Club News talk....

[STACKER]

Ok, after some consideration....

I gave this a shot for a year but the interest in any formal club doings hasn't happened. I truly don't have the time to put any more effort into something this is as pitiful as the the Mahoning Valley's economy. Therefore i hereby resign as the My-Sea President effective May 1.

More and more I realize that so few are interested in participation that we should simply relegate the whole thing to a few social gatherings and leave it at that. A club formation is a joke at this point

Basically, if anyone wants to step up now is the time. If not I'm just going to quit and let it die. (as if more than 3 people will even read this thread)

there, I said it....


I'll talk to the elected officials and come up with a viable plan to liquidate monies a few of us have busted our butts to generate for the club and go from there.

 

[coralfarmer84]

Sorry to hear that but i totally understand your situation. I don't want to be president or anything but i'll help out any way i can if you guys need something.

 

[STACKER]

It's really no big deal Ryan, this has been coming for some time. I've just put it off in hopes that some new blood would show some interest and word of mouth thru the LFS's would get a few tire kickers. I understand that a club trading amongst themselves is bad for LFS business which is likely the main reason they don't all pinnt at my flyers when salt water geeks are around.

Again, it's really NBD. Just letting the handful of people who have actually done anything that I can't pull the wagon by myself anymore.

In truth Paul and myself have done 99.99% of the work and we can't even get more than4-5 people to take an hr. or 2 away. It sucks but that's the reality of it. If there aren't huge immediate benefits, noone is interested...

I'm just gonna put my energy into things that are good for me for a while.

 

[coralfarmer84]

yea like i said it makes sense. I totally understand...

 

[STACKER]

I laugh because there are 2-3 people whose toes I stepped on trying to make this thing happen that will giggle with delight to see it die. Pathetic... It's a shame that there aren't more people out there willing to spend an hr. or 2 to help thers without having their names inlights. sorry, I just hadda say it and extend my middle finger to all those who walked away from a good group of local reefers.

 

[Jamokie01]

I actually just moved back home to Boardman after a few years in Cleveland and just stumbled across this club forum and Im suprised to see it. Didnt know there was anybody into this around here, especially with the lack of decent LFS carrying saltwater goods and animals.

 

[coralfarmer84]

there are a few of us that are dedicated reefers in this area. Yea you have to travel for the most part to find what your looking for, but its worth it in my opinion....

 

[Jamokie01]

Well Im glad to hear that. I got rid of pretty much everything when I moved, but I am going to be setting up my 90 gal as a softie reef.

 

[coralfarmer84]

Sweet..... and welcome back to beautiful youngstown ohio. the only place everyone wants to leave but always seem to come back to :lol:

 

[sbluscombe]

Dale,
i have to tell you i aprecheate the effort you have given. I had so much enthuseasim for it when i brought the subject up (of a local club)and it seemed like so many people were interested in it eventhough we had a bumpy start. I don't think we should let this die but I 'm not sure how to get people involved. This area is so weak for reefing . well i guess it seems like there are a good number out there in this area but nothing that can get orginized or help out and participate(I've been guilty of this too). Dale i will help you if you want me to. What do i need to do? I'm a busy person but i can spare an hour or two to keep something for us here.
steve

 

[Jamokie01]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7278897#post7278897 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralfarmer84
Sweet..... and welcome back to beautiful youngstown ohio. the only place everyone wants to leave but always seem to come back to :lol:

Sucks, but man, so true.

Anyways, Id really like to see something like a club or gatherings happen here. I was just getting in to C-SEA in Cleveland and then I had to move. Lemmie know if theres anything I can help with.

 

[STACKER]

Steve, the whole problem is that there is no real way to "rally the troups". The LFS don't want to help because they know we will be killing their non-fish salt water sales.

As I said before, I picked up a cold plate and tried for a year to keep the club thing alive long enough for someone to either step up or for tit to grow. I don't have time to do it all myself so I have to step back and down. I don't need help, I need replaced! I needed help for the past 13 months but with 4 people at meetings and me being the sole source of communication, scheduling, and direction has just killed my enthusiasm.

As far as I can see the club is a dead issue, has been since month 3 when we had to move from Youngstown meetings and all organization went to me. My fault! I should have just left it alone I quess (20/20 hindsight).

 

[Jamokie01]

There are hundreds if not thousands of saltwater reef groups around the country, and all of the ones I have seen have the cooperation of LFS. If they wont help because of concern for their non-fish saltwater sales, why are all of these other places recieving donations and contributions from their LFS? As I see it, all of the LFS around here either dont have coral, or have crap, that they often times mislabel as something that it isnt.
What exactly were you looking for from the LFS as a contribution to your group?
How many people were considered part of the group?
When and how often were you having meetings?
How did you try to spread word of the group?

 

[coralfarmer84]

Well for one Mike and I are both willing to help out as much as possible (as long as it doesn't require me to do anything :lol: ) I just don't understand what we are supposed to be doing. I am relatively new to the whole thing as I only attended one meeting in which I liked. I tried to host something here but it feel apart. WE can have something of a club here in this area. We all just need to pitch in and help out and not rely on Dale to do everything. I notice a lot of people always checking this forum but nobody ever posts anything. We are supposed to help each other out. When i post a thread under this forum i might as well send stacker a private message instead because no one else ever tries to help me It just sucks, but i'm willing to give it a shot since my tank is king of the reef lol lol

Dale IMO we should try to have another meeting at pauls or mine or even someone elses place and discuss and maybe vote on what we should do in person. If noone shows the club dies, and we drink all the beer ourselves. Otherwise I don't know what to say.

 

[Jamokie01]

Well to have people come to meetings you have to have something going on at the meeting, speaker, project, raffle, frag swap, otherwise it seems more like a hangout situation and not so much like a meeting.
On the other hand I cant help but notice that only 4 people have commented on this thread, which makes the problem pretty obvious. To me it seems obvious the benefits of a local reef group, possible discount at lfs, group orders ot save on shipping, frag swapping, etc, but I guess some people dont see it that way. Having lived in Boardman most of my life people in this area strike me as the type that throws anything that looks pretty into a tank, and then replaces it after it dies in a month.

 

[coralfarmer84]

haha that part about things dieing in a month reminds me of my friends reef ( no names) cough mike lol. But your right people need incentive to drive them. Me personally I just like to see other peoples tanks to compare them to my own so i can make improvements on my system. Frag trading is sweet, but nobody in this area has an sps dominated tank to "trade" with me. I'm still working on a college student income so my tank needs a lot of improvement. I get most of my stuff from the following forums thou. I just got a colony of blue tort and a steve tyree acropora frag, I'm sure if you know anything about SPS you know these are highly sought after corals, I'm starting to get to the point where i only want super amazing colors in my tank.... basically I want to oneday have tank of the month when you get your tank set up, maybe we can trade some things, i got some soft corals i'll be wanting to unload in the future.

 

[Jamokie01]

I miss my SPS's . Sorry I didnt hang onto stuff cause I could have traded you some awesome LE frags. I didnt think I was going to be able to have a tank, so I ended up getting rid of all of my sps, lps, and most of my softies. Now I have a wicked ugly 90 gal set up, cyano all over the place, no cleanup crew to speak of, and crappy lighting. Blah, oh well time to rebuild. Anybody getting rid of some T-5's?

Anyways, Im more than happy to contribute in any way I can. Sundays are my personal days, and I refuse to work on them, as paintball and fishing are far more important, so Im always available for anything on a Sunday. If people are up for it Id be down for a meeting somewhere (sorry I cant offer a place to have it) to come up with some ideas and get to know the locals.

I would like to ask how many people have expressed interest in this? Is it only like 4 or 5 people? Or have more people expressed interest in having frag swaps and having projects at meetings, things like that? I mean it would be relativley easy to have a group project like building calcium reactors, skimmers, wavemakers, if we have a decent sized group of people. Are there enough people that we could actually have a successful frag swap? Could we make it worth while enough that some LFS would want to come and sell any product?

Im not trying to act like I know anything at all, or suggest that you guys havent done your homework or covered all your bases, Im just trying to get an idea of what has or hasnt worked. Also judging by Stackers mod skills he seems like a hell of an asset to keep happy so he can help us out with some DIY projects .

 

[STACKER]

Jamoke, your comments are right on track. Actually all of these issues have been visited and revisited. Initially there was tremendous response to a club organization but nothing materialized for months... It was all idle talk until I got involved and pushed to make something happen. In the process I ruffled a few feathers but nevertheless "something" happened. Since then we have had regular monthly meetings of never more than 6 attendees, including a presentation by Steven Pro on ailments. I was embarrassed that only 6 people showed.

Regarding LFS cooperation, only Rich at Professional Aquatics has ever helped. The others are joke with regard to salt water and reef stock in paticular. simply put, a strong club and following generates it's own good will. 3-4 regulars and 2-3 doing 100% of the work doen not constitute and strong following, therefore the club is looked at as a joke or even a few annoying geeks looking for a price break of handout by retailers.

Regardless, Paul and I did ALL of the work to get it on it's feet but thru a lack of support and percieved local apathy it's gone nowhere but down.

We have a treasury but that money was generated mostly (75%) by Paul and his efforts the remaining 25% was my and Jamies donations form the frag swap this spring, a few raffle tickets sold and some donations from Rich.

I'm not complaining, simply stating fact. I feel that maybe my presence is the reason several others aren't participating and my aggressive direction probably keeps another 2 ro 3 from even posting here. This is another reason why I'm stepping away.

As you can see, with no more than 4 different posters here in the past 3 months almost any effort on my part is futile. I've always been very available to help, just tired of doing it all myself.

Jump in and contribute. Please!

If we actually had a club we could vote in new officers but i can't get enough people to show up to even fill the 4 postions.

Jamoke, I'm not in any way bashing you... but i've heard all of your comments from others who failed to do any more than tell us what we needed to do. A good idea is only good if it becomes real.


Ryan, I'm all for whatever to keep the club thing alive, I'm just done doing it all. I now want to be to 90% and let the 90% become the 10%. The groundwork is all there, a treasury, web pages and free hosting by me, contact lists, this forum on RC, and a few 3 paid members? Paul could tell you the actual number.

 

[coralfarmer84]

Maybe later this week i could swing by your house and pic up that disk of pictures and we can talk more about it then. As of right now, I just want to see something grow but have no clue how to get people involved. Shoot i can't even get my own friends to see the pleasures of reefing. I guess your either into it or not from the getgo.....

 

[coralfarmer84]

If anything I'd just like to get more people doing things on this forum. I use the cleveland, pittsburgh and other surrounding areas to get a lot of my livestock, it'd be great if people in this area got involved so we could actually build off of each other.