What can we do to up the numbers?

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by Beth
http:///forum/post/3049803
The rules are not leaving, and they really are not unreasonable either. Sometimes you may not like the way the rules touch you personally. If you are bothered enough, then PM the mod who has offended you and try to work it out, or contact SWF. That is not an invitation to complain about every little irritant. This is a community, and sometimes we may get on each others nerves.
New hobbyists are welcome here, and have always been able to find a home at SWF. I'd encourage everyone to let us know if someone is being heavy handed with any member here.
Perhaps another forum to cater to new hobbyists and new members? An info-forum, or maybe a chat area?
I like chat areas, but they are nearly impossible to moderate

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by PEZenfuego
http:///forum/post/3049827
I like chat areas, but they are nearly impossible to moderate

HMMM...PEZ...I think that question was brought up by someone a couple of months back, and I think the response from SWF was it would be WAY too hard and MUCH too time consuming to moderate.....I think SEP was the one who relayed that info.
I do not remember who asked about it though

 

[mantisman51]

I belong to two other forums and they have the exact same issue with old timers-v-noobs. One is a car forum the other is a local Tucson reef club. I tried to buy things from the old buy/sale here, but after being promised they'd pm me directions, I didn't hear back from them. I personally don't miss the buy/sale. My local (if 90 miles is local

) reef club keeps me in coral/lr and SWF supplies all my fish.

 

[cranberry]

I don't see this as a "mean" place. There's only one other I hang at that is indeed like a family BBQ, but other than that.... this place is right up there. Is this in the aquarium the attitude is happening? I mean there are a few that are notably an idiot... and by no means is this place California-friendly..... I guess I've never been wish death before because of where I live... but overall this seems rather smooth.

 

[mantisman51]

Heck most of my family moved to Cali and I still give the cr@p about being "Californians"-you know the typical fruit and nut jokes.

 

[ophiura]

I think the aquarium is a place that could seem harsh if you are new and not familiar with the dynamic. It is truly being thrown in the deep end of things.
However, I have seen a few threads with new hobbyists that have been issues. We've seen it before. And a lot is a problem with tone, where perhaps we meant a sarcastic comment and didn't use the emoticon, which makes it sound very rude. But some are intending to be rude know-it-alls, no doubt about it.

 

[cranberry]

Originally Posted by mantisman51
http:///forum/post/3049934
Heck most of my family moved to Cali and I still give the cr@p about being "Californians"-you know the typical fruit and nut jokes.

That's fruit and nut jokes... not "I wish you didn't exist and I hope you drop off the earth" jokes.

 

[mantisman51]

Yeah, that's not cool. I don't care for the politics, over-crowding and arrogance of California, in general, but to demean and attack folks personally is just ignorant. FWIW, I always look forward to your "Look what I got now" threads. You have some seriously righte

ous fishies.

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by mantisman51
http:///forum/post/3049943
Yeah, that's not cool. I don't care for the politics, over-crowding and arrogance of California, in general, but to demean and attack folks personally is just ignorant. FWIW, I always look forward to your "Look what I got now" threads. You have some seriously righte

ous fishies.
Oh yeah she does

I was a member of some freshwater forum...gosh I wish I could remember the name. Anyway, they had a section parallel to the forum where you could play games with other members and hold high scores and such. It was pretty cool and seemed to help entice. Brainstorming, write down any stupid idea that pops in your head because even if it seems stupid as you write it down, you never know...

 

[jdl]

I just built an algae scrubber for my tank. That thread is on a ton of different boards. Try reading that thread here and it is IMPOSSIBLE because there are tons of links where to buy a screen or a light or whatever which SWF doesnt carry, sell, even care about... yet the links are blocked. So this means I have to go somewhere else to read a very good thread about a filtration device. But the law seems to be written in stone about the linking so many good threads are useless on this site.

 

[bionicarm]

Originally Posted by JDL
http:///forum/post/3050192
I just built an algae scrubber for my tank. That thread is on a ton of different boards. Try reading that thread here and it is IMPOSSIBLE because there are tons of links where to buy a screen or a light or whatever which SWF doesnt carry, sell, even care about... yet the links are blocked. So this means I have to go somewhere else to read a very good thread about a filtration device. But the law seems to be written in stone about the linking so many good threads are useless on this site.

SWF's logic is although they don't sell that light that that site carries, that same site probably has other items on it that they do sell, hence why the link is blocked.
I've personally never bought anything from this site because it's cost prohibitive. If I want just a few snails or hermits. or maybe just one fish, it costs too much in shipping to get it to me. I can go to my LFS and order practically anything I want. One shop orders new livestock every couple of weeks. I can ask for a specific species, and they'll order it at no extra charge. If I decide not to buy it, they usually have no problems selling it to someone else. They may charge a few dollars more than what SWF sells it for, but I don't have to factor in the shipping charges.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by JDL
http:///forum/post/3050192
I just built an algae scrubber for my tank. That thread is on a ton of different boards. Try reading that thread here and it is IMPOSSIBLE because there are tons of links where to buy a screen or a light or whatever which SWF doesnt carry, sell, even care about... yet the links are blocked. So this means I have to go somewhere else to read a very good thread about a filtration device. But the law seems to be written in stone about the linking so many good threads are useless on this site.
Surely it doesn't make it useless, if the point of the thread is philosophically about algae scrubbers? Is the value in telling people where to buy stuff, or in sharing about basically how to build one and how it works?
FWIW, I can not post a link to my own site.
This has long been a standing policy at SWF and it is one of those things where I think you take the good with the bad. But surely a thread is not less valuable because it doesn't link to a product? At least not IMO, anyway. It is annoying at times, but I do understand the logic behind it.

 

[jdl]

Originally Posted by ophiura
http:///forum/post/3050225
But surely a thread is not less valuable because it doesn't link to a product? At least not IMO, anyway. It is annoying at times, but I do understand the logic behind it.
and here is the problem. It is totally less valuable. An algae scrubber is presented as a simple DIY project, yet it cant be shown on this site. The thread on algae scrubbers on every other site starts exactly the same, yet it is unreadable here because 1/2 the information is missing. And this information is very valuable. So a reader on this site now has to search elsewhere to get the missing information. You dont think this is driving users away? On just that one thread, SWF is forcing people to go elsewhere to read it. Why should i try and read a thread here or answer a question here when some important info is going to be excluded?
Some of you will praise this hard nosed view of no linking and say it has always been that way, and they are a business and so on and so on. That is fine, but i am telling you a reason. You dont have to like the reason but that doesnt change that it is a reason.
oh and of course the buy/sell/trade forums

 

[florida joe]

Pez what was the title of your original thread again

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3050305
Pez what was the title of your original thread again
Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing, not that good discussions aren't going on. Honestly, that thread you are referring to imo doesn't have any value at all even in its entirety. Anyway, changing rules that have been here for a long time isn't going to help increase the numbers...

 

[jdl]

Originally Posted by PEZenfuego
http:///forum/post/3050322
Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing, not that good discussions aren't going on. Honestly, that thread you are referring to imo doesn't have any value at all even in its entirety. Anyway, changing rules that have been here for a long time isn't going to help increase the numbers...
2 things:
1. those stuck in the past cant progress in the future.
2. There are many ways to remove hair algae from a DT. But you still need to correct the root of the problem. Meaning you can come up with many things to get people here, but if you dont correct the things that are driving them away, they will still go away.

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by JDL
http:///forum/post/3050332
2 things:
1. those stuck in the past cant progress in the future.
2. There are many ways to remove hair algae from a DT. But you still need to correct the root of the problem. Meaning you can come up with many things to get people here, but if you dont correct the things that are driving them away, they will still go away.
Hair algae has rhizomes, not roots...

 

[hlcroghan]

My suggestion is to definitely bring the trade forums back. Not the buy sell ones. Just the trade. That would ensure competitors are not selling here. Or to allow people to do it with PM. Also I think that we should be able to PM a link to someone if they need info on where to get something and SWF.com does not carry it. That way you would ensure that someone was not just selling or promoting something randomly because you have to have 50 post count first.
On the being rude to newbies thing. It was done to me. Not to the extent where I felt like leaving thankfully but I have seen some people get blasted where I would be crying if someone wrote that to me. It is a little ridiculous. For instance, when I got my mandarin I had to justify myself in length to be protected from insult. He's doing great BTW. People's response when confronted about acting horribly should never be "Well, it's the internet, you need to toughen up. Don't be a baby." I have seen that written many times. It makes me nauseous. Sorry. That is a horrible excuse for acting like an %^$#$%!! (insert bad name here). You can give constuctive critisicm without hurting someone's feelings. It is not that hard. Little self-control and common sense. If the current mods feel like they are having problems doing that because of the amount of traffic, I would be happy to jump in and be the nice police. I do it all day in my RL, lol.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by hlcroghan
http:///forum/post/3050415
My suggestion is to definitely bring the trade forums back. Not the buy sell ones. Just the trade. That would ensure competitors are not selling here. Or to allow people to do it with PM. Also I think that we should be able to PM a link to someone if they need info on where to get something and SWF.com does not carry it. That way you would ensure that someone was not just selling or promoting something randomly because you have to have 50 post count first.
On the being rude to newbies thing. It was done to me. Not to the extent where I felt like leaving thankfully but I have seen some people get blasted where I would be crying if someone wrote that to me. It is a little ridiculous. For instance, when I got my mandarin I had to justify myself in length to be protected from insult. He's doing great BTW. People's response when confronted about acting horribly should never be "Well, it's the internet, you need to toughen up. Don't be a baby." I have seen that written many times. It makes me nauseous. Sorry. That is a horrible excuse for acting like an %^$#$%!! (insert bad name here). You can give constuctive critisicm without hurting someone's feelings. It is not that hard. Little self-control and common sense. If the current mods feel like they are having problems doing that because of the amount of traffic, I would be happy to jump in and be the nice police. I do it all day in my RL, lol.
I just don’t understand where this has become a spoon feed forum for people not wanting to do the work to become a prolific marine aquarium keeper, the same questions asked over and over again which obviously show that the person asking the question does not want to at least spend the time to try to find the answer which has been given ad nauseum

 

[bigarn]

So how many Tangs can you put in a 10 gallon?