reef club topics

Another thing, I forgot. Membership fees of $15 a year per household is MORE than reasonable. It costs about $15/mth for any decent shared hosting to keep a website online. Not to mention the costs for MASNA, and other things.

I have hosting that runs almost $500/mth, so that gives you an idea of what it can cost if you need high end hosting.
 
Thanks for the kind words Corban and leena.
I never attacked anyone... what I attacked was:
The last minute notices of where the meetings were and
the lack of communication and lack of involvment.

I am for this open discussion. Not everyone can make it to every meeting.
 
all the meetings are at the same time every month I just think alot of people lose sight of that...As far as where they are going to take place is a different story..not knowing if your driving to the westside or the foothills can make a difference... I think more notice would help...
as far as active members is concerned there are many lurkers or longtime members(rc) that read articles and post little who are very experienced aquarists ( i can think of a few: ahman,crazy4,red?)... I agree with moon!

You have many aquarists who were in RC and RL ten years ago ...who also go to WWM
that just dont speak or see the need to
 
Hey all,

Well. I think most of us felt that this would come, and it is later then I anticipated. Unfortunately, most of the comments here are right and wrong.

First off, I was trying to keep my personal life out of this but here goes. I apologize for not being around lately, and I have tried to get to each meeting but last meeting was too much. My mother had a severe stroke followed by a Heart attack a few months ago which has kept me from doing many other things that I wanted. On top of that my father was diagnosed with cancer very recently, thus my no-show at the last meeting.

Aside from that, my life is hectic. but I am not willing to let the club drop. I firmly believe that much good can come of it. Although here are some problems I see:

1st, Communication SUCKS, period without excuse. I have been working on the new site for some time and finally, this weekend, I plan on going live with the new web server with many features such as updated content, calendar, revised forums (Mostly as an informational resource.) I sincerely hope that this thread provides many ideas, and shows that it only takes a few to change.

2nd, Member feedback is GREATLY lacking. Numerous times we have asked members for feedback and ideas, rather then the board stuffing unwanted content down everyone’s internet connection. Every improvement request such as "less formal" has been implemented thus far. and I want to thank greenuku, leena, and moonpower for their input.

3rd, MY feeling is that we need a structured location. Visiting each others house is fun but stressful for everyone. Trying to figure out where it is, when, availability and the hosts have to worry about feeding or not feeding everyone. I know for one, I can't afford $100+ on food to have people over. so we need to change this structure to better suit everyone. If we do change locations each time, we need to have the locations communicated at least 3 months out.

4th. I know the entire board apologizes for NOT executing any events lately, the events we had planned fell through and was taken as a lesson learned to seek alternate ideas. and I want to stress everyone that the dues / reg fees that all members have donated are being held onto. I for one have been paying out of pocket all server and hosting fees for the website. This translates into about $30/month. This will not change and I do not want it to.

5th, we have a good club, but most of us are into the reef hobby < 2-3 years. this means that frags are not as bountiful as other national / large city clubs. I think we all now have Jen and Eric’s mushrooms and Xenias. I have fragged my Monti > 20 times and usually come back home with the frags I bring.

Purchasing items such as rare frags, berghia's, etc is risky due to tank crashes, environment and club dynamics. Lets talk about this at the next meeting.

I hope everyone understands that open communication is something that needs to happen, we need to figure out what we want. If the club wants to change, the best way is to ask. As always, I am VERY happy to answer e-mails, PM's, Calls, etc...

Finally if there is no location already provided, I will welcome the meeting to my home this next meeting, although, last time it was at my place only a small handfull showed up. I am assuming it is because I live in Rio Rancho, so I have stopped offering due to the low number turnout. If everybody is OK with it, lets plan it. Also, if we need to change the day / time, lets talk it it out.
 
Alex sorry to hear about your parents.

Jen has said the meeting would be at her apt. Personally, I just would like it to be a place everyone can come to and be comforable.
 
I talked with Rob at southwestreef today and he is still offering the store as a meeting location spot. I would like to reccomend that we take the offer over the next few months since it is a neutral spot and fairly convienent for everyone.

If anybody has any other ideas, please let me know asap, I am about to update the site with the new information.
 
Man that really sucks. I have to be out of town all week and I wont be back until Saturday. I really enjoy the LFS meetings, even though we only have had one so far. Anyway I hope everything goes well.


Edit: I have 650 post count :) But that is probably mostly due to the fact I was unemployed for 5 months and didn't have much to do. But they are probably split between the club forum and the other forums on RC.

Corben I still have frags available for you but I have been extremely busy the last week and this week I will be out of town. But like I said the frags are still available.
 
Israel......Thanks man. I would like to get them from you at your convienence. I know you are busy, working too hard. LOL

Just let me know, no hurry though, so don't stress about it. I just appreciate the help.

That post count is mind boggling. :). Keep up the good work.
 
if you want some frags Ive got lots of green shrooms, grn sinularia, gold spaghetti leather, grn monti caps.. just let me know if your interested.
 
asfullax although i think i would be great to have the meeting at southwest reef but there are two things with that. one, is it really any bigger than jens and erics apartment and second i know that there are members from other lfs and i don't know how it would be with other competitors in each others stores. there might be some hostility there. although there shouldn't because i know that we are all in the same hobby and suppose to be a fun hobby. but i also understand that a business is all about making money though. if the club is just asking southwest reef it might also look like the club is favoring southwest were as the club should be favoring all lfs.
 
Reefey,

Although I understand the concern, we have been through this and quite frankly, something has to change. Meeting at peoples houses is very frustrating for everyone because it is always a new place, and, well, I think I stated the items above. :)

Rob from SWRC was asked, and by no means is Rob involved in the club hierarchy, if he is there, it is strictly because he is a visitor / speaker. I have NO problems with other LFS involvement, but honestly, SWRC is the only one that has volunteered the space.

On to space, some of the meeting grounds we have been to are large, some small. Many meetings I have felt like a sardine and I feel that can discourage many prospective members. If the club was to stay with only a few people, I would not worry, but we have seen membership spice and decline and during the strong points, a house just doesn't cut it.

Here are some reasons I would rather use a LFS:
Access to salt water utilities
Access to materials for demonstration
Livestock to show
fraging utilities
Water checking
Space (which is larger usable space)
Convenience knowing where / when it is.

Like I have said at just about every meeting, ANYBODY who wants to volunteer space for our meetings is welcome to and we will probably accept. Rob is the only one who has actively and passively agreed to our usage.

I am hopeful that we will address and resolve this issue once and for all as this has been a sticky point from the start and I fear our growth / abilities are being severely limited by such conflicts. After all, we are a nonpartisan club and will always be so.

:D see you all in a bit...

BTW: The meeting agenda is now online and I will bring copies for the first 20 people. :rollface:
 
well the meeting was a sucess. wish more people would have shown up but we went over some good issues. great job everyone.
 
This has been a very enlightening and depressing thread.
As a relative newbie to the hobby, I never knew there would be so many politics involved. I have read about problems other clubs around the country have, but never thought our club would be like that. I think we have some really great people in our club and I feel our officers sincerely try as hard as they can. They volunteer time, resources, etc without getting much back in return. I appreciate all that they try to do.
Personally, I look at the club as a place to learn alot more about I hobby that I have come to love and unfortunately have become severely addicted to---Reefers Anonymous anyone? :).
As someone said above, life gives us enough drama.
It seems the officers are more than willing to try and enact reasonable suggestions.
I am glad that I joined the club although I rarely get to come because I usually work late on Friday evenings.
I think that I could come to more meetings if they were held on a Saturday.
I don't really care where the meetings are held. I really enjoy looking at others tanks. It would be alright to have them at one of the LFS also--would probably end up buying more stuff though.
I never even knew that people were swapping/giving away frags.
Since I really don't know many people, I guess that is to be expected.
Hopefully, the dust will settle and the club will only get better.
 
well rackyrane alot of stuff got sorted out in the last meeting and it looks like we are going to have some meetings at some of the lfs. you should introduce yourself and i dont know where you live but i live in the hieghts and your more than welcome to come by and check out my tank. there are some of my friends over here that would welcome you also. but any ways thanks for the post.
 
Thanks alot reefey. It's always great to look at others tanks. I hope to be able to frag stuff in the future and give it away. Right now, I don't have much in my tank. Am working on it though!
I am going to try and make it to the next meeting.
 
Rackyrane, welcome. I am probably just as new as you. I signed up to RC a while ago, but didn't actual find the NMOK forum until about August or something.

My tank is set up yet, but my 55gallon is. You can come by anytime. I live in the Heights, Eubank and I-40 area close to Los Altos Golf Course.
 
wow it seem that there are alot of people in the heights. we should have a tour of the heights group. i don't know if anyone know how a poker run works but instead of bar hoping we could reef hop what would people think of this. i know of atleast five or six people in the heights. so who's up
 
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