Teresa Quick
Member
Where has everyone gone -
Ghost Town
- Thread starter Teresa Quick
- Start date
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
I'm here. But I don't answer many questions anymore. I still have a tank but invest very little into it anymore.
Teresa Quick
Member
I see that - not many discussions going on in any topics
gemmy
Active Member
Between work, school and stuff I have going on for another forum, I have very little time to pop on here. The summer really slows things down. Maybe things will pick up when the summer activities die down. Maybe SWF could drum up some contests using FB or participation or referrals. Just some thoughts to get the forum going again.
gemmy
Active Member
+a billion!!!
Also, this software is integrated with FB. Get the SWF FB page going and linking the forums with some of the interesting articles of the past. There are apps out there to auto post the threads. Have a contest for the forum promoting items from the SWF webpage and both the store and forum get promoted.
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
But that would be too easy!
gemmy
Active Member
Good idea! I just sent the suggestions.
eric b 125
Active Member
Also, if SWF.com would be Tapatalk friendly
robertmathern1
Member
Most dont come here any more as there is no sales allowed which I remember created a mass exit also not being able to link to other sites or ebay is a major turn off for most especially if SWF dont even carry the product in question. I dont know if the site is still that strict but I am going to assume it is. With that this site will always be limited which caused new member to find home else where. I think if the lightened up just a little it would attract more traffic and if they offered special discounts from time to time that couldnt hurt to bring in more traffic. With more traffic through here would create more to there store with the advertisements on the right side. And they should swap them up a bit I always see the same stuff on the right change it up a bit and then you can catch more peoples attention to the store and drive in more business
pegasus
Well-Known Member
Robert, every once in awhile an old fart like myself who doesn't mind stretching the rules, will post links to other sites. I generally try to post only what's not available through SWF, which in my opinion, shouldn't be a violation of any rules. As you mentioned, most other forums do allow links. As a former moderator on an international forum, I (or we) never considered links to other sites to be taboo. The same thing would have resulted had we banned links, and only allowed those to the company we provided support for. In fact, we moderators provided links to the sites of companion products. If you only allow links to your site, then the only people who use your forum will be those that purchase items exclusively from the parent company. I don't know many people who buy from one store, and one store only. Nobody does that... 
jay0705
Well-Known Member
The knowledge of the people on here is excellent. That said, less and less of them show up!!!! Lol. I'am not an online buyer usually, but w my tank upgrade that looks to change. Should we be able to suggest other sites?? Yea, its like miracle on 34 st. I have ordered 1 time from swf. Bc I got a gift cert. The stuff was good no issues. However shipping kills you. Yea yea order, $150 and it ships free. We all know we shouldn't add too much at 1 time tho! Lol I look at this forum as a place to get good info, help give info if I can, and have fun chatting w people all over about the same stuff I'am addicted too.
robertmathern1
Member
Best way to order from places like this is to get a few local reefers and combine orders. I have ordered a couple times from here when I had my 180 and my 55. Never any issues but at the same time they had free shipping in Florida now I think its free with 100 dollar purchase. Hard to buy 100 dollars worth of live stock in 1 sitting for a nano so we will see. Even harder to get local guys to buy from here as we have some awesome fish stores around here. But its a start as if they can see how much members actually do buy from them then they might be more interested in putting more in to the forum and more would come.
lmforbis
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I used to order with a co worker and if we didn't hit the 150 min we'd split the shipping cost. I actually have bought a lot from SWF over the years. Less lately because I found a fabulous store about 40 miles from my house that has great fish, healthy and they quarantine them before they put them into their system. They have told me not to buy things because they wouldn't work in my system and I appreciate that. I prefer to give my business to the local guys. Supplies I get at BRS because they are local for me too.
pegasus
Well-Known Member
I have ordered from SWF as well, and as you said, shipping kills you. There is one (small) state between where I live and FL, and it costs a minimum or $35.98 to get overnight shipping. Another site charges $59.99, and another charges $76.49... and these last two are on FL's west coast! I think I could drive there for less than they charge! I don't know much about logistics, but I can get an overnight shipment from CA, which is way more than twice the distance, for $40... or less. The place in Cali that I order most of my corals from charges a flat $19 to anywhere in the lower 48. Imagine that. Since I don't order in bulk due to a limited amount of money available for my hobby, don't have a reef club in the area, or even know anyone besides ***** that owns a saltwater tank, it makes me very reluctant to pay more for shipping than for the item(s) in my order. Either someone is gouging prices for shipping, or they're not negotiating reasonable pricing with the shipping companies. Not sure which one, but sometimes it seems like it's both. Just saying...
robertmathern1
Member
It all depends on how much you ship. I used to work in logistics for a while. The more you shipthe less you get charged. Now if they dont ask where they are shipping to before they add on shipping then yes your are probably being ripped but typically not in most cases. You also got to figure in the cost of packaging although not very expensive it still costs. I will say a flat rate of 19 is cheap and hard to compete with.
As far as spam bots thats a very hard one to combat. There will always be spam bots and you can combat them with having an admin aprove your first post and such but theres a down side to that. When a newb comes here they have a question and are looking for an answer. Having to wait to have your question approved then posted then replied to is just going to take to long and they go elsewhere. With more traffic would require more mods and then the spam would be taken care of in a more timely manner. But it dont matter what site you go to there is always spam bots
As far as spam bots thats a very hard one to combat. There will always be spam bots and you can combat them with having an admin aprove your first post and such but theres a down side to that. When a newb comes here they have a question and are looking for an answer. Having to wait to have your question approved then posted then replied to is just going to take to long and they go elsewhere. With more traffic would require more mods and then the spam would be taken care of in a more timely manner. But it dont matter what site you go to there is always spam bots
gemmy
Active Member
I do know a little bit about controlling spam and it also comes down to the admins being proactive with the spam controls and modifying the spam controls as needed. It does not necessarily mean that you have to approve members' first posts. I haven't had to remove spam from a forum that I mod in quite some time. When spam is found, it is dealt with pretty quickly.