Suggestion for the forum.

[barracuda]

Hello all,
i've been in this forum since july 2001. I love this place because here you can get a lot of useful info on almost everything about saltwater hobby. At the begining i was asking a lot of questions as i was learning. Then i've bought relevant books which include everything about this hobby. What i have noticed since then that there are a lot of same threads, that repeat themselves over and over again. For example now: same threads in different locations (new hobbyist and reef tanks) includes "Kalkwasser", "Aiptasia", "DSB". New people want to know about these things which is great, but sometimes they should wait until somebody answers them. Then comes another question and another question. What i propose is if we could combine all the relevant info in one place (directory) and newbie will first try to find the answer there and if no ask us. For example Kalkwasser. Everything one should know about it: why to use, benefits, how to use etc. DSB. benefits, switch ways, LS over the CC why not, etc.
You can say "Hey, search this forum and you will find a lot of info". Right, but when you search for these subjects you find tons of threads.
This is just what i think. What do you think about it?
P.S. i suggest it not because i bored to answer over and over again. I love to help people and will continue to try to help(until my wife will burn my PC together with me). This is just to help others to get their basic answers faster.

 

[banshee]

Maybe because there is not one answer for the questions asked. What works for one person may not work for another. I have seen an answer given to one question that contradicts another answer. I think these forums are good because you get the experiences of a lot of people and then can make your own decisions.

 

[barracuda]

You absolutely right. I was talking about basic things. If you will ask 20 times "what is kalkwasser", its definition won't change. Thats what i'm talking about.

 

[goldrush]

"Cuda",I agree with you 100%. We are all here to give and receive help, but a section of FAQ's with an index would cut down on the repetition quite a bit. Once someone has done the basic research,this would be a spot to "fine tune" a solution based on their specific tank size,inhabitants,etc.. No one is trying to discourage questions,just to keep this forum fresh and alive.

 

[overanalyzer]

I agree as well - liek hte new hobbyist has the definitions posted - all forums should have it. Plus the formula for figuring out how much sand if you want a sand bed X inches deep and such. purely factual info ...

 

[scotts]

B
I completly agree with you. I don't mean to jump on your bandwagon but I made the same suggetion on a different post. It was the one where people were talking about how this board has gotten, well a little mean. I mean I don't have a yellow tang, and no offense I do want want to get one, but I know you cannot keep a yellow tang in a 29 gallon aquarium.
I think there should be a FAQ sticky thread with some general guidelines. Everyones situation is different but just some general information such as, what is Southdown, What size tank is RECOMMENDED for a tang, what type of lighting is available and how many watts per gallon... That way when people brign up these topics they can be kindly urged to read this thread. The only problem is that it is a large undertaking.
Maybe as a starting point people could recommend topics that they would like to see on this thread. I have only been on this board for about 3 months but I have already seen the same topic asked over and over and over and over and......
Scott

 

[barracuda]

Sharks,
no comments???

 

[zafirablanca]

I usually just refer people to the forum search feature. That way they can see previous posts on the subject and the variance in opinions. All with out waiting for someone/ everyone to respond to their question. I have noticed that some people are very impatient when waiting for a response, when a forum search would in many cases give them more than enough information in no time at all. I think that we just need to make new members aware of the many features of this site. Especially the forum search feature.

-Christine

 

[fbihunter]

I agree. The biggest reeson myself and 30 others I know of come here is due to the fact that we get all different views and then decide the best approach.
IMHO, it should stay the same way it is. It was a good idea CUDA had, but hopefully with all of the members already on here and god only know how many a day join, then it should never get boring to answer the same questions occasionally.

 

[barracuda]

Oh, maybe i did not explain my point right. I did not mean to say that if you have whatever question, go to this database, find and read and just leave the board. I meant that maybe by looking into this database you will find the answer for your question and then fine-tune it by asking the board members.
Anyway,
maybe this was a wrong idea. Just leave it!
Lets do it like it is now. I'm still with you all. Addicted to this board.

 

[beth]

As sammy said, we did have an Archive. We archived what we considered exceptionally noteworthy threads, not really basic info. Those were pretty good archives too, yet they got little traffic. On the face of it, it sounds like a good idea to archive basic info, however, who's going to do all the “info thread” management or the writeups of basic stuff?? Not that I mind posting info here, but, there's only so much time for all the mods here and, for the most part, as sammy says, we're here for the same reason everyone else is here. Share with each, learn, and, have some fun interacting with fellow hobbyists. There are 2 such threads already here on the Forums that deal with FAQ. They are indeed useful, but it was time consuming to put them together. Imagine if we did that with all the basic FAQ in the hobby! However, if SWF.com would like to hire me on full time so I could quit my regular job, I’d gladly spend my time doing it! What a great job that would be, eh!