Why are local forums/clubs struggling?

[trio91]

For us, I think its participation.

Its usually a small dedicated group of club members that puts things together (group buys, swaps, events etc.) and after a while it gets old and tiring....which leads to frustration and then the downhill dominoe effect.

In the end folks just start jumping ship.

 

[Forsaken77]

Hello there Humble Buddy. Nice thread



I don't think anyone says that about you. I don't anyway, well at least not out loud
Me on the other hand, I can't hardly post anything without the tang police, UG filter police, no quarantine police, anti dry food police, Supermodel police or Geezer Squad berating me for my ancient school methods. (I am well beyond Old School)

I have to pick very carefully which threads I want to open my big mouth in. I have many ideas in my bald head which I would like to impart on some Noobs but I feel it will be a many years long thread of arguments like my immunity thread became. AS you know, there is a big box and many people feel secure in it and new, or old ideas are hard to comprehend for some.

If you have been doing something for 50 or 60 years you accidently learn things which after a while seem easy. I am always being called a know it all, but if you have done something successfully a dozen times, and done it unsuccessfully two dozen times, you probably know more about it than someone who did it once and no matter how you try to tell that tale, you will be a "Know it all".

As for forums, I am not sure why many forums are receding in posts. I know me and you post a lot. I personally don't know more than one person with a salt tank semi near me and I never saw his tank. Here in New York we have a lot of aquarists but I think they are hiding or on facebook.

We do have a local group here on Long Island which I am not a member of. I have nothing against them and probably 30 years ago I attended a couple of their meetings which were fun. I am just not a joiner, the Army got me out of that. I would just like to go occasionally if I am in the mood.

I come on here (and 5 or 6 other forums) every day to search for some place to interject something in where my old opinions won't elicit too much negative talk as I don't like to argue. If I wanted to argue I would tell my wife she looks fat in those shorts. (Of course my wife is not fat but I am just reaching for something to say) But I like this forum the best by far.

I love these threads but shy away from the vast majority of them because I feel so bad for the original poster due to the fact that the hobby has grown so much since I started it in the fifties (yes, fish were invented before that) and there is so much information, which in my opinion is wrong or even harmful that I don't want to stir the pot, especially with my thoughts which are many times totally opposite from what is advocated.
(Which is why I wrote a book, no one argues with me but some people have been known to set it on fire and throw it at my house )

The vast majority of posts on all forums comes from Noobs with one or two years in the hobby and although their advice can be helpful, they may not have enough experience with that particular problem to offer helpful advice. If a doctor cured one person of acne one time by telling the patient to listen to RAP music three hours a day until the person reached 21 years of age, he may not be the ideal doctor.

Or for instance if someone has an algae problem people will say to change the water, don't change the water, shut the lights, add more light, feed less, don't feed, add hydrogen peroxide, raise the temperature, lower the temperature, use stump remover, change the bulbs add manatees etc.
Anyone would get adenoids reading all of that and may cause some people to just give up and I don't blame them.

It is very confusing. When I started it was much easier as there was no one in the hobby to give advice so you tried something, it didn't work and you tried something else. No arguments, no confusion. If I got disgusted I picked up my wooden vat I used for a tank and grew tomatoes in it.

There are some really great people on here which is why I was on here at 5:00am.
I truly like this place and I don't think I ever used the word Truly in my life.

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?

 

[Humblefish]

Those mudbugs was awesome at the last meet. Can't wait till next year.

@BluewaterLa is the Boil Master!

 

[Paul B]

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?

We have moved to the north fork. I have no idea where the club meets but I will find out. A friend of mine who works in my favorite LFS (50 miles away now) goes to some of the meetings so I may go with him. As I said I am not really a joiner as this is only one of my many hobbies. But probably my favorite. I like to go to things spur of the moment but not commit. The dues don't bother me.

Most of the things I do to my tank would give people gas. And many of my theories are not really accepted by many people. When hobbyists come over and I explain some things to them, they sometimes look at me like I have two heads. I have three but I digress.
We are also so busy here in the summer with many very close friends, most from high school and even grammar school that our free time is taken up by many other things so I hate to commit to going to meetings. Even when MAGNA was here in NY I didn't go.

The few times I went to club meetings I did like them and even spoke at a few. It was mostly Gibberish but no one knew.

I love these forums and mostly this one, (I also love Humblefish, in a very "Manly" sort of way. We disagree on almost everything but still respect each others opinions, even though I know I am right ) I also love it when a hobbyist comes to visit and talk fish which rarely happens. Especially now that I just moved here 60 miles from my old haunts.
In the summer I like to take people out on my boat collecting, that is one of my favorite events.
Soon I am going to volunteer at the Long Island Aquarium here but I fear I may never go because of the reasons I stated, but I will try. The biggest problem with that is my wife of 45 years has MS and in the winter all the people we know here go back to Florida, Arizona or Mars so I am afraid she will be totally bored and I don't want to leave her alone as she has little interest in fish (except to eat them) and just likes to look at me in my Speedo.

The few meetings I have gone to were mostly to sell things. I already have things and don't need any but I am old. Older than Humblefish but not dirt.

 

[Pntbll687]

I would join a club if we had one in the area. North East PA is almost bare for quality lfs.

There's a FB group, but people rarely post on it, if they do it's something for sale and not general discussion.

I'd love to know what others in my area are doing, and possibly see the tanks in person

 

[cpschult]

Our forum activity has dropped noticeably in the last 2-3 years. We have monthly meetings and occasionally have auctions of donated corals . We also have a summer BBQ with raffle prizes and a Christmas party with raffle prizes. Engagement is definitely key. Forum participation is down but people will still come to meetings for free items or rarer auction items.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

I guess we're not alone after all ....

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Dang ... I got slammed for trying to help out some dang newbie reefer from our local reef forum. Can you believe that? Gave me a red hands down emoji with a question mark sign!!! No respect at all ;Shifty. That's it I'm so done with disrespectful idiot reefer(s).

 

[Flippers4pups]

Dang ... I got slammed for trying to help out some dang newbie reefer from our local reef forum. Can you believe that? Gave me a red hands down emoji with a question mark sign!!! No respect at all ;Shifty. That's it I'm so done with disrespectful idiot reefer(s).

The hobby should be educational, sharing and fun. People's darkside come out when hiding behind a computer screen, unfortunately. They sometimes suddenly become a self proclaimed expert or master reefer and treat people disrespectfully. I'll be the first to tell you that you will never learn everything, me included.

Sorry that someone wanted to be a jerk to you.

We here at Reef2reef do our best to promote a open and friendly community. We are all here to share and learn, respectively. ;Shamefullyembarrased;Joyful;Smuggrin

 

[Sea MunnKey]

The hobby should be educational, sharing and fun. People's darkside come out when hiding behind a computer screen, unfortunately. They sometimes suddenly become a self proclaimed expert or master reefer and treat people disrespectfully. I'll be the first to tell you that you will never learn everything, me included.

Sorry that someone wanted to be a jerk to you.

We here at Reef2reef do our best to promote a open and friendly community. We are all here to share and learn, respectively. ;Shamefullyembarrased;Joyful;Smuggrin

That's why I'm here and also 'cause of David (Revhtree) and all the good people over here!!!

 

[Flippers4pups]

That's why I'm here and also 'cause of David (Revhtree) and all the good people over here!!!

I couldn't agree with you more!

 

[DarkSky]

Our local club forum is still going pretty strong. We have a good mixture of older and younger members, meetings are pretty decently attended, and we're still doing two swaps a year. Our last swap had poorer turnout due to a wicked snowstorm (I think just a bit under 400 people?), but we usually pull down 500-600+ people.

http://tcmas.org/

 

[JaimeAdams]

@hybridazn @ReefQueen @acer

So I was the last president of the Pittsburgh Marine Aquarium Society, it used to be big, even hosted MACNA. We walked away a year or two ago and formed a new club 3 Rivers Marine Aquarium Society of which I am the founding and current President of. I can only speak for myself but I have put in a ton of work. When we dissolved the old club and offered the lifetime members in the new club free lifetime memberships I had people crawling out of the wood work not wanting to mis out. Thing is most of them I have never even met and some I have only met once or twice and I make it to 95% of the meetings for the last several years. The old club in my opinion certainly had the cliquey feel to it for the first few years that I was a member I never really ever talked to anyone nor anyone talked to me. It wasn't until I put myself out there that I made friends and eventually took over the leadership. I strived to grow the club for the past few years and it is not cliquey anymore and I feel that it is welcoming to new members and guests. People no longer come to club meetings for information anymore. We all have computers in our pockets and can have the answer to any question in the matter of seconds. It has to be about a more personal experience then just an answer to a question. A few years back the only way to learn the hobby was through clubs or hanging out at the LFS, that just simply is no longer the case.

Our problem is just comes down to people helping out and time commitment. Most of our people have families and jobs and while I'm sure most have good intentions the majority of the work and effort falls on one or two peoples shoulders. As many others have mentioned in this thread those one or two people get burnt out after awhile. Lately we have struggled to get a dozen people at a meeting with cancelled meetings when there were only going to be 2 people. In order to make a meeting I have to leave work hours early and drive on a toll road so it probably costs me $50, not a lot to some, but I work for an hourly wage at a LFS so money is usually tight. It is hard for me having carried this mantel for several years to justify leaving work to have 3 people at a meeting. When we elect a new board we always get a couple new people who are eager and excited, but unfortunately most of the time they kind of fizzle out and disappear. When we do our coral fragging workshop the room is packed, just like the other experiences in other clubs in this thread. When it comes time to work for the club we might get 4 people to help.

I get it, people are busy, they have side jobs, homes to upkeep, kid's sporting events, their one day off in 3 weeks to relax, I totally get it. From this club leader I honestly do not know how much longer we can keep having a club.

 

[Patientman]

Dang ... I got slammed for trying to help out some dang newbie reefer from our local reef forum. Can you believe that? Gave me a red hands down emoji with a question mark sign!!! No respect at all ;Shifty. That's it I'm so done with disrespectful idiot reefer(s).

You can ask one question of ten hobbyists ... get eight different answers/solutions ... ONE of them might even be right! I have learned over the years that not everything that works for one ends up working for everyone! Often you blend things to fit your situation ... everyone's individual situation differs from tank to tank ... that is why there are so many different approaches to the same problems!

I advise new comers to listen to them all ... weigh pros and cons ... then try and pick the solution the "best fits" for their situation.

 

[AquaDaddy]

I think the reasons that clubs have dwindled are many and are almost all mentioned in this thread, time, effort, small data set, some chuckle-heads, clicks, money, distance, etc... For example, like @Sarah24! this is the only form of social media I talk or communicate on, and that's recent! A few years back when we decided to take a deeper dive into the hobby, we looked around for a club, looked around for advice, and we found nothing. I live north of Seattle, so it's not like I live in the middle of nowhere! So, I turned to the internet, and what did I find? I found videos, particularly BRS. And I watched everything I could get my hand on, Jake, all the regulars, and started reading and watching a ton on this forum and others. I'm a busy professional who loves the hobby and wants to be involved, but this is the best resource I identified with based on reviewing all the others, some good, some okay and some terribly bad. Just like the VFW mentioned by another member, clubs are struggling all over but our thirst for knowledge and help hasn't. It has just shifted it's lens...

 

[Humblefish]

Wife & I are seriously contemplating moving back to Kansas City next summer, and if we do I would like to start a new club there. I have a strong IT background and am very familiar with the Xenforo forum software (same one R2R uses). But I would need others willing to help run the club in order for it to work out.

 

[Paul B]

Wife & I are seriously contemplating moving back to Kansas City next summer

Although I have no idea what Xenforo means (sounds like some sort of drug for Xenophobes ) I think you should move here to Long Island NY. I would take you out on my boat collecting and we can discuss the finer points of quarantining and how it relates to Xenfono. Then we can quarantine my fish just for fun while our wives go to Lord and Taylor to spend all our money.

 

[Amoo]

@Humblefish take it from somebody who used to be in the Navy, @Paul B wants to take you out on his boat AND go to NY.


The next day: Guys there was an accident and Bobby's air line got caught in a manta ray and next thing I knew he was gone.

 

[ReefWithCare]

Wife & I are seriously contemplating moving back to Kansas City next summer, and if we do I would like to start a new club there. I have a strong IT background and am very familiar with the Xenforo forum software (same one R2R uses). But I would need others willing to help run the club in order for it to work out.

Just do a discord server instead of a forum. It’s free and you can customize the server [emoji106]. Has voice and voice chat included and it’s easy to customize and moderate

 

[Eggs]

Is this a central Ohio club? O - H!
I’m a newbie and need to find a local club.

corareef.org is the central Ohio club (Central Ohio Reef Aquarists). Pretty good group of people and generally active. They use their own web site way more than the large forum version.
They usually do a swap in October but I saw it got moved to December this year due to a venue conflict.
I belonged to that club before I moved from Ohio a couple of years ago.
Cleveland area also has a lot of active hobbyist, there are two clubs there. LEAR has a great swap every February.