Why are local forums/clubs struggling?

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Humblefish

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If they do go extinct, it will be interesting to see if local clubs are someday missed. Akin to LFS and mom & pop stores in the age of online buying. Something tells me we’re going to miss those.
 

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Part of the problem I think is exposure and scheduling.

The Ocala Reef Club was lucky to get an LFS on board to help us put the word out about when we were having meetings and throw the occasional meeting there. Other than that we use both R2R and FB to try to get the word out.

For scheduling, it is just hard to find something that works for everyone. We decided to go with a consistent schedule so it was easy to predict when meetings were going to be. We meet the first Sunday of each month but take January, June, and July off, for April we meet Sunday for breakfast before RAP-Orlando.
 

KrisReef

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Gen 3:17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,
~"Cursed is the reef because of you;
through painful toil you will remove pests from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce Aptasia and AEFW for you,
and your local reef club will struggle to thrive, with members warring against each other over "LEDs or T5's?!"~

I believe these problems are common to man since almost the beginning. My local community has a dwindling club and lots of folks are packing in their reefs to deal with other pressing life issues.
 
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Humblefish

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Yeah but I'm a little bit north of I-20. Just wish we had more up this way. ;)

We held a few meets @ Epic in Shreveport when I lived in Monroe, but attendance was disappointing. We even tried teaming up with some FB groups for the last one, and it just didn't seem to work out.
 

Coastie Reefer

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We held a few meets @ Epic in Shreveport when I lived in Monroe, but attendance was disappointing. We even tried teaming up with some FB groups for the last one, and it just didn't seem to work out.

Yeah we just don't have the reefing community numbers up this way... and the people in Shreveport are a lot closer to Dallas/FW.
 
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Humblefish

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Yeah we just don't have the reefing community numbers up this way... and the people in Shreveport are a lot closer to Dallas/FW.

There are some good reefers in Shreveport who still post on LARC. But I haven't seen much activity from Ruston/Monroe in awhile now.
 

qy7400

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The Long Island club I found I think meets right by your new house, on the N fork. But their website is always dead, unless they're on Facebook, which I avoid.

Have you moved to your new "quiet spot" out there yet?;)

LIRA meets the first Friday of the month in Commack, the address on the site close to Paul is the clubs mailing address, and most members do prefer to use Facebook to the forums lately.
 

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Why should I join a local club, get my butt up off the couch, get in my car, drive 20-40 minutes each way to the meeting, and have to deal with face-to-face interactions with people ... when I can just pop open my laptop and get all the info and 'community' I need while sitting in my pajamas and watching The Big Ban Theory on TV?

And you get to sit in YOUR spot while doing it.
 

reefwiser

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And you get to sit in YOUR spot while doing it.

An you will not get the full story sitting on your *ss. A few lines of txt will not explain any problem involved with an aquarium. I have been on online forums since the late 80's yes there was an internet then. Sitting and talking and interacting with another human is not the same as online exchange. Many time the person with the problem is not even describing the problem properly for some one to even give them the correct answer.
 

Paul B

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LIRA meets the first Friday of the month in Commack, the address on the site close to Paul is the clubs mailing address, and most members do prefer to use Facebook to the forums lately.

Oh Wow, can I come?
I probably have to do something, but I just want to know. :D
 

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