Message Board - BigPumpkins.com

Netherlands

I think they made new rules this year, Fabrice. The old rules have been taken off the website and I can't find the new ones.

I have noticed some growers are allowed to enter more than one fruit per category, others are not. Categories I was ensured wouldn't be listed (so I threw away the giant veg) are suddenly listed. Some growers can enter damaged fruit, most can't. Some growers are not listed at all, although I know they did extremely well. I hope they don't miss out on a trophy or prize money because of this.

Usually there is a November newsletter to list the final results, but I guess that has been cancelled as well. The message stating there would be three newsletters a year has also suddenly been taken off the site.

Seeing the post below yours, I wouldn't expect a reply. I have passed on all information I have received from EGVGA members who thought I was still part of the EGVGA to the board, so I don't think that is the problem.

12/25/2013 7:52:45 AM

England, essex

I re joined the evga again after a break,,,
there is a lot missing from just a couple of years back.
cant even find the old info on the site, plus the forum has gone.
thought it would have got bigger and better?

12/25/2013 8:20:05 AM

Frank4

Rhode Island

Fabrice,,,,, Congrat,s great year,,,,,could you please
e/mail me,, frankbuglio4@verizon.net Thanks

12/25/2013 11:11:52 AM

Germany

Hi all,

first of all a Merry Christmas to everyone!

I talked to Fabrice today in chat.

The results on the EGVGA website will be updated tomorrow. Sorry for the delay. You are right that we had some problems to get the results online in time. But I am sure that this will work better next year.

Fabrice, congratulations once more to that fantastic result. Of course we all here know that you grew the three biggest tomatoes in the world this year and of course we are very proud to have you in our club.
Thank you very much for donating seeds of all three fruits for our auction.
In our spring newsletter there will be an article I just received from Fabrice.

Brad, of course we did not change the rules. Only thing that changed and was announced in our spring newsletter was, that we only have 8 classes for the "grower of the year"-competition.
If there are any results that you think that might not be correct, let us know and we will check that of course.

The third newsletter was sent out on Dec 24th. If you did not receive it, let me know and I will send you a copy.

awesome1, yes there are some things that have not been transferred to our new website. If you are looking for something particular, let me know. Send your questions to andreas@egvga.eu

Best regards,

Andreas
EGVGA board member

12/25/2013 5:22:24 PM

England, essex

news letter,,, something else I didn't get:-(
did my paypal payment go missing? I doubt it,, lol

12/25/2013 5:34:09 PM

benny_p

Germany

awesome, perhaps you didnt read that : "Send your questions to andreas@egvga.eu"

12/26/2013 4:10:30 AM

England, essex

Send your questions to andreas@egvga.eu
I'm not at fault,,,
maybe the EVGA should contact me?
if the EVGA still had a forum I could air my views there.
no doubt I can kiss goodbye my seed package if there still is one

12/26/2013 7:17:21 AM

Germany

awesome1, it would have been a bit easier for me to check, if you would have sent me an email, because I had to find out "who" you are.
As you posted above, you re-joined us after a break.
And as you can see on our website, you are on our members' list for 2014. So no need to worry that your money got lost.
As our Christmas newsletter was our last one for 2013, it was sent to all our 2013 members.
But of course you are welcome to a copy. I sent it your dirction a few minutes ago. Let me know, if you didn't receive it.
Best regards,

Andreas

12/26/2013 7:18:31 AM

Germany

Obviously both of us were typing at the same time. I didn't read your last post before sending mine.

So one more answer.

awesome1,
1. if you say that it is our fault that there are some data "missing" on our new website, that have been on our previous website - yes that is our "fault", if you want to call it so.
2. if you say it is our fault that there is no forum anymore on our new website - yes that is our "fault". We decided to run the website without a forum, because is wasn't used very much. Most growers use this fantastic website here and the German speaking website "crazy growers".

But on the very top of our website there is a button "contact". You can contact the club and every board member, including one from the UK personally by email. Actually there is no need to discuss everything you would like to be changed in public.
If you would like us to contact you, if would help to let us know "that you think there is something wrong" and "who you are".

Anyways, if the "faults" you mentioned above changed your mind and you should regret to have joined us, feel free to let me know. I will ask our treasurer to refund your membership dues.

We are all doing this for fun. And if you are not happy being a member of our club, we won't force you to.

Best regards, all the best for 2014, growb them big,
and don't forget to have some fun

Andreas

12/26/2013 8:10:27 AM

England, essex

well as I sent payment on the 5th of nov, I thought I would have got it,,,
maybe if I had got a welcome message from the EVGA,
you could have then told me my membership would run from the start of 2014?
any club, or organisation I have ever been involved with has sent at least a welcome letter or email, and maybe a list of rules.
and yes I have now received an email in my inbox

12/26/2013 8:14:15 AM

England, essex

I can now see my membership is valued by the EVGA!
Thanks
Mark Rand.

12/26/2013 8:18:09 AM

Netherlands

First of all, the reason I posted is because Fabrice initially sent me his tomato results and I passed them on. Just making sure the mistake was not at my end.

Andreas: "If there are any results that you think that might not be correct, let us know and we will check that of course."

This is no longer my task. It is just too bad you couldn't find anybody to take over. It's Xmas and the results are still not complete or accurate. I see some mistakes have recently been fixed so there are only about 20 incorrect entries now, excluding entries that should have been entered and weren't.

Andreas: "Brad, of course we did not change the rules."

Apparantly there have been several rule changes. Previously all growers could enter 1 specimen per category. Now, some growers can enter more than one and others only one. Check it out.
Also damaged fruit were never allowed and yet several were listed on the results webpage.
There was also an agreement that a certain member of the board would make sure questions asked on BP would be answered. This rule has obviously also changed. See post below.
Then there were the changes to the eight categories, the prize structures, the classes and the position of non-Euro growers within the club.

12/26/2013 12:44:14 PM

Netherlands

Andreas: "But on the very top of our website there is a button "contact". You can contact the club and every board member, including one from the UK personally by email. Actually there is no need to discuss everything you would like to be changed in public."

I'm worried this feature doesn't actually work optimally. Perhaps the new email addresses of the board members are not working or are never looked at. I've been waiting for more than half a year for replies to several (repeat) emails I sent to individual members, and apparantly I am not the only one as members still email me because they are getting no response from the board members they are emailing. Just a heads up. You can't fix something you don't know is broke.

All the best in the New Year.

12/26/2013 12:44:20 PM

Vennet

Belgium

Hi all,

I've just updated the 2013 results page: http://egvga.eu/results/egvga-results-by-year-2/2013-2.html

Now it's time for some apologizes from my side!

2013 was my first year as EGVGA board member. I'm responsible for the website and results. And I have to admit: I had no clue what it contained!

First of all, the website: I'm no professional webdesigner at all! More than 10 years ago I made some simple websites at school, that's it! But when the previous EGVGA website went partially/mostly offline, I offered my limited knowledge to build up a new website. And that's how it is for today...

The results... it is/was a disaster! Respect Brad what you did all those years! I had no idea what it contained, but now I do! We have, and we will, change to a uniform system in 2014. Now we get results by mail, by GPC-site, word-documents, excel-documents, forums,... Like Andreas said some posts ago: we all doing this for fun. I have a fulltime job, and some other obligations. I just run out of time to keep track of all the results the way it is for now.

So members, please excuse me for the problems this year and lets hope it gets better in 2014 (and it will!)

Meanwhile, if you're still missing one of your results on our website, or you see some mistakes. Let us know!

I wish you all the best for 2014!

Dries.

12/26/2013 2:05:15 PM

Germany

Brad,

"This is no longer my task..."
We corrected the mistakes. If any member is missing a result, please let us know. As Brad knows, we depend on the information we receive from our members who are willing to cooperate and help.

"Apparantly there have been several rule changes..."
Yes, there have been more little changes. I thought you were referring to the general rules of weighing. We changed that non-European members can compete for the goty-competition and we changed that there may be two entries in the pumpkin category. So entering more than one specimen is not depending on the grower as you assume, but on the specific class.
Of course dmg are still not allowed - the mistake has been corrected.

"There was also an agreement that a certain member..."
As you mentioned above... That is not your task anymore to check who of the board members is answering questions here on bp. You decided to leave the EGVGA board a year ago. So what do you know about the board's agreements?

"I'm worried this feature doesn't work..."
Thank you for the tip. We checked and tried it today. It works perfect.
For me I can say that I answer every email I receive. Maybe not within some hours, but every email is answered. And I am quite sure that anyone who sends a request or question to the other board members does get an answer.

"I've been waiting for more than half a year..."
Brad - you know everyone of us, most even in person. You know all of our email addresses besides the egvga address. So I am wondering why you waited half a year to write here that the email addresses don't work.

Dear Brad, I wish you and your family all the best for 2014 and the coming years.

But I think this is not the right place (and time) to fight out your personal disagreements with the new EGVGA board.
So if you have more questions or information about missing or wrong results, please send me or any other board member a personal e

12/26/2013 5:34:29 PM

Germany

sorry...

So if you have more questions or information about missing or wrong results, please send me or any other board member a personal email.

Best regards

Andreas

12/26/2013 5:37:46 PM

hwahl

Alabama

Thank you for letting non-European members compete.

12/26/2013 7:50:43 PM

Netherlands

Andreas: "We corrected the mistakes."

Thanks. I did notice some changes. Still 20 incorrect entries and 30+ missing entries from members, including one or two class winners.

Thanks for checking to see if the email addresses work. I guess it means some people simply choose not to answer. That is their decision. And yes, I did send the emails to their personal addresses. Still no reply.

Finally, it is just sad to see an organisation a few of us worked so hard to build up get turned into a mess within a few months. That could have been prevented if other choices had been made...

All the best and grow em big, or long, whatever you prefer.

12/27/2013 5:28:59 AM

Netherlands

Sorry, didn't see (or ever read) that the rules were changed about entering two pumpkins. I assumed the rules hadn't changed, as mentioned.

Seeing as double entries also occur in other classes (check it out), I figured it was arbitrary. My mistake.

12/27/2013 5:37:14 AM