May be leaving RC

[NCNBilly]

Just a rant... I had my post removed from the Coral and Livestock Selling forum because "Geo" said I was a commercial enterprise (yes, Geo of geosreef in Ohio - a legitimate business owner). I fail to see how me selling phytoplankton is any different than people culturing GSP, Xenia, or chaeto for that matter - there are threads that are 12 pages long where people continually sell large quantities of the same item. I also feel its unfair to have someone modding a forum that they have a vested interest in.

I do what everyone tries to - sell enough stuff to buy another coral or two once in awhile. I grow out of 2-liter soda bottles in my basement. I use most of what I make. I am highly irate as a PAYING member of this site (which I have been for nearly three years now).

Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll be back. I'm certainly dropping my premium membership. I've sent messages to some of the admins, so we'll see what's up.

 

[Fizz71]

Hopefully they'll work it out with you..either way, please keep us informed. When I move (in May I hope) I was planning on starting a better setup to cultivate things to sell..but I was planning on using frag swaps to do it (and the new fragswapper if it ever gets written)...yours is not the first controversy on this site, nor will it be the last.

Good luck.

--Fizz

 

[billsreef]

Re: May be leaving RC

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8555898#post8555898 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NCNBilly
I fail to see how me selling phytoplankton is any different than people culturing GSP, Xenia, or chaeto for that matter - there are threads that are 12 pages long where people continually sell large quantities of the same item.

Funny thing, every time we shut down one of those guy's we catch selling large quantities of frags all the time, they have the exact same rant you just made. So you really don't need to feel so singled out, your have plenty of company.

BTW, while Geo might have his own business, you won't find him selling or otherwise promoting his business or products on RC. So with that in mind, he's not asking you to behave on RC any differently than he does himself.

 

[ODOG]

But whats the cutoff between being determined to be a business and just being a hobbyist? I don't know NCNBilly, but I see he has a 120 gallon tank. What if it was 1200 gallons and he sold some frags here everyweek. Would that be against rules? His 1200 gallons would have lot's of corals and theoretically lot's of frags to sell. Anyone that knows the hobby knows he wouldn't being making anything. He's not making anything off the deal, just offsetting some of his cost in the hobby. I'm not trying to pick a fight and certainly appreciate the efforts of volunteers (mods), but it just seems at times to be difficult on this site navigate at times. Protecting the paying vendors is fine, as they have paid for the right to advertise here. Without them there would be no reef central, but also without users/reefers there would be no rc or vendors, which should maybe be a consideration too.

 

[NCNBilly]

I guess we need a finer line drawn then. I have the capacity to make about 2 gallons of phyto every two weeks. I sell off what I can to buy my frags, supplement equipment, etc.

I wish I could be commercial, and I've thought about it. There's just not enough interest to try and compete with DT's on a larger scale. Most of the people that buy from me do so face to face, or are located in the FedEx zone which is cheap shipping. Does that sound like I'm a commercial enterprise?