Plants for a Future Database in danger

chickenofthewoods · Post by **chickenofthewoods** » 29 May 2008, 12:11

Sorry for posting & apologies if references to other forums are a no-no here but this is an important message that I really want people to hear.

I don't know how many other people are aware of this but the Plants for a Future Database appears to be in serious difficulties. I'd noticed that it's been on and offline intermittently over the last few days and reading Downsizer I note that there are some serious concerns being raised about losing this very valuable resource altogether.

If you've ever used it you'll know what a massively important piece of research it has been and how imperative it is that we don't just lose it for lack of funds or support.

If you can spare a moment and want to help, please go over to Downsizer for more info.

For those who have no idea what on earth I'm on about, the pfaf website is a comprehensive resource listing details of plants that have a use, be it medicinal, culinary or other (for example dyestuffs). It is a truly valuable resource and one that I refer to constantly for the depth of information it supplies on wild and cultivated plants and their uses and was based on the principle of Forest Gardening where every plant element within a managed ecosystem had a use.

If it dissapears from the web it will be a huge loss & I wanted people to be aware of it. :cry:

Post by Mo » 29 May 2008, 12:39

Could you give us a link please? Sounds as if it would be interesting to people here.

Citrine · Post by **Citrine** » 29 May 2008, 15:33

I use Downsizer, but havent had chance to look at it this week (on annual leave! You can tell, cos the weather is pants!)

http://forum.downsizer.net/index.php

Here is the link.

Citrine · Post by **Citrine** » 29 May 2008, 15:43

http://forum.downsizer.net/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

The actual thread is under Foraging

chickenofthewoods · Post by **chickenofthewoods** » 29 May 2008, 18:06

Thanks Citrine, I was going to come back and post a link but I had to go out as I had an appointment to keep and we were already a little late!

I do know how sensitive some sites can be about posters mentioning other forums so I really want to thank Down the Lane for letting me do this (for example another website - who shall remain nameless - has just deleted my post offhand, which is a shame as the plight of this hugely significant database is far more important than a bit of inter-website rivalry). That's fair enough in itself I suppose, but if you've ever used the database you'll have some idea of just how amazing a piece of work it is, it deserves to be saved & you can't do that if you're not allowed to talk about it!

I'm hoping that someone will be able to step in and take it over & hopefully not only keep it going, but develop it further too. They seem to be coming up with a lot of good ideas on Downsizer so far so I'm sort of hopeful.

chickenofthewoods · Post by **chickenofthewoods** » 30 May 2008, 08:26

If you've never come across it before and have been wondering why I'm making such a fuss, you can get just a taster of the original site by browsing the ibiblio/pfaf 'mirror' site. This is much more basic in format but still searchable:

http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/D_search.html