????DO YOUNGER REEFERS EVEN FOURM????

[Widdlyscudds]

I'd say the bigger disconnect is communication between generations of reefers. While they are most definitely reading the forums, younger reefers aren't going to want to contribute to forums/threads where they're immediately vilified. You unfortunately find this mentality a lot more than you'd hope to in online forums and even on social media. With that said, I think the question is - how do you attract younger generations of reefers to be more active in forums? An easy first step would be to welcome them into the forums with open arms, not disparage them from the outset.

I'm 30 so not exatly "young" or maybe very young depending on your viewpoint, but definitely as a millennial I have seen multiple posts attacking my generation over various things, that in reality don't have anything to do with generational differences and I've literally been on here for a day. It's a huge turnoff to want to contribute to a community that in general doesn't respect you because of when you were born. I think Forums will always have a place within the greater aquarium keeping community but it would be nice if people judged you based on your tanks, and interactions with other community members rather than when you were born. and I'm not even part of the "young" generation anymore. It's just sad to see, considering most people on here seem very nice and willing to help. But you are 100% correct that being actively vilified scares people away.

 

[Joe462]

i'm not young, but i was mostly on facebook before i signed up here and continued to mostly use facebook for a couple years but there was so much bad information shared by people who have no idea what they are doing. I'm assuming they just reply because they want to be seen and heard, the advice they give is often, obviously something they heard from someone else but they don't really understand it or its proper application. Anyway there was as much bad information (or more) than good, so i'm rarely on facebook except for pictures or to connect with local reefers and frag swaps anymore. And if i have actual questions i'm looking here or specifically asking a reefer i trust. R2R is not exempted from the same types of people that feel the need to chime in when they haven't really read the question, understood the question, or don't know what they are talking about but it is at least less.