Celeste, sorry to be so late posting to your threads, was going to try to catch up on that today. After this happened, I went back and deleted the one picture of my husband and me that I mistakenly had with the flower pictures. The big joke is this pic was taken 40 years ago when my hubby and I were young and cute--LOL. Obviously, we don't look anything like that now, but I took it off anyway. I don't want any personal type photos on Photobucket if these sleazy people can messsage us this way. This sounds like some sort of scan where if you were to answer them, it would cost a lot of money. This may only be a guess, but it has to be some sort of fraud. I am going to delete the messages from the e-mails and put a password on my account. It is a sorry world we live in now when I can't even have my pictures out in case any gardening person can view them and comment. That has happened before, but no problem, a person who liked a picture of one of our daylilies. Looks like those days are gone now. Since you have family pictures on Photobucket, you might want to rethink it, too. Now I need to get a password put on my account, and list it as private. I am also going to contact Photobucket and let them know about this, see what they say. Avedon

I saw the article earlier and shared it on my FB page. I raised 3 children starting in 1968 and managed to do a darn good job without having any kind of social media at the end of my arm. I know my personality and think I would have had trouble giving either one, but not both at the same time, the attention they deserved. I personally know of young mom's and dad's who are more interested in posting their every move to the world rather than being aware of missed moments or opportunities to spend that time interacting with real, live people in their presence.. And to say "checking on prices at a store" is a serious reason to have your phone out in front of you is not valid to me. I hate to see a group at a table at a restaurant where everyone has their phone in their hands, barely even eating.....sad in my opinion. What is the point of going out together if you would rather be spending time doing whatever it is that has your attention on the phone?

bob_cville, I like your suggestion but the people who are so radically dependent upon their phones won't care about a $5 surcharge. Now if you suspend their phone service for a day or two or a week or two, THAT would be a punishment! As for the reliance on a phone as a makeshift GPS unit, whenever someone is coming to my place I give them directions. How often I hear "I have GPS!!!" when they don't. They have a nav app on their phone and no folks, that's NOT a GPS! At least 4 out of 5 times when people use a phone app to find my place they'll wind up miles away from me and I get very frustrated, nay, angry when people call up with "Where are you?? I'm at _____." Well you're miles away because you wouldn't follow simple directions. Many times I tell them to go back home and try another day. I really don't like waiting for hours because of peoples stubbornness. Yes there are other distractions but cell phones and texting have been proven over and over to be far worse than listening to a radio or something. Phones have a place and a use. But the problem we have is people misuse things all the time. Then you wind up with people wanting to ban all of them because a few misuse them. The argument is often the same, there wouldn't be any deaths if it wasn't for _____! (Insert your choice of items here.) The sad fact is that the innocent have to suffer because of the idiots out there.

I have ordered from many Thai sellers and Rinoa from Taiwan for many years and have been either fortunate and stay with sellers w a good track record. A concern for labeling a seller as bad, can all be subject to information given by each individual. I believe that any concerns should be made apparent to all individuals here, so that each one of us can make our own educated decision as to whether we want to pursue purchasing from a seller. To many variables fall into play, unless obvious as in the Pom issue. Which is deceitful at the least. What is happening w the Thai sellers, is that they want to take payment either through Western Union or PayPal (Friends & Family). This way there is not recourse for us when purchasing. Basically putting cash into someone hand and hope they are honest. The one thing that I was made aware of at first getting into these plants, was to not order after Oct/Nov or before Mar. If we do order plants within these parameters then we risk the chances of cold conditions. Even if we live in a warmer area through out the winter months. The point of entry into out country is relatively cold. Not the best conditions for these Adeniums. Especially in the winter where my plants would arrive to. A friend many years ago had told me to hold off as much as it might be difficult, as I wanted them right now. Glad he did make this apparent to me. I have been caught in a similar situation as Tyler did w Rinoa. Fortunately she made good with it. In my situation it had become apparent that she had built her business up and had many people hired to help her, as she could not manage on her own. This leading to unqualified or uneducated eyes packaging plants for export and not aware of what healthy plants look like. This falls on Rinoa's hands and is responsible for this. For me, my one question to a seller will be. "If a plant is shipped with rot or unhealthy and received within reasonable time frame, Will it plant be replaced and shipping paid by them." If the resulting answer is "No" then I will not be ordering anything. Probably will find that most will not conform to this. I feel for most of you within the U.S., to have people such as Tracy (may be others, but I do not remember) growing these throughout the year and selling with the U.S. This is where I would look if not wanting to purchase from outside of the country. I can purchase from the U.S., but the cost of the Phytosanitary Certificate from U.S. makes it not very expensive. That's it for me. If a "Thread" is to be started with a heading so that people can peruse it and make an informative decision based on what they read, then I am for this. Rick