Look when you have wholesalers coming to this site and you have TF also on this site with the pretense that they are here to hear our thoughts and any opinion to better serve us, or wholesalers that just don't cater to us but to the public. I DO have a problem with that! If you where to go to your flower district the way I do to buy for my events and them you have a bride that tells you she can go there and buy her own flowers. Then I feel HE (wholesale) is not here to serve me but whoever gives him business (cash) We are a dying breed. With supermarkets, fruit stands, deli' s, selling what we are I want to protect what is left of my business.
I had this all typed and just saw the thread from BOSS, but here is my perspective anyway:
We are all here, including some that we may feel are not exactly helpful or mindful of the real needs of florists. That is the way it is.
This is not going to change, as this board has been built over several years that
you or I were not part of.
Again, it is what it is. I would say that you and I are better off being a part of this board and participating, the way it is, and dealing with it, rather than raising a fuss about it. There is no other place to go to learn this stuff. If you have a secret, keep it. If you can contribute, do it.
Perhaps they will learn something as we do. It is not just florists who are in difficult times right now, but our entire industry. We florists have taken our hit due to a changing market and changing times. (As it was recently put to me, so have hardware stores, paint shops, lumber yards, electronics stores etc)
I personally have grown to like the interaction with other groups from our industry, not just our own little faction. (It would be boring without those different perspectives) Those different perspectives should be taken very seriously.
The rule I like is
contribution. If they don't contribute, they should be booted. (Asking for information on something from the group doesn't count as contribution) It is one of the requirements of the new member thread, and should be handled appropriately.