Random letters.

[Jess]

I just noticed above my avatar it says TBD. I used to be a rockstar (or at least I think thats what it said) for so many posts I guess but what is a TBD?
I looked online and it said To be decided or Totally brain dead.....so which is it?!

[doccat5]

TBD=to be determined

[webmaster]

I received a couple questions about the Rockstar rank, something I did in a rush, so I just changed it to To Be Determined.

Would be fun to have decent rank names. We currently have five ranks, but perhaps we could increase that to six? I'll seriously consider any cool rank titles the community can think of. In fact, I encourage you because we can probably use a new set of rank titles.

Here are the current ranks:

New Member
Full Member
Cool Member
Senior Member
TBD

[Jess]

Thanks dokkat5 and webmaster.

It could also stand for Totally brain drained. That would be a good title for having posted a lot of answers don't you think?

Anyway. I think it would be a lovely idea for members to choose new names for different levels. I have a penchant for herbs so I would like to be an Old Thyme(r)

[webmaster]

>>>Old Thyme(r)

LOL. Hahaha.

Nice one!

[TheLorax]

Hmmm, move everyone on up a food chain? There is an organic forum as well as a wildlife forum here and everyone loves Mother Earth.

detritus> bacteria> protozoa> nematode> grasshopper> frog> snake> raptor (top of the food chain).

I think it would have been fun hanging out as detritus for a while. Bet that would motivate people to go beyond 10 posts so they could get to become bacteria ;)

A soil food web could also be started with the unicellular fungi at the bottom! Now wouldn't that raise a few eyebrows! Hey, you're a unicellular fungi! Hey, you're a grub! Am not. Are too. Am not. Are too!

This might liven things up a bit and in the event anyone panicked, they could always be directed to a sticky thread about rankings. Good clean wholesome fun!

[imagardener2]

A soil food web could also be started with the unicellular fungi at the bottom! Now wouldn't that raise a few eyebrows! Hey, you're a unicellular fungi! Hey, you're a grub!

I like that idea!

From grub -> newt/salamander/lizard -> chrysalis -> butterfly/dragonfly -> bat/martin -> wise old owl ?

[TheLorax]

You're ok up to where you hit chrysalis. Tee he, you are a butterfly person aren't you!

unicellular fungi> grub> salamander> heron> fox> and a wise old owl could be worked in at the end. Great horned owls will pluck off a skunk or a juvenile fox or coyote in a heart beat!

[url=https://curriculum.calstatela.edu/courses/builders/lessons/less/biomes/conifers/conifweb.html]This link[/url] is sort of along the lines of what I was thinking-


I think that butterflies could easily be worked in, lots of critters eat them ;)

[wingdesigner]

Wise old owl? Senior member? Old Thymer? Curmudgeonly we may be, but will never admit to being OLD. Nope, can't make me, not gonna. Been meaning to complain about the Senior part, glad we stumbled across this thread. How about Wise Owl (although I've seen some pretty dumb ones in my time...) or Big Thymer, or Most Exalted Celestial Garden Wizard (or should we save that one for the Admin.?), or Knows (Some) Stuff, or: Clean Thumb/Brown Thumb/Green Thumb/Dirt-Under-Nails; Garden Greenhorn/Garden Go-Getter/Garden Geek/Garden Guru (I'd throw in Garden Gigolo but probably get banned for it. Although admit it, if you honestly think about it, what don't we do for our garden(s)? And who among us hasn't "pimped out" a bed with something inert or alive, hmm?)

[doccat5]

Ok, I just want to skip and go straight to fox! LOL

[TheLorax]

Fun suggestions wingdesigner!

[NewjerseyTea]

I like wingdesigners Garden Wizard and for the few that reach the stratosphere Celestial Navigator ( (with apologies to Ann Tyler).

[wingdesigner]

Aaahhh, I just like to complain...barring anything too "creative", I really don't care what title I get. Royal P.I.T.A. for all I care...

[NewjerseyTea]

Webmaster, I'm a little disappointed not to be able to be a Rock Star. It was the title I was aspiring to.

[Jess]

Webmaster, I'm a little disappointed not to be able to be a Rock Star. It was the title I was aspiring to.

I was for a short time but never could understand how as I cannot sing or play an instrument....no wait, that must be why!

[webmaster]

Heh.

Back to Rock Star or Garden Wizard?

[TheLorax]

She was joking about aspiring to be a Rock Star.

I don't know about ditching the TBD (totally brain dead) rank. I've grown rather attached to it. What will I turn into at 1,000 posts? 2,500? Flat Liner as in pushing up daisies from gardening too much? Oh the possibilities are endless.

I still like the climbing up the food chain idea with starting new gardening members out as unicellular fungi or a grub but then I'm a little twisted at times and I suspect there might be those who might not exactly appreciate the humor associated with being labeled a grub or a fungus. On the other hand, it might motivate them to post more so they don't end up hanging out as a unicellular fungi for long. The other thought that I had when I suggested the food chain concept was that no part of the food chain can function without the others. The unicellular fungi is equally as important as the raptor.

I like wingdesigner's Clean Thumb/Brown Thumb/Green Thumb/Dirt-Under-Nails sequence. Don't know what else could be added though other than dirty knees or possibly Creature From the Black Lagoon more so because that's what we all look like after a hard day in the garden.

[NewjerseyTea]

Wait a minute Lorax, I do wanna be a rock star. I loved seeing The crab creature avatar Jess chose with ROCK STAR above it's head. The image in my mind of Jess's "creature" playing the guitar really tickled me. Doesn't it sound like someone that has an avatar should be a rock star?

I just noticed I turned from Cool to Senior and I'd rather be Cool or Mega Cool and then on to Rock star.

Lots of silly fun suggestions. I like the food chain line Lorax suggested (also especially if we started out with Nematode. I might have to join up again and start over as a Nemo.
Also fine with wingdesigner's clean thumb/green thumb.
I really like Garden Geek because clearly we all are.

[Jess]

I loved seeing The crab creature avatar Jess chose with ROCK STAR above it's head. The image in my mind of Jess's "creature" playing the guitar really tickled me.

What do you mean chose?! That is what I look like on a good day! I would look wicked cool with a guitar in my hand/claw... whatever I have.

I will join you back at the early postings if I get to be detritus. I have aspired to being detritus for a lifetime. The fact that I dig in it all day long, everyday gives me a right I do believe.

[TheLorax]

Ah ha ha!
NewjerseyTea wants to be a rockstar.
Jess wants to be detritus or a nematode.
Lorax wants to be a unicellular fungi.
doccat5 wants to be a fox.
wingdesigner just likes to complain so Royal P.I.T.A. is fine with her.

Oh boy! Is the webmaster having fun yet or what!

Got an idea... it happens every once in a while. Why doesn't everybody put forth their ideal sequence then let the webmaster run a poll where everyone can bote. A link to the voting thread could be placed in all the forums as a sticky for a month or so and that way everyone would get a chance to be a part of the process.

[wingdesigner]

Hey, Jess, too bad we all can't be composted when we die, eh? That would be my wish. Cripes, most places in the U.S. won't even let ashes be scattered anymore.

[Garden Spider]

Can I be an amoeba, or a planarium?

For a sequence: Cyanobacteria--Green Algae--Fungus--Liverwort--Cycad--Conifer--Monocot--Dicot.

Or . . . Garden Grubber--Garden Maker--Landscaper--Garden Designer--Garden Guru--Garden Celebrity--Garden Master (not to be confused with Master Gardener).

[Jess]

Hey, Jess, too bad we all can't be composted when we die, eh? That would be my wish. Cripes, most places in the U.S. won't even let ashes be scattered anymore.

I would love to be added to the heap wing but health and safety won't allow it
I may donate myself to forensic studies where they put your body in a ditch for 3 months to learn about decay of the body in murder cases etc. or be frozen by the German doctor and then be sliced up like a loaf of bread for educational purposes.

Anyway I digress....As far as herbs go I could only think of a
new member...mint.
long term member...sage.
Couldn't think what to put in between so as my other field of interest is soil here is my chain;
Bedrock...regolith...subsoil...eluviation...topsoil...humus.

[TheLorax]

I'd be ok with being added to the heap, or tossed out to decay for the advancement of forensic sciences, and being "sliced up like a loaf of bread for educational purposes" would be perfectly fine with me too. I know one thing, I don't want to be embalmed. Those are some wicked chemicals they use to pickle us all so we can be resumed hundreds of years from now and look as dead as we did when we were first slopped into a casket? Not particularly thrilled with the dust and gas production associated with being cremated either. Until crematoriums can consistently produce nice clean output so they're not polluting the air we all breathe, I think I'd just prefer a green burial or any of the previously mentioned options or there's always the "Soylent Green" option- tee he for those who read the book or watched the movie.
https://www.powells.com/biblio/00012569505223

[Jess]

Eughh! No I don't want to be secretly fed to anyone either hehe! Even the name sounds disgusting.

I am torn now between being detritus or moving slightly up the scale to fungus as gardenspider suggested...decisions, decisions...
What about just having random letters above our heads so anyone new on the forum can spend days trying to figure out what they stand for.

P.I.T.A...I finally worked that one out lol!