+1 on limiting the prefix to FF/FS/LF/FT. The new format looks unnecessarily wordy and complicated. If it's difficult people won't use it and speaking for myself the buy/sell is a big reason I check canreef multiple times a day instead of once a day. If Buy/sell dries up, so does a big reason for me to check in which decreases the amount of viewing of sponsor ad's that happens.
I also want to rant a little on the new definition (I think it's new, but maybe I just noticed it) of a commercial vendor; specifically the line about not needing even needing a website or other real "commercial" presence to fall under that category. A lot of our most active and most helpful members could potentially be classified under this new definition, guys who maintain a frag tank to subsidize their own hobby. If we chase these guys away in order to appease the sponsors we lose a tremendous resource and the sites quality will suffer as a direct result. To me, this smacks of bullying by vendors threatening to pull their advertising dollars and is really unfortunate.
I do realize that sponsors pay the bills around here, but enthusiasts selling frags out of their basement frag tanks keeps the hobby affordable, sustainable and their assistance and goodwill (on a level that you rarely see sponsors provide) help the large number of new members that pass through here every day keep from feeling overwhelmed by this intimidating hobby. If we lose that, your advertisers will have no one to bully but they will also have a drastically reduced audience to market their wares to. Once the advertisers see that site traffic is down, they will start questioning if advertising (sponsoring) on canreef is a worthwhile investment or money down the drain. Members are the reason Canreef gets sponsors who pay the bills. End of rant
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08-14-2012, 08:51 PM
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