How can R2R be better? It's been a while!

revhtree · Mar 16, 2020

It's been a while so I wanted to know what R2R can do better?

What are we missing that could make our community better?

Software issues? Colors? Anything?

Thank you!

Pickwun · Mar 16, 2020

Tools!
It would be great to have one spot to find calculators, charts, converters, etc. or at least links to such things. Yeah, I know I could google them or find them on other sites, but it would be really nice while I'm on R2R to have them a couple of clicks away.

revhtree · Mar 16, 2020

Pickwun said:
Tools!
It would be great to have one spot to find calculators, charts, converters, etc. or at least links to such things. Yeah, I know I could google them or find them on other sites, but it would be really nice while I'm on R2R to have them a couple of clicks away.

Yes this would be great! Thanks for reminding me!

DonTavo27 · Mar 16, 2020

The post above is about it. Other then that, it’s the best place for all Reefers!

McDam · Mar 16, 2020

It would be so nice to have a way to just look at all the pictures of a given thread. For some threads, it would save from scrolling through 10's or 100's of pages to just view pictures or see progression while bypassing much of the unnecessary commentary.

Auquanut · Mar 16, 2020

I won't stir the pot by suggesting selling R2R swag. Your liable to get way too many comments about swag, so I definitely won't suggest you start selling R2R swag. Although one can never have too much R2R swag. ;)

Tuffyyyyy · Mar 16, 2020

Seems like people complain a lot about having videos on here

revhtree · Mar 16, 2020

Tuffyyyyy said:
Seems like people complain a lot about having videos on here

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-video-uploads.632861/

Duncan Tse · Mar 16, 2020

McDam said:
It would be so nice to have a way to just look at all the pictures of a given thread. For some threads, it would save from scrolling through 10's or 100's of pages to just view pictures or see progression while bypassing much of the unnecessary commentary.

This ^

Especially for tank builds it would be so convenient if we can just scroll through all the pics without having to go on every single page.

cvrle1 · Mar 16, 2020

Having threads in proper sub forums ;)
Cutting down on same questions being asked over and over again daily. Somehow people need to be thought to use search before opening new thread that has been covered 100s of times already
Update stickies in sub forums with really useful threads. Some of the stickies, especially in Reef forum should not be there (ex: R2R Banners and what happens when something is reported. These are general forum questions, and not reef)
Update locked stickies with new info (ex: DIY Index hasnt been updated since 2017)

JCOLE · Mar 16, 2020

This might seem odd but I would like to see a "PRO" badge. I will be the first to say this would NOT at all be for someone like me. I know there are expert contributors, etc badges but it would be nice to see a "PRO" badge. This would be someone that has proven themselves over the many years that they know their stuff when it comes to reefing.

We all don't know who the PRO's are but I am sure the mods at R2R know.

I think it is a misconception that someone with a lot of posts/reaction count might seem as an PRO but in fact, they just like to post a lot... :) Sometimes this isn't the case though like Dana, Randy, etc. The funny thing is most "PRO's" I have seen on R2R have very low messages and reaction counts. This might have people to overlook them because they do not know who they are. My thing is I would love to turn to the experts for guidance, communicate, and PM them for help if possible. I just don't want the PRO's to go unnoticed on a great forum like R2R. They are celebrities in this hobby and it kinda seems like a waste you know....unless they don't want the extra attention. Lol

If this was a possibility then it would cool if you clicked on their PRO badge and then it went to a page dedicated to their success and tanks, etc.

krash7172 · Mar 17, 2020

What about a voluntary mentor badge that encourages new users to PM? I think some are afraid to ask "dumb" questions in public. It could reduce redundant basic questions in the forum. There is also the problem of multiple reefers of different levels and opinions posting suggestions that can confuse new reefers.

Edit: there could be like 3 Mentor badges. 1= help new reefers, 2= intermediate, 3 = expert.

Crabs McJones · Mar 17, 2020

JCOLE said:
This might seem odd but I would like to see an "EXPERT" badge. I will be the first to say this would NOT at all be for someone like me. I know there are article contributor, etc badges but it would be nice to see an "EXPERT" badge. This would be someone that has proven themselves over the many years that they know their stuff when it comes to reefing.

We all don't know who the experts are but I am sure the mods at R2R know.

I think it is a misconception that someone with a lot of posts/reaction count might seem as an expert but in fact they just like to post a lot... :) Sometimes this isnt the case though like Dana, Randy, etc. The funny thing is most "EXPERTS" I have seem on R2R have very low messages and reaction counts. This might have people that do not know them to overlook them. My thing is I would love to turn to the experts for guidance, communicate, and PM them for help if possible. I just don't want the experts to go unnoticed on a great forum like R2R. They are celebrities in this hobby and it kinda seems like a waste you know....unless they don't want the extra attention. Lol

If this was a possibility then it would cool if you clicked on their expert badge and then it went to a page dedicated to their success and tanks, etc.

We have expert badges :) @HotRocks has it for his fish disease contributions, @Dana Riddle for his lighting and @Randy Holmes-Farley for his chemistry contributions. There are more but I cannot remember them all

vetteguy53081 · Mar 17, 2020

Although I and many others know the answer, I see an abundance of others asking how or where they can obtain R2R merchandise.
Perhaps start up an R2R merchandise store to sell items individually and to raise revenue for the group at the same time ?

robbyg · Mar 17, 2020

JCOLE said:
This might seem odd but I would like to see an "EXPERT" badge. I will be the first to say this would NOT at all be for someone like me. I know there are article contributor, etc badges but it would be nice to see an "EXPERT" badge. This would be someone that has proven themselves over the many years that they know their stuff when it comes to reefing.

We all don't know who the experts are but I am sure the mods at R2R know.

I think it is a misconception that someone with a lot of posts/reaction count might seem as an expert but in fact they just like to post a lot... :) Sometimes this isnt the case though like Dana, Randy, etc. The funny thing is most "EXPERTS" I have seem on R2R have very low messages and reaction counts. This might have people that do not know them to overlook them. My thing is I would love to turn to the experts for guidance, communicate, and PM them for help if possible. I just don't want the experts to go unnoticed on a great forum like R2R. They are celebrities in this hobby and it kinda seems like a waste you know....unless they don't want the extra attention. Lol

If this was a possibility then it would cool if you clicked on their expert badge and then it went to a page dedicated to their success and tanks, etc.

Don't they have that already, just not a badge but a title? I remember one guy has an Electrical Guru title. I guess it could be done with badges. That would be better but the only problem is that we have numerous guys on here that are experts and have super successful tanks but they have exactly opposite approaches to getting there. I am not sure how you would decide which one is the expert and if both are then people would be getting different answers to certain questions. Another problem with badges and PM's is that the person might not want to log in every morning and find 50 PM's that they need to answer.

robbyg · Mar 17, 2020

BTW this is not only the best reef forum but it is one of the best outfitted forums I have ever signed up to. I know that a lot of money and time must have been spent to buy/make all the various plugins that make this forum so good. Hats off to Rev for paying attention to the details.

The only bug I have ever found on this forum and I am not even sure if it's a forum bug or iPhone/Safari bug is that when I am replying to a post from my phone and the reply gets to long the forum page will start to constantly scroll backup to the top and then when I finish typing a word and hit space it will flip back down to the text I am typing. I have had this problem on a lot of forums when using the iPhone so I suspect it's a Safari issue.

pcon · Mar 17, 2020

NPS sub forum? Maybe, please? I heard this didn't go great the first time but seems we have come a long way in coral care and NPS care in the last few years.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/azooxanthellae-nps-forum.668908/

boacvh · Mar 17, 2020

A filter for the unanswered threads that filters out sale items/threads. Most of the unanswered threads turn out to be FS posts vs perhaps real help requests and questions.