More of the same.

[wombat2]

Here's what you get for your $25 a year folks. Criticism is silenced. Voices are only heard if they fit in the sponsors' business plan. And if you question it you get threatened with a ban.

I started a thread in response to this one:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=805910
in order to state RDO's exact position on this matter, which is: We don't take sides. Our forum exists to provide a place for free discussion of industry issues. We don't censor content because it damages the image of a company. This hobby advances by the uncensored sharing of knowledge.

Informing Dr. Foster of that got my thread 'deleted' and a ban threat. We shall not question the sponsors.

If you read this consider yourself lucky. I suppose it will get moved to an inaccessible forum rather quickly. I won't be here again. If you have a question about anything I can be reached at Matt_Wandell@reefs.org.

It's been fun chatting with you all here. See you at the meetings and the WMC.

 

[Reefugee]

Hey Matt,

Do you have the original thread that Jim was talking about? Rather ironic that Dr. Foster is able to express an opinion, but no one else is allowed to express theirs. I don't disagree with Dr. Foster comment in that forum - but to shut everyone else up is wrong. Dr. Foster opened up the door for discussion by posting a long rant. He could have simply stated "No Jim. That was me."

I am kinda curious what you posted that got deleted. I know that you have purchase fish online before - so I know you're not one of those "don't ship any fish."

Minh

 

[Marc Daniels]

Minh-

If you followed any of the threads on the "other site", you would see that the issues run much deeper than simply shipping fish. At some point I was convinced that a new persona had started posting for the good Dr. His syntax and sentence structure seemed to change and he sort of went off the deep end.

It's a shame that RC won't allow ANY dialogue in regards to their sponsors except from the sponsors point of view. Any dissenting opinion gets removed, and the poster banned, or threatened with a ban. It's a shame what RC seems to have become, where the advancement of the hobby, and the open honest sharing of communication has taken a back seat to the all mighty dollar.

When a site starts generating a monthly average income in the range of $25000 - $35000, it's original mission sort of gets set on the back burner.

 

[GreshamH]

IBTL Feels like home.....

 

[Marc Daniels]

What's IBTL?

 

[GreshamH]

In Before The Lock Gotta spend more time on the "other" sire Marc

 

[Marc Daniels]

I have been! Just never seen IBTL....

 

[GreshamH]

Yah, your posts are excellent

IBTL is more a sump issued post mostly. Matt will explain, he frequents the sump MUCH more then I. I only go for the 24 Y/o hot blonde teachers

 

[Marc Daniels]

Ahh, you single guys. Luckily I already have my hot brunette teacher.

 

[GreshamH]

In a uniform no less.

BTW, hope all is going good for her over there.

 

[Marc Daniels]

She's doing fine, thanks. She'll be home next month on leave, and we're going to Carmel for a week with the kids.

When asked how this compares to teaching 8th grade, her reply is usually "at least now I can shot back".

 

[GreshamH]

Now that's funny, LOL.

 

[thereefgeek]

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=83885

DFS is also a sponsor on RDO :lol:

 

[Marc Daniels]

Yes, it seems that Big Brother and his double speak are everywhere.

 

[duec22]

From what I'm reading of the issue it seems that most of the "Brick and Mortar" store owners aren't figureing out that they need to set up an "etailer" website if they want to compete in the current market......

 

[GreshamH]

David, even if they did that, that's not the major complaint. B&M's get a certain wholesale pricing, all the big guy etailers get dry goods for far cheaper, and have very low overhead compaired to a B&M. When you compair many online prices, it just about matches what a retailer pays for that item usually.

 

[wombat2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7021163#post7021163 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thereefgeek
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=83885

DFS is also a sponsor on RDO :lol:

Very true. I doubt that will last much longer. Race made that pretty clear. RDO is unwilling to sell out our principles to him.

He also made it pretty clear that the only further 'discussion' he'd be engaging in would be here at RC and through his newsletters. Asking a pointed question here earns a thread deletion and a ban threat. As long as every thread in the forum says something along the lines of "I got my fish and they look great!" everyone's happy.

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

 

[Marc Daniels]

But he didn't "discuss" my question, he doesn't discuss any question. His response is his usual double speak infomercial.

 

[duec22]

Gresham, that's exactly what I was refering to. I'm not in the bussiness so I'm not sure exactly how things work. But, I'm betting the etailers get such low prices because they are buying in much larger quanties. The way I see it in modern times if I were to open a LFS it would have to be more in a warehouse setting and complimented with online service. With a small store front and lots of storage space. I just don't see any way for a small mom & pop fish store to stay open. Take a local store that I go to for example. I've been upgrading my tank to grow SPS and needed more flow. I decided I wanted a Rio Sieo 620 after researching..went online to get a price of $34. So I decide to stop by the LFS to see if they have one, didn't mind paying a couple of dollars to have it that day and saveing on shiping. When I got to the store I was happy to find they had them, but sadden to find a price tag of $78 on the box. I ask the cleck if it's marked right, they said yes. I told them about the online price, and he pointed to a sign that said they were haveing a 10% off sale....I laughed and went home and ordered it online... I'm sorry, but I'm not going buy things at overly inflated prices like that. I'm not going to hold their hand and show them how to compete in the market. I mean if I owned a LFS here in Sac. and was finding I couldn't get the buying power I needed I would do something about it. Like pooling my buying power with that of a couple of other LFS that aren't in direct copetition with me, or I would look to expand my market inorder to move more product.

 

[Marc Daniels]

David-

When I was running my etail operation, we did know where near the business of F&S. We were small, yet we were still allowed into most of the wholesale outfits around LA to cherry pick, and pick up enough stuff to fill that days orders. A lot of times we may not pick up more than $40 -$50 from a single wholesaler. There are a lot of etailers doing this. It's not about purchasing power...
The wholesale companies will swear on a stack of bibles that they don't allow cherry picking, or people to place orders under their minimum policy. But they do it every day...and then turn around and make the B&M toe the line and order $500. The wholesale companies are saying one thing to the B&M customer, and doing another.
An etail company that is filling orders on an as needed basis never actually owns a fish. When they go to get it it's only because you ordered it. It goes straight from the wholesale house to your door. They have no overhead, they are not imposed the same minimums as the wholesaler imposes upon the B&M customer, they are not expected to eat the first 5% or 8% of the DOA on a shipment like the B&M customer. It's all about a level playing field, and customer loyalty.