random question

[springtide]

Hi,
just tried to reset my password and got stuck on the "what substance is found in a swale" so i thought ditch or bunding running parallel to contour lines to slow water run off allowing better penetration of rainfall and reducing errosion - which means it might contain soil/earth/dirt/clay/sand/gravel on the downhill side and air or water on the uphill side depending on the weather - but none of these answers was correct, so i was wondering what is the proper answer?
The photosynthesis question was a bit bad as it the process produces sugar for cell growth (and O2) not biomass directly.
TG for the worms!

[purecajn]

I always thought that it was a good idea to lay scrap wood, trees, etc... then to cover this with dirt for your swales. That way you get more height with less digging and mass underneath to rot. Is this wrong?

[9anda1f]

Hi Springtide,

Think of the liquid substance that swales are designed to hold for infiltration into the soil.

Both your and purecajin's thoughts are good ones ... which points out that we may need to adjust the questions somewhat. The random questions were implemented as a result of the old captcha puzzle being broken by spam bots (you may have noticed the serious increase in spammers logging in right after the new year). These questions are strictly for the purpose of screening out spambots and spammers who have no knowledge of Permaculture. They are hoped to be simple and obvious to "those in the know", but as you've discovered, we can often outsmart ourselves! = )

[purecajn]

sorry, I sometimes get anal on questions. Drove my ex shrink crazy

[sun burn]

I would have answered water. But i think its a good point you make. I've across the same thing somewhere but i don't know if it was on this forum or on another.

Perhaps they just need to word the question more carefully. But a dedicated spammer can look up a dictionary anyway.

[milifestyle]

I would have answered water. But i think its a good point you make. I've across the same thing somewhere but i don't know if it was on this forum or on another.

Perhaps they just need to word the question more carefully. But a dedicated spammer can look up a dictionary anyway.

Yep, the manual spammers we can work with... Its the automated robots that are / were giving us headaches...

[Michaelangelica]

All moderators have been putting in an hour a day keeping spam bots out lately
Hence the Capture questions
They worry me Too
I would like to see something a little more obvious with only one possible answer

[purecajn]

I believe I read somewhere that you can ask what colors are present, using random colors and that the spam bots would hang on the question.

[eco4560]

Would that discriminate against color blind permies I wonder?!

[purecajn]

oh my, good point. never even crossed my mind. there could be a option on the side to listen to the word. maybe even have a random short paragraph above with a question underneath like "what is the 12 word in the paragraph above". Choosing a different word number as well? you could also just grab a random post from the form in place of the paragraph. even have them write said word in reverse.

[eco4560]

The word in the paragraph thing might actually work..... We mods will mutter amongst ourselves for a bit. The changes have made a HUGE difference though. Big thanks to Craig MacIntosh who does all the behind the scenes work here!

[springtide]

I guess it's a bit like the "the Australia test" for immigrants - i'd fail that too.

[eco4560]

You better not leave the country in case they don't let you back in!

[purecajn]

As we have discussed a possible Site improvement here I was wondering if there is a Forum category (I am probably just overlooking it) which one would be able to request possible site changes in general? It would also allow the Site Management team a way to kick around a idea with a much larger input before actually enacting it only to find it doesn't work. As for my request, it would be for a larger area in the profile section for a more detailed explanation to the questions, or maybe even a category allowing one to rate there own knowledge of permaculture techniques [ex. new to permaculture, (?) permaculture courses attended, Areas of specific knowledge, etc...] This would allow one to quickly know who to listen more to for specific growing concerns.
And if the post offends the moderators in any way please disregard and delete it as I don't want to offend anyone. I love this site

[Grahame]

The thing is purecajn, you really can't be sure who to listen too and even then you can't really be sure the advice will be relevant to your situation. I've spent a bit of time here now and eventually you work out who knows, who walks their talk and who blows hot air. The only sure way is to test it for yourself.

I think I get what you are talking about though - it's kind of like there is some missing middle ground between the forum and the WPN. I suspect, put together, we can turn the combination into a pretty useful toolbox though.

Dare I say it, but it would be kind of handy to have the/a forum attached to the WPN, but I guess that might be how 'comments' in individual posts might end up being used

[purecajn]

WPN = World Permaculture Network?

[Grahame]

Worldwide, but yeah.

[purecajn]

Well the Moderators have the most experience with having to read everyones posts anyway and if there were a way to check peoples credentials then a general idea as to whom is more reliable for info can be rendered. that knowledge along with a scale of some kind, like unlit stars under everyones avatars which are lit up based on the moderators recommendations could be a quick and easy way for a newb to know who to listen more to. Oh god, the moderators are gonna hate me after these posts. Just what they need another responsibility on their plate. Sorry guys/gals, no offense.

[eco4560]

I still like you... The number of posts gets you a bit of a clue. Those with many either have a lot of rubbish to vent or actually know something! Like any other community, time spent getting to know people will help you sort out who is who and who knows stuff. But even the newbys can have useful stuff to share, so it might be counter productive to rate the credentials of members.

[labradel]

just a off topic question how does the grading junior / senior member etc work given the the no of years i have been on the planet and for that matter no of years practicing permaculture i am hardly a junior

[milifestyle]

I think the database is preset to a post count... the more posts you have done the higher your rank... junior members obviously less posts than senior members...

[labradel]

very good thank you i have just that my rank has only just gone to member i may have suspected that the answer was a post count if i had noticed this earlier many thanks