The dearth of spirited discussion

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Ian

As someone who is just back after stepping way from the forums and hobby for a few years I am surprised at the change in the feel here on Canreef. This forum spurred me to go from 1 29 gallon biocube to around 500 gallons of multiple tank syndrome! Now I have the same cube running and am debating if I really want to put that fish room in the new house into action!

I know what you mean. I don't even want the tank I have anymore!!

[hillegom]

doldrums

a spell of listlessness or despondency

[Dearth]

This is funny I just got finished reading about the same exact thing on Reef Central about where the community is and what has happened

I believe it is a combination of several things with social media, local community forums and long time members being less active leading the charge to quieter forums

Social media- in the last 8 years this has grown by leaps and bounds and with the sheer volume of information available on the 'net even with a basic search can turn up a massive amount of information. The downside to this media is as we all know the Internet never lies so people just getting into the hobby get led astray by false information because they don't have reliable sources like canreef, reef central and other forum sites to fall back on because they either don't know about the forum or listen to bad advice on the net and easily become frustrated and overwhelmed with information overload.

Local community- this particular form of media has been a recent addition to the world of the reef hobby. While local community forums and groups have been around for a long time it has only recently taken off in part due to social media. It is easier to connect for many people to a local reefer than someone from another city because in part they can meet these people face to face and get the info they need from the local reef experts per se.

The long time reefers/contributors- this is the hardest one as the backbone of many forums are built on the dedication of those who first started in the hobby and everything was new. This forum has been around for 14 years now I believe and many of the people who were around when it started up have moved on, dropped out of the hobby or just lurk now because they have seen it all, hashed it out before and get annoyed by the same question asked 40 times a day (for example how many posts have there been about bristle worms). I have been in the hobby for three years now and I started on 7 forums now I am down to 3 Canreef, RC and Reef to Reef. Canreef is the only one I visit daily now and visit the other 2 mostly for Shiits and giggles.

The End result is how to keep people interested and how to keep the site current and engage new people to the hobby and more important how to engage the long time members to keep them interested in the site. This is something that every forum struggles with and luckily I believe Canreef has kept up with the curve because if it hadn't the forum would of shut down long ago.

The trick is to evolve and embrace all three of the above mentioned in new avenues keep pace with social media.

that's my ramble for today

[albert_dao]

Originally Posted by Dearth

Uniquely appropriate username within this context.

[Dearth]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Uniquely appropriate username within this context.

Yup the significance of the title wasn't lost on me 😎

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Dearth

The trick is to evolve and embrace all three of the above mentioned in new avenues keep pace with social media.

that's my ramble for today

All good points, and things we've been looking at. The new staff have been working on new ideas to liven things up and so far doing a good job. We've added auctions, the newsletter which turned out great (you got the vendor coupon codes I hope!) and we expect to see more features going forward.

While I'm stepping back here shortly, I have committed to manage the FB page and try to keep things active there, as we have a lot of people there that don't even come to the board. The "dearth of discussion" there is even a bit more lively and permissive, and I hope we can grow that aspect of Canreef more next year.

All forums suffer the same fate with the introduction of social media, and we are trying to remain engaging to compete with that. Feature tanks, threads, etc, things that aren't as easy to run on FB.

As for the board itself, yes, we have to contain some of the chatter, as it has gotten out of hand at times. We have a few members that are vocal in complaining when things get suppressed, but we also get lots of PMs thanking us for making it a friendlier and more welcoming environment. We have to remember that there is a lowest common denominator in pleasing as many members as we can. We have men women and kids coming here, and some topics/discussions just can't be here. Overall I think our membership is one of the best I've seen on a public forum, and almost without exception, the members conduct themselves well. Sure, we have to monitor and shut some things down, and yes, we may go too far in the other direction sometimes, but we really do try to provide balance to appeal to the most people we can.

Even within the staff team, we often disagree with where a line gets drawn, so we usually have to reach a compromise, again showing you can't make everyone completely happy all the time. We can and do try to make as many as possible as reasonably happy as we can, without chasing others away. It's never perfect, but it's the best we an do with what we have.

In the end, we all, on the team, try to make this about you guys, and while we don't always get it right, we do try and correct errors we make and find balance. It's a work in progress

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Brad,

Please don't go. But if you do, know that all your time and effort here on Canreef is deeply appreciated by the membership. Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas.

Anthony

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

Brad,

Please don't go. But if you do, know that all your time and effort here on Canreef is deeply appreciated by the membership. Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas.

Anthony

Anthony, I'll still be here, but as just a regular guy. I'll mostly stay out of the moderating stuff unless something goes horribly wrong. I'll manage the FB page, and still post my annoying funny sarcasm, just trying to let the younger, more enthusiastic team take the reins. Honestly, they're doing great, and Canreef will be better for it.

[Dearth]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Anthony, I'll still be here, but as just a regular guy. I'll mostly stay out of the moderating stuff unless something goes horribly wrong. I'll manage the FB page, and still post my annoying funny sarcasm, just trying to let the younger, more enthusiastic team take the reins. Honestly, they're doing great, and Canreef will be better for it.

In other words your old and grumpy need more naps.....

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Dearth

In other words your old and grumpy need more naps.....

If you want to use less words, ya, that.