Has R2R Been Losing Popularity Lately?

[Gumbies R Us]

If this forum wasn't littered with memes and animated junk I might be inclined to visit more often.

You actually can cut down on some of the animated stuff by going to your profile-preferences, and disabling “user signatures” and “hide user banners”. We made these options because some people don’t care to see badges while others do.

 

[Nano_Man]

Yes in my opinion

 

[Reefer Matt]

I thought about this a little and made these observations:

Aside from livestock vendors, the industry has mostly left or been very quiet on R2R. Equipment manufacturers used to participate here and help give insight into what’s going on in the industry, and help with their products. Now it’s just sale after sale of livestock and Q&A from hobbyists (Which of course is also part of a great community).

Also, there doesn’t seem to be any experiments or trials going on anymore. There isn't an authority speaking on the matter of product claims and methods regularly.

For myself, I have stepped back from posting so much because my reefing is simple. I do water changes and use automated dosing. I don’t have a magic solution to problems other than to test your parameters and keep them where your tank likes it. It’s sorta like a nutritionist telling people to use diet and exercise to live longer, no one wants to hear that! Lol!

Either way, I’m sure things will liven up again when more people have expendable income.

 

[UK-Reefer]

Being in the UK adds another perspective because from here I do think R2R is the best global site for the hobby hands down.

As a hobbyist, mid fifties, on and off for the last two decades, my experience and observations leave my coming back here more than any other site.

Not into the more modern social channels, FB, Inta and what not. It's a jungle out there in that regard.

I feel R2R is always busy and will always of replied and advise on anything and everything.

Another for me is only Humblefish which is always good for fish health in conjunction with R2R.

This is where locality is a big negative considering the above when all the above. All US based so no good for hook ups, classified and such like.

UK has only Ultimate Reef which is tiny but the main site in the UK. Not at all helpful and run, organised and operated by a certain few all blowing smoke up each others but holes. It's comical for men to act this way. Others outside the certain circle are not welcomed and newbies do not get anything like the help they get here.

I currently don't actually have a wet tank but still visit here every day. HF next weekly and if I want a laugh I go to UR to watch the sheep sucking up to their praise and attention seeking master.

Without R2R I would be lost actually and there is no alternative currently and during my time there has never been anything as comprehensive as it is now.

My 2c worth if any consideration and use.

 

[liudachris]

Haha. I just took a flight and saw the guy in front of me browsing R2R on his phone.

 

[hart24601]

The hobby isn’t nearly as popular today as it was a couple years ago. The COVID bubble was huge

Spot on. The LFS here have been hit hard too. Sadly I know the young couple that started on post covid and it's been really hard on them. Maintenance accounts have dried up for them too. They are downsizing and literally cut the store in half to sub-lease. They would probably close the doors but they signed a very long lease when moving to the new location a couple year ago.

Edit: I myself am out of the hobby now, and not keeping any tanks FW or SW, I have had some sort of tank going for at least 25 years, but I am tired of it now and the cost makes it hard for me to justify getting back in and I don't want to constantly browse for deals. Honestly I would refuse a free tank and livestock right now.

 

[Paul B]

I am afraid that my posts and comments which are often humorous may have caused the more serious site participants to retreat from my nonsensical comments about this delicate hobby.

I agree. My tank thread is up to 600 pages, but about 587 of them are about nonsense, and 20 are about fish stuff. The last three are just unintelligible, superficial, ridiculous, and no one, including myself, should pay attention to them.

Eh, it’s a slow year for hobbies I think. Only a few of us are dedicated.

I am old, so everything now is slow. After 70 years of looking at fish, I am now going to call myself dedicated. At least until Tuesday.

I'm sure many of the long-timers find it challenging to 'answer the same questions again and again

Not exactly. I like answering questions like "Can we substitute damp sawdust for seawater if we sprinkle some salt on it? " Or "are barracuda reef safe?"

 

[Reefer Matt]

I am old, so everything now is slow. After 70 years of looking at fish, I am now going to call myself dedicated. At least until Tuesday.

Oh no! What happens on Tuesday?!

 

[Paul B]

Oh no! What happens on Tuesday?!

I don't know, I am old, so I never plan past Tuesdays.

 

[DimSum]

Before reef2reef, reefs.org and reef central were extremely popular . . Reef central got really big that they had difficulty keeping up with all of the site traffic . . R2R was an alternate , devoid of the traffic and most switched over . There are other underlying reasons for the major shift . But there is a wealth of knowledge on those sites . Much DIY before all of the mfgs started to produce all of these products in use today . These message boards / forums have been essential to the growth / advancement of the hobby . Otherwise we would have been waiting on books and magazines to answer our questions . I often use the search function to research any dilemma , Identification , diy , recommendations, fixes and cures . So these forums are essential

Reefs.org and RC are where I got my start a couple of decades ago when this hobby was still debating the merits of the Berlin system. Reefs.org was not for the faint of heart, and RC well, that could be a free for all as well.
.
..
... I miss them both LOL

 

[madmazda86]

I am new but I like this place! I'm in Australia so most of the sales stuff is not relevant to me and some species and pest control methods eg berghias I cannot obtain or import. But I like forums for things like sticky threads, slower conversations etc. Maybe I'm a bit old lol. And oh boy the reef community on Facebook is so full of crap. I like having something to come back to like our tank thread to see our learning journey. I can never find anything on social media, just post and poof, once you don't receive any notifications it's gone forever!

 

[littlebigreef]

Just my impression that perhaps older millennials are burnt out on social media, it’s not fun any more, it’s all ads and creeps looking to build a profile to market stuff to you. R2R remains truer to what social media was at its inception. People are here for a purpose, not to just screw around or troll people. Further, it seem like anyone with anything interesting to say is leveraging that for a podcast, their own social channel, etc. R2R remains a place where you can come ask any question. However, at this point there’s so much stuff in the archives there isn’t really all that much new territory to cover. Are there many ways to skin a cat? Absolutely. And most of them have a thread.

At the end of the day this K-shaped economy, crippling tariffs and over saturation has led to the first contraction in the hobby since 2008. I think vendors, hobbyists and manufacturers are all feeling it in their own ways.

All things considered R2R remains, in my mind, the gold standard for reef oriented social media.

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

Did someone say tacos?

 

[InvaderJim]

Just my impression that perhaps older millennials are burnt out on social media, it’s not fun any more, it’s all ads and creeps looking to build a profile to market stuff to you. R2R remains truer to what social media was at its inception. People are here for a purpose, not to just screw around or troll people. Further, it seem like anyone with anything interesting to say is leveraging that for a podcast, their own social channel, etc. R2R remains a place where you can come ask any question. However, at this point there’s so much stuff in the archives there isn’t really all that much new territory to cover. Are there many ways to skin a cat? Absolutely. And most of them have a thread.

At the end of the day this K-shaped economy, crippling tariffs and over saturation has led to the first contraction in the hobby since 2008. I think vendors, hobbyists and manufacturers are all feeling it in their own ways.

All things considered R2R remains, in my mind, the gold standard for reef oriented social media.

This is exactly how I feel being a millennial. I'm burnt out on social media. I barely touch anything social media related anymore. I do still browse here but just don't participate as much anymore. That being said, I think this place is great.

 

[paraletho]

Expensive hobby during an expensive time. I know our local club has had an exodus just from costs and people working more leading to less/no time for tanks.

Then the constant onslaught of AI bull, fiery politics, and general misery across the internet has many people checking out of online spaces, or extremely limiting their interactions to small circles like personal discord servers.

Yes our meeting today of Southeast Texas Reef Society had five members. The MARSH forum one of the largest in Texas hasn’t had an active post in general reef discussion in over a month. The sales sections livestock and dry goods have a few but mostly people getting out. Actually R2R is the only place with anything going on.

 

[paraletho]

Did someone say tacos?

Everyone loves tacos! I mean everyone!

 

[Louis Z]

One of the things I have been trying to do is to make running threads on different livestock invert or vert . Their behavior alone or in groups . Sexing , pairing and spawning . I am not trying to be all knowing but I give my observances . I never end them but when I see something new about the topic I continually add to it . If someone uses the search function on my topic I will be alerted when they ask a question and I will have a dialogue . This is where the strength of this forum is . I often find old threads and add to them if I am working on that particular project or organism . I realize some of the posters may no longer participate but the knowledge shared is still valuable . And needs to be updated if one improves discovers something new on the original post . If for example I come across a new fish or invert at the store, I do a search on R2R to get a glimpse on husbandry, compatibility or precautions . It would be nice to go thru one thread instead of many to get a rundown .

 

[beardown51]

Honestly curious...I’ve been a member here for many years but havent been visiting the site regularly for the past year or so. From what I recall, there used to be far more threads posted on a daily basis and many more comments on practically every one of those threads.

For those of you who have been here for a while, has traffic on the site seemed to have slowed down over the past year or two?

Dead internet theory strikes again jk

 

[Staghorn]

Things have slowed down, over the years. I know I used to come here to learn and communicate with others about reefing, but there is so much information available on the Internet now that is a lot easier to get than it was before.