this the rule about posting? If someone else has posted about a species then I should not post about it? Or is it the fact that palm warblers are too common to post about? If this is the case how do I determine which species are special and can be posted about and which ones are not.
 
The e-mail response went on to say, "Remember that this is a birding listserve, not a photographers list serve.  There are many good listserves that would appreciate your photos but this is not one of them." This was because I posted a link to my blog since I did take a picture of the bird. Is this also unacceptable? 
 
My blog site is about Minnesota birding. It links to the MOU website and I frequently promote the MOU in posts. I have seen quite a few people who put links to websites, blogs, or one of the picture sites in their posts so that they can share their bird photos with other Minnesota birders. Is this unacceptable? If so I apologize since no one has ever replied with anything except compliments in the past. 
 
I do not want to cause trouble or make a federal case out of the incident. If I have been wrong in how I have been posting to the list server I would like to know so that I can make sure that I am following the correct procedure. My only desire, with any of my posts, is to share birding sightings and birding photos with people who share my love of birds and if I have been doing that wrong then I will change and make sure that I do things right in the future.
 
Thanks,
Jeff Fischer
http://ecobirder.blogspot.com/


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