Observation 1:
The people in the Community Gardens (so not those who plant for the community and then leave) fall mostly in to two camps, which both violate the sign posts recently put up.
1) Those who believe they have the right to harvest all the herbs they have planted.
2) Those who attempt to (in the words of camp 1ers) "steal" herbs that are clearly being guarded. They don't replant for other people.
Most of the people in the Gardens fall into camp 1. They are nice, friendly people... unless you take what they consider to be their herbs.
Observation 2:
The majority of people who post in the forums strongly support the "all may plant, all may harvest" philosophy. They are probably nice, but attack strongly anyone who disagrees with them.
The Effect this has:
In the Community Gardens, it is impossible to live by the Community Guidelines and get herbs without making enemies and being attacked. If you are a camp 2 player, everyone will hate you. If you are a member of the rare species who plants for the community, you will rarely get herbs yourself because of the abundance of the camp 2 players who take everything they see and camp 1 players who, as a nice person, you don't want to offend through "theft." So, to get herbs from the Community Gardens and not offend people, you have to become a camp 1 player.
(Of course, you could move to a home with an herb garden. But if you are in the Community Gardens, chances are you don't want to move. Your alternative, then, is to buy herbs. Luckily, lately this has become extremely affordable.)
In the forums, to stand up for the camp 1 lifestyle is to be attacked. Staying silent is the easiest thing to do.
My Main Point: It is interesting how those who inhabit the Community Gardens and those who comment on the Community Gardens in the forums generally have exact opposite opinions.
To Devs reading the forums, it woulds seem public opinion is very for the "all may plant, all may harvest" philosophy. But the actual opinion in the Community Gardens is ignoring the signs is best.
Thoughts?