Forum Suggestion

[gpkozmp]

You know I was thinking that we should get some new forum's on the website. I was thinking about having special forum's for certian size tanks For example:
everything after nano tanks up to like 50
Then 55-100
100-180
200-300
300-on up
I think this would help new people get a better understanding of the tanks and the things that people could put in there. I was thinking it is places people could post thier pictures of their, whatever gallon tanks, in there and people could get some ideas.
Thanks for listening and let me know what you think.

 

[beth]

I like this idea, and maybe we can give them their own section, and also put our current NANO forum in there.
Size plays an important role in the decisions we need to make in terms what type of tank we are going to set up, and what type of animals we will have in them. SWF.com may even be doing fellow hobbyists, especially new hobbyist, a favor by focusing specific forums on size of tank, and what might be the best way to set up that size tank, give DIY advise, and what is animals are(and what are not) suitable for a given size.

 

[saltwaterfish.com]

Interesting idea. Are there any other thoughts on the subject?

 

[gpkozmp]

Were you asking me? I just think that if we had something like this we can have a place where we can go to figure certain things out about different sized tanks. For example, I am going to be getting a 100 gallon tank and everything ready to be put together however I am looking at a little more information that I found on here. I think it would be a great thing if we didn't have to search through the forum's to find something, and we had a specific forum to go to for a 100 gallon. I know that people on this website and in the forum's are a great place to get information from and I appreciate all the help I am gotten, it is great, however if these forum's were added I have a strong feeling that it would make a person who hasn't got a lot of experince, easier to research and all that stuff.
Another thing I think would be great is when you look at the fish and invert portion of the website if it included the adult size of them. That would help a lot of people with fish choice. I noticed the other day when I was going through the forum's which I have been doing a lot lately, that there is always a list of fish that people want to get but it wont work due to the adult size of the fish. I even read in one post, "it doesn't matter right now, I will cross that bridge when they get that big." It would just be a great place to get all the information from, and if there is already somewhere on this site to do that, can someone educate me on that so I know what I am talking about and I don't sound like a jerk. Thanks for listening and thanks for the great work and help it is greatly appreciated.

 

[spiderwoman]

You'd probably want to do some research on the standard lengths of these tanks and then go by that. For example tanks that are 36 in vs 48 in vs 60 in vs 72 in vs custom larger
Even if you have a 95g tank, but it's 48 inch long, that restricts your fish differently than if you had a 60 inch long 95g tank.
Just my $0.02 worth

 

[florida joe]

I can see a potential down side. by categorizing the Hobby by tank size you may in fact also encourage hobbyists to just frequent that area that pertains to their tank.

 

[gpkozmp]

Joe I agree with what you said however I think it would be great to have a reference like that for newer hobbist's to read and learn things. It was just a thought, cause I stated why in my last entry.

 

[gpkozmp]

Originally Posted by SpiderWoman
http:///forum/post/3168071
You'd probably want to do some research on the standard lengths of these tanks and then go by that. For example tanks that are 36 in vs 48 in vs 60 in vs 72 in vs custom larger
Even if you have a 95g tank, but it's 48 inch long, that restricts your fish differently than if you had a 60 inch long 95g tank.
Just my $0.02 worth
Your $0.02 is worth a lot and I took that into consideration just now and a way to work with that would be to have like, for example:
95 gallon
48 inch
60 inch
100 gallon
36 inch
40 inch
60 inch
70 inch
And so on like that they can be like little sub-forum's so that way you can make is very specific or leave it with the vague forum's.

 

[ophiura]

I think that we have a couple of forums that are rarely visited low volume forums and that there is a risk that we would further subdivide the topics. People post in those forums and then have to go post in another "general" one (like New Hobbyists) to get answers. Those big forums get the traffic.
While I like the thought in general, I don't think it is practical. I think that you do have issues with the FOOTPRINT of the tank versus the volume, and trying to capture this would really make for lots of low activity forums...meaning people may not get answers and go elsewhere, or they would take posts from other forums and disperse them making the whole board seem less active.
Then you may get new hobbyists starting a 55g tank asking about cycling, and a new hobbyist with 100g tank asking about cycling...they miss each other. People already complain that not enough people use the search function. Now we may take it right out from in front of their faces.
If someone has 100g tank, and asks about fish, I will still probably ask them about the footprint of the tank as I do now in fish discussion.
Nano tanks are subspecialties because everything is really quite different - stocking, water quality, filtration, equipment, maintenance, etc. It is not quite so much the case in larger systems, IMO. Once you get above the minimum tank size of say a 30g, many of the principles converge, so the primary differences come in the livestock selection.
This is covered by existing forums, IMO. So if this was done, I would prefer it in fish discussion based on tank footprint (length in particular) and not New Hobbyist.

 

[beth]

While there are some forums that don't get much traffic, if you look at the forums related to "fish tanks" they basically do get visited.
It may be that we will need to periodically assess low flow forums and decide to remove them, or see if they can be integrated into other forums.
Most people visiting here do not go to all the forums by any stretch. They pretty must pick a couple of forums that interest them, based on the type of tank they have, and stick to those forums. So I don't think that adding new topics will refocus things, but it may give some more options, and personalize member hobbyists' experience here even more.

 

[cranberry]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3168122
I can see a potential down side. by categorizing the Hobby by tank size you may in fact also encourage hobbyists to just frequent that area that pertains to their tank.
Agreed.

 

[pezenfuego]

Since these forums are already quite inactive, making more subforums would only contribute to making more inactive forums. This would make it harder for people to quickly find things too...maybe.
If someone already mentioned that, I'm sorry. I was too lazy to read lol.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by Beth
http:///forum/post/3168284
While there are some forums that don't get much traffic, if you look at the forums related to "fish tanks" they basically do get visited.
It may be that we will need to periodically assess low flow forums and decide to remove them, or see if they can be integrated into other forums.
Most people visiting here do not go to all the forums by any stretch. They pretty must pick a couple of forums that interest them, based on the type of tank they have, and stick to those forums. So I don't think that adding new topics will refocus things, but it may give some more options, and personalize member hobbyists' experience here even more.
Only thing is, you start changing around forums too often and people may get annoyed big time - even if they are not used that often. I am not opposed to personalizing member's experiences really, but throw in a forum that is so personal that it is just basically that poster...that is risky. To me the personal experience comes from being in a relatively active forum with a set group of people who "know" me. That is what made SWF different for me versus the "monster" boards.
Plus...if a new hobbyist is asking about fish selection in a soon to be cycled 100g reef tank...and it is posted in Fish only...where do I move it if at all? This is already a debate that I have at least. And if the answer is it can go anywhere in at least 3 forums now, do we really need to add another place? That means possibly the people who could answer are in forum #2, and we dilute it further.
The personal experience, IMO, is partly about finding the right forum, but I suspect more about getting an answer.

 

[gpkozmp]

Okay you all got me...and to be honest that is not something that I thought of and thank you for bringing that to my attention. I am still new to the website and well it is a great place to learn and research, however I was simply looking for a way to learn more about my specific tank size.
Here is another solution, please let me know what you think about this;
When you go to fill out your profile and you put like your equipment if there was someway that that gets entered into a database to where it comes up with everyone that has one of those sizes. For example;
95 gallon:
John, Timmy, Jeremy, Tammy, Beth, Joanne...
100 gallon:
Greg, Bill, William, Bob, Alexis, Kalinah...
125 gallon:
Jeff, reefguy, deepsealady...
Just stuff like that and that way if you wanted to look to talk to someone with that size tank you have a list that you can message to ask question's, share pictures and see what their tanks look like.
Like I said I am just trying to see if there is someone I can find other's fast with the same size tank that I am getting, THIS WEEKEND!!! sorry really anxious and excited...lol. Well tell me what you think and thanks for all the feedback, and in the end due to your feedback it made me realize the fallback's to my idea.