"I got off track with my comments below and considered not posting it, however have because of concerns that I have had over the last few months and events of late seem to be comming to a head, I hope that an honest and genuine plea for some change may not fall on deaf ears. I do so only for my interest in the MARS club in general, a MARS member, and this forum here. I do not do so to start controversy, "stir the pot", nor be a "trouble maker", but rather hope that my honest thoughts may open a dialog to change what is going on."
My opinion is and I hope that is apparent by my comments as of late, is that I like reeftanks.....and that is all I am interested in. I am interested in your problems, trials....successes and sometimes failures of being in this hobby and nothing more or less....all the rest can be buried somewhere else for all I care.
Though this is not the "official" meeting place of MARS I think many people, including myself do not make it to the meetings and this is our main interaction with the club. I value it extremely and think it is an excellent medium for interaction with the club members and interested local reefers.
To understand why I would like a change to the FS thread listings and that it is part of the bigger picture add to the fire and need to explain how I see the forum as a whole as of late and how these contribute to the problem.
I myself don't mind the "FS" threads, but at the root of it, I feel it distracts the look of the page and pushes the real topics and true purpose of this forum/club to the side when bombarded with FS ads. Conversly, one could arque that this is the place for it and good deals should be offered here rather another place. I agree with this especially if it is a fellow MARS member or soon to be one doing the selling and "keeping it in the family".
FT ads I believe should be encouraged more than FS because I think it promotes more of a oppurtunity to barter and share your "bounty" with your fellow reefer and especially MARS member, and a common interest because your tanks are now linked and so on.....but I digress......
I believe that a sticky would be the best place for these ads and let anyone post there that wishes, that way we can troll for local deals on a local forum rather on the main RC level and keep the main goal to: "promote, create and enlarge the hobby of keeping, propagating, appreciating and exhibiting marine organisms.", at the top of the forum page.....
I believe that by doing this could attract others to browse the forum, participate and grow the club......case in point, I submit my personal experience.....
I admit that I have not been a MARS member for very long, but am concerned what is going on here as of late. I considered joining this club for a very long time (nearly a year),did not post a SINGLE comment here during that time until I was....my point is that the dialog and connections between the members made me WANT to be a part of this. Had this forum been filled with the LFS politics and bashing, missing/deleted threads, and generally non supportive dialog......I may have considered otherwise, hence my theory of the virtual ghost town this has place has become(ing).
I would like to see changes such as to the F.S. ads for this very, very simple reason....."I like fishtanks!!!" I believe all of the concerns as of late, (LFS bashing threads, this B.O.D. stuff, etc), takes away from the real reason why we are all here in the first place.
I personally want to see threads of titled: "Check out my tank pics" and that "Karl (Unarce) has a coral named after him",(very cool and great for MARS)....rather than the above drama.
I know this is long, and very idealistic but I hope that I am not the only person that feels this way and hopefully we can turn this around and get back to "the good ol days" that I have heard many speak of fondly.
There is a large collective wisdom here that I truely appreciate and hope it does continue to thrive......however it seems that there is only a select few engaging on this forum now......I believe we are at a crossroads in our organization and the time is NOW to start changing it for the better. I would like to change things such as these FS threads for the bigger picture overall as I have tried to explain as I see things, in hope to bring others back into participating and make this a more positive place to be.
Thank You, and see you around the reef!!!
:lol:
