Thanks Scooter!

[Tnalp]

I have always enjoyed this site.
Thanks Scooter for the time you spend making it happen.
Happy New Year!

[Paladin]

Thanks for putting together a great planting forum.
All the posts here were unbelievably helpful in my planting career.
This is one of my top three forums on the internet!
Have a happy New Year!

[mwainwright]

Yes, thanks scooter. I have also enjoyed this site for some time now. Hard to believe I've been laying down bullshit here for almost 12 years. It would not be possible without your hard work.

[Scooter]

Well, thank you all. I feel like I should be thanking everyone else, not the other way around. A forum isn't any good unless people are posting in it.

[dreamofcream]

Definitely a big thanks in in order. This website has helped the tree planting community immensely.

[Scooter]

Here's a good question: how can I make the website better? What's missing?

[PlantinTaders]

Scooter you da man. Without this site we are all lost. Thank you.

A humble suggestion for improvement: I suspect a lot of potential users who are put on to replant by word of mouth make it to the main replant.ca page, but no further. I myself have to look for a bit and have a hard time finding the forums button when I navigate through that page, and I've used this site for a few years. For what is probably the most important part of your website, the forums don't exactly jump out at you.

Also I know you probably have good reasons for making parts of the forum visible to registered users only, but I think this is losing your forums some users. People don't like registering, and people don't like reading disclaimers. Some people might see the public pages, think they are all the forum has to offer, and move on to HARDKORETREEPLANTERZ DOT KOM, and no one wants that.

[jdtesluk]

Yes. thanks Scooter. We can't really gauge the true impact of the resource, but suffice to say that workers (and probably the industry) are better off for it.

[Scooter]

Taders,

Yes, I think about that often. I actually change the number of forums that are visible about four times a year. Sometimes it's as few as five (Q&A, Companies, Health, Music, Training) and other times it's the full list.

The drawback about having the full list of forums visible is that it doesn't encourage people to sign up, because they don't need to. And I'd rather have more people signed up, because once they're already signed up and logged in while reading, they're much more likely to actually contribute to the discussion. So this is why sometimes I only have half a dozen key forums visible.

But then at other parts of the year, I make just about everything visible, so people who don't normally have an account or sign in can see that there's a whole lot more than they might have initially realized. Then, after they get addicted, I pull the plug a few months later and hide half of the forums. I always get a big rush of new signups when I do that, so the strategy must be working.


Ultimately, I think my biggest goal would just be to get a lot more viewers. I'm often surprised when I meet planters who have two or three years of experience (around BC and Alberta) and they have no idea that Replant exists. You'd think someone else in their camp/crew might have mentioned it, but no. This happens pretty often. I printed a bunch of bumper stickers one year and gave them out, but the drawback with that is that most of the people who might see the sticker and check out the website aren't necessarily planters or potential planters. I'd consider printing another batch if I could figure out a way to get them onto the bumpers of a lot of company trucks.

Another plan that I've considered for about five years now is a line of Replant clothing. Nothing too extensive, just three or four options each of t-shirts, long sleeves, and hoodies. I even have a list of some smart-ass slogans and stuff to add to a few. If I sold those at cost or a slight loss (to try to maximize sales and subsequent brand visibility), there's a chance that a bunch of planters might buy them and wear them in planting camps, and the website address would be a lot more visible that way. That would be especially useful in companies that hire a lot of rookies. The only drawback with that whole plan is that I don't really have a home. Well, I have several homes, but I'm rarely in any one place for more than six weeks during a year, and I can't really run a clothing company out of the Quatsino Chalet, etc. So I'd need to figure out a way to have someone who could keep on top of shipping while I'm being a vagrant.

The biggest group of people that need to see this website are the first-year planters. But a lot of the bigger companies that hire a lot of first-year planters have been fairly unwilling to bring attention to Replant I think (and even some supervisors and crew bosses) because of negative reviews about their companies. I can't really prove that, but I've had a handful threaten to sue me over the years, so I can't imagine that those or other companies would be keen on telling their planters about this site. The only companies that really seem to help promote Replant are the ... better companies. Go figure.

Information is power. We need to get more information into the hands of more planters. How do we do this?

[Pandion]

The biggest group of people that need to see this website are the first-year planters. But a lot of the bigger companies that hire a lot of first-year planters have been fairly unwilling to bring attention to Replant I think (and even some supervisors and crew bosses) because of negative reviews about their companies. I can't really prove that, but I've had a handful threaten to sue me over the years, so I can't imagine that those or other companies would be keen on telling their planters about this site. The only companies that really seem to help promote Replant are the ... better companies. Go figure.

Information is power. We need to get more information into the hands of more planters. How do we do this?

Maybe some posters in the laundromat in PG, and on job boards at universities could help. It would be helpful to have someone visiting crews in the Spring to make sure labour regs. are being adhered to, and provide rookie planters with info on the industry and their rights.

[Scooter]

Yeah, I've sent posters out to universities before, but only a small number of eventual planters actually see them. And the laundromats in PG are good, but even though half a dozen companies are headquartered there, the crews are spread out enough that posters should be in every laundromat from Merritt up to Mackenzie, and from Smithers east to McBride.

That's a too much driving and effort for something that will get torn down within a couple weeks.

But maybe if I go the route of the clothing, I could send a few bumper stickers and posters with each item of clothing, and ask the person who bought the clothing to help the effort and post them somewhere. That may be the fastest way to spread them out effectively. Either that or hire a rookie for a couple weeks of work in the pre-season and give them my car, and send them up and down the highways to put posters in the laundromats. That wouldn't be cheap, but between the fuel and labour I might be able to get it all done in three days for maybe a thousand dollars or so.

Or I could spend that money on beer and BBQ's.

[newforest]

Ain't nowhere else I can figure out tree planting in English. Thanks man!

[Pandion]

I have no idea about Folklore’s operations this year but it would only cost one person a little extra time to stop in at the laundromats in 100 mile, Williams Lake, Quesnel and PG on their way north. If you know of someone making the trip, you could give them a case of beer for their trouble.
I find it very telling how little some companies want their planters to know about the industry, or other companies. A friend told me a story about some Coast Rangers who were threatened with being fired if they went to the Planters Ball last year. “Under no circumstance can you learn about how absolutely awful our company is. “

[Scooter]

Yeah, I'm going to look into this more, you have me thinking now. I think I can cover Kelowna up to PG with people in my own camp, and other Folklore people can cover out to Fraser Lake. And I might know someone who can take care of Smithers to Fraser Lake for me. And I have friends in Mackenzie and McBride, so I can mail posters to them. I actually have a pile of about 300 small posters sitting here in my apartment in Nova Scotia, so I may as well put them to use.

[Scooter]

And I need to get bumper stickers and smaller stickers to the Planters' Ball, to give out to people at the ball. That would spread some advertising around quickly, even if it's only a dozen crews, because the bumper stickers might eventually end up on vehicles all over BC.

One of my favorite stories was about five or six years ago when my Project Coordinator called me in the winter or early spring (I was on the east coast) and he was bitching about some guy that cut him off at an intersection in Kamloops, and he finished his story with, "... and he had one of your Replant bumper stickers on his truck!"

[Scooter]

And I need to get bumper stickers and smaller stickers to the Planters' Ball, to give out to people at the ball. That would spread some advertising around quickly, even if it's only a dozen crews, because the bumper stickers might eventually end up on vehicles all over BC.

One of my favorite stories was about five or six years ago when my Project Coordinator called me in the winter or early spring (I was on the east coast) and he was bitching about some guy that cut him off at an intersection in Kamloops, and he finished his story with, "... and he had one of your Replant bumper stickers on his truck!"