I would say there is a lack of real bonsai growing on here. There really is not much reason to stick around?

Thank you all for your information....now i know what kind of bonsai i have and I will try to do my best in recovering them.

leatherback wrote:

I would say there is a lack of real bonsai growing on here. There really is not much reason to stick around?

That is not true. You, Geoff, Auk, Crent, Mimo, Orlando, among many others, do grow bonsai and have many good trees in training. And some beginners do try to make it seriously.
I can speak for myself: I really try to make this forum better and better, mostly because I relate to people having common hobbies, and I like people here. Besides that Bonsai Empire is a great resource and research center and the courses are great.
Which makes a certain recipe for success but... the forum keeps being slow paced.
And the newcomers don't stay too much.

leatherback wrote:

I think you are being rude, arrogant, elitist etc to say that

Yes, I probably I am. But if I'm right, never to people on this forum that are really growing bonsai. About my own trees, I think I'm pretty humble.
And yes, I'm as elitist about bonsai on this forum as a fine art lover is about an Ikea reproduction.

Clicio wrote:

And the newcomers don't stay too much.

Yes, but look at these newcomers. Lots of them never considered starting bonsai but got one as a gift. They have no idea what's involved. And honestly, I think giving a bonsai is not a good idea. You wouldn't buy someone a puppy, if you don't know if they want one and can take care of it.
These people do not stay. They didn't want to do bonsai in the first place.

Then we have numerous people who buy bonsai kits, plant seeds or yank seedlings from the ground and are surprised that things do not work that way. Of these people, very few understand that it will take much more effort than that, including study, training, trying and failing, and many years before you can grow something worthwhile. Of the ones that proceed, many fail and give up. Only a few of these people stay and become bonsai growers.

So, out of 100 posts from new people, only 1 probably is really interested in the art. That's why only a few stay.

Clicio, I understand your remark about Adobe forums and the repetitive questions there. But at least, on these forums, the questions are about Adobe and not about MS Notepad.

For me as a newbie I think I can explain what has kept me in "reading mode" instead of trying to mingle.
The format is not ideal I think, it's true that newbies ask often asked questions again and again but all the basic info is still spread over a few most. It's either overwatering, underwatering, or a bad position. With advice to either water less/more, check the roots, put it closer to the window (but not above the heater). But all these questions and advice are spread over a few posts.
As a newbie we have a hard time estimating stuff. I read keep the soil moist, knowing when it is wet or dry is easy but moist is a bit of a gradient. Real life happens, what if I am unable to water at the day I expect I have to? Do I water a day earlier a little bit, or can it handle being without water for one extra day? We are nervous brand new plant parents asking the expert to give us some nuance of the rules we can find on the forum. Granted there are probably also some that didn't read it.
Most newbies will probably start with an indoors plant, maybe counter intuitive considering trees belong outside. But it is a more controlled environment and in my case my "garden" can be accesed by the public and I rather not have people mess with my bonsai. Strangely enough the indoors bonsai page mostly talks about tropical bonsai that NEED to be inside. While my seller and the booklet I bought later both say my Zelkova (technically an outdoor plant) should be fine indoors (5 weeks and it has been fine so far, although today some leaves were a tad yellow, think I waited one day too long with watering this time :/). So I think adding some info on indoor non-tropical bonsai would be nice.

And while it is right after christmas and it must be terribly annoying to get a flood of people asking questions that got it as a present I have been some "older newbies" who had one since the summer get the same treatment this week. Winter is probably just a hard time to get through, especially the first. Less sunlight and heaters messing with the environment are hard to deal with. So don't just throw it all on christmas. And while feeling annoyed is understandable, getting snippy when somebody asks an obvious question is not going to improve the situation.

No clue if this is possible but I think it would be nice to have a pinned message up top with some neat tips and tricks from the veterans. An overview of standard answers (potentially things you can already find on the website, but I still think having a summary here would deter some commonly asked questions) and extra things that could help out. For example nowhere does it say about indoors bonsai to not put it above the heaters (I know, kinda obvious for some, but not all of us), and a nice tip my booklet gave me was keeping a wooden skewer in the soil at the edge of the pot to check for moisture (if the skewer is dry you have to water).

Long answer but I hope this gives some insight on the newbie side of the forum.

It seems that many of the drop-in and drop-out folks start by saying they were walking through the mall.... or I just got a present... The kiosk at the mall said the pine tree could live indoors....

These are not permanent party types, so them leaving just indicates that the was a spur of the moment and not a serious interest.

The one thing we might improve on is communicating the difference between a tree in a pot and a bonsai. They don't seem to take that issue very well.