top 5 reasons not to be an ORCA member

[jsl6v8]

5. For an organization who lists one of their main goals as "Promote better standards for LFS", there are clearly no standards or qualifications for one of these stores to become a member. There are certain sponsors where you can walk into the store and see fish with pop eye, ich and other diseases in the tanks not to mention dead fish, and a complete failure to quarantine sick fish.

4. If you do accept a store as a sponsor there shouldn't be bashing of these stores, as we oh so very often see on these forums, instead all opinions should be viewed in a constructive manner and preferably made directly to the owner/s of said stores. I am sure that if they care about their business and the health of their stock that they will be more than happy to listen and take into consideration your views or explain why their views differ from your own.

3. Coral auctions, not only do the corals auctioned normally come with pests for free with them, and have been known to down more than one tank, they also take away revenue from our LFS's who carry legal permits to be selling corals and need that revenue to stay in business, especially in our current economic crisis. Yes, the clubs coral auctions as well as certain members who use the auctions as a front for what is basically a store, are going to cause some of our stores to eventually go out of business.

2. There is no unity within the club, there are clearly cliques in the club that stay seperate from other members of the club making it an uncomfortable and unfriendly environment for new members, not to mention a lack of organized events outside of meetings to allow members to get to know each other.

1. Orca isn't hard enough for Chuck Norris's beard.

 

[RayRay]

Wow, what a post...

ORCA is an association. By definition it is a group of people organized for a joint purpose or goal. We are NOT a business or a RIGIDLY disciplined group. It is a group of hobbyists. Our members often speak their minds. What some members don't understand is that when something is posted on a forum in public like this, the whole group is judged by it. That is people say "Look what ORCA said" rather than "Look what a disgruntled member of that ORCA group said."I have no idea what this post was meant to accomplish.

When "Promote better standards" was written, it was NEVER thought that we would be the police for the LFS's. Yes, a store can be a sponsor without having everything up to perfection. It is perhaps better to join with like minded people to freely share what is considered best practices, than to bash people and say "My way is the only way."If you like a store, then support it. If you don't, don't. Know that everyone is better at something. Look for what they are good at. If they do most everything well, IT WILL COST MORE (don't whine about price).

As for bashing of stores... I agree that it shouldn't happen in general and NEVER on an ORCA forum. This is addressed about every other month or so and will be addressed again at the next meeting.

As to coral events that ORCA has, I'm confused on why that one was brought up. Another goal of ORCA is to supply a source of propagated corals for other members. This year that event went to 4 times a year as opposed to twelve times last year. So, if that was hurting a store, we reduced their pain by 2/3. (By the way, this pays for the events that you say we don't have enough off. The next one I think is at SEAWORLD.) The main reason for this switch was to work harder to accomplish another one of our stated goals - Education of the Reef Aquarist. To that end, we are bringing in Bruce Carlson to the next meeting.

As for pests, they come in from stores as well as auctions. There are no guarantees no matter where you buy. If you don't dip and quarantine, you are playing russian roulette with your tank. It's a game that no-one wins. Just some folks get to play longer than others...

While I strongly disagree that there is no unity within the club, I agree that there are cliques. Some of that is generational. Some are opinion based. You don't have to be outgoing to be in this club. I think that there are many of friendly people in our group. Look for some...

I don't know what was trying to be accomplished with this post... therefore, my frustration. You don't agree with the direction for the club? Have you talked with an ORCA board member at the monthly meetings? Have you come to one of the board meetings (they're open to membership)? Want to run for office?Do you want to join and work to do anything to correct what you perceive to be wrong?

If you have questions on what is going on for any of these topics, find me at the meeting (or any BOD member)on Saturday. I'll fill you in on what brought us to the path that we're on now. We will talk of the direction that the club is moving. In the mean time please refrain form this "Style" of humor... it's not your strong suit.

 

[gwrench]

Well said Ray!
To further add to this post:
In order to promote better standards for LFS, local business owners must be willing to trade profits and or sales for quality. In some cases no matter how diligent the attempt to coerce a local business owner into providing pest free, healthy livestock their main objective is the bottom line, profitability! In this hobby the ability to make a decent living is difficult at best.
I agree that the flaming of stores is indeed an unhealthy practice, however we as Americans have been given the gift of free speech and this is hard to contain especially in a public forum such as RC. I also agree that if you don't like a particular store for any reason then do not support it. As far as sponsors of ORCA are concerned, we try and will continue to try and help these stores become better places of business.
Corals that make it to events like the one that is supported by the ORCA club not only provide corals at discounted prices to members but also seem to supply a large amount of coral frags to local stores, which based upon aquaculturing rules appears to have a slight haze to the law as well. This topic is better left off the discussion table as you may find that local stores in the future may not have the luxury of trading with local reefkeepers.
The unity issue is clearly a vision of the diversity of the club. There seems to be larger and larger numbers of members attending events as they occur. The fact that there are some smaller fellowship groups clearly identifies that there are individual knowledge levels as well as demographic issues. The fact that ORCA covers such a large land area helps to encourage this. Bing from Tiusville and knowing people from as far away as Ft Pierce and even beyond that. I don't see this as an issue. Perhaps you have not found your group yet.
One a final note, this in my opinion appears to be general bashing of ORCA rather than selectively approaching key individuals that seem to have stirred your frustration.
It is clear that you do not truly realize that the core group of members that are trying (very hard) to make ORCA a fine outstanding organization.
Regards
George

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Ray and George already made a whole bunch of wonderful comments in response to your post.

I would like to point out, that anything that happens on the Reef Central ORCA forum is not moderated by ORCA. Additionally the majority of people posting in the Reef Central ORCA forum are NOT ORCA MEMBERS.

Your post was obviously meant to be inflammatory, and I certainly hope it is addressed by the RC moderators. I think it was very small of you to make such a general post instead of privately contacting those who you have problems with.

 

[ccampo]

Wow, some people just don't see more than what they want to see and then make judgments with no bases.

 

[tricky]

Too Many Reasons To Be An ORCA Member

Too Many Reasons To Be An ORCA Member

We are longstanding members of ORCA. We can truly say that ORCA is directly responsible for taking us from 7 gallons to nearly 500 gallons of reef tanks (5 at last count) in our home. Without the knowledge, friendships, frags and interest of our may fellow local reefers, we would have lost interest a long time ago. We have made many aquaintances and strong friendships through this association. There are far too many reasons for being a member to list, and we would encourage anyone with doubts to look a little closer and get involved.

What Cheeky mentioned about this forum on RC is very true. It is great that RC provides this meeting place, but over the years we have met people that have formed opinions about our club, the activities and the people by what they read here. This is a great place to keep in touch, share and gain knowledge. Because it is a fourm and opinions are what they are, we might suggest that the negative issues should be shared down in the sump somewhere, it believe it is called The Lounge!

We have been members of many hobby based clubs in the past, and we recognize the ups and downs of this type of an organization. With the size and diviersity of the members, cell groups tend to form, people come and go, and the dynamics become very complex. If you choose to participate even minimally, you may benefit to whatever extent you wish.

Rick and Terry Loewen

 

[Freed]

I don't think the permit(license) these store owners have are only to be able to sell corals and fish. Im pretty sure the permit(license) is a cities go ahead to let you have any store there. The permit (license) also lets you sell anything. I don't believe there is a coral or fish specific permit (license) that you have to have to sell them.

 

[lusenut2]

Man this is the 2nd post on this forum that is slap full of drama. I think its freaking halarious. I love all this he said she said stuff. Who cars if this guy has 5 reason why NOT to join the club. Im not going to lie I have a few also, but there is a crap load of reason why you Should join the club. Anything you do in life there is going to be drama, let the people say what they want and move on. Who cares.

 

[The_Browns]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12605965#post12605965 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lusenut2
Man this is the 2nd post on this forum that is slap full of drama. I think its freaking halarious. I love all this he said she said stuff. Who cars if this guy has 5 reason why NOT to join the club. Im not going to lie I have a few also, but there is a crap load of reason why you Should join the club. Anything you do in life there is going to be drama, let the people say what they want and move on. Who cares.

Agreed

 

[reefnfish]

It's really the 3rd Thread if you include the one by reefworksmike! Def entertaining on a nice long holiday weekend.

 

[Fuzzy]

To second what others have said - if you don't like the way things are going, get involved, participate, and try to make things better.
I'm sure the Volunteers who keep ORCA moving would appreciate the help.

As to "Free Pests" -

One should ALWAYS dip or "Q" any coral or fish before it goes in your tank. That's just common sense......

Which by the way, has been mentioned at pretty much every ORCA meeting I've ever attended. :thumbsup: