Why not have the opposite of Tank of the Month into Noob of the Month?

[ReeferSamster]

I just had a crazy idea. Not sure if it's practical. It might not fly, but throwing it out there.

ToTM have been a staple for reefing forums for decades.
Why don't we foster and support new reefers to grow the community even more.

Maybe we can have a Noob of the Month to introduce and support new reefers.
I don't take the word Noob offensively, I think the term is endearing and humble, especially when someone is honest and starts a thread "Hey I'm a noob. Here is my tank!"

All reefers that start a new tank (or try again) and show good photos of their setup,write up a thread of their equipment, their plans and show some bit of competency, get donated frags from other users as a sign of "Good luck!"

I guess shipping costs would be an issue. Maybe start a donation paypal fund in Reef2Reef dedicated for the cause. I don't know, its a spontaneous idea that popped up when looking at some new tank threads. I feel like I wish I can help them somehow other than just respond to their threads or give advice. I always have tons of frags and I'm not interested in changing my career to sell coral frags. My frag tank is becoming overrun with lots of my own coral that I just don't want to throw out.

Wouldn't it be cool if everyone's frags were in a noob's tank? And hopefully he or she would maintain a build thread and we can all see how our frags are doing. In essence, we would be giving a piece of our tanks to noobs which might motivate them more and foster a closer relationship to other users and thereby tightening the community?

It's an evolution of the Introduce yourself threads with everyone saying "Welcome to Reef2reef!" Now we are actually not just saying it, but actually doing something about it. Imagine one day a few years later, a Noob of the Month actually becomes a Tank of the Month. Ha. That would be awesome.

Not sure of how to handle the logistics or shippping cost issues.

Meh. Just a crazy idea is all.

 

[rmorris_14]

I just had a crazy idea. Not sure if it's practical. It might not fly, but throwing it out there.

ToTM have been a staple for reefing forums for decades.
Why don't we foster and support new reefers to grow the community even more.

Maybe we can have a Noob of the Month to introduce and support new reefers.
I don't take the word Noob offensively, I think the term is endearing and humble, especially when someone is honest and starts a thread "Hey I'm a noob. Here is my tank!"

All reefers that start a new tank (or try again) and show good photos of their setup,write up a thread of their equipment, their plans and show some bit of competency, get donated frags from other users as a sign of "Good luck!"

I guess shipping costs would be an issue. Maybe start a donation paypal fund in Reef2Reef dedicated for the cause. I don't know, its a spontaneous idea that popped up when looking at some new tank threads. I feel like I wish I can help them somehow other than just respond to their threads or give advice. I always have tons of frags and I'm not interested in changing my career to sell coral frags. My frag tank is becoming overrun with lots of my own coral that I just don't want to throw out.

Wouldn't it be cool if everyone's frags were in a noob's tank? And hopefully he or she would maintain a build thread and we can all see how our frags are doing. In essence, we would be giving a piece of our tanks to noobs which might motivate them more and foster a closer relationship to other users and thereby tightening the community?

It's an evolution of the Introduce yourself threads with everyone saying "Welcome to Reef2reef!" Now we are actually not just saying it, but actually doing something about it. Imagine one day a few years later, a Noob of the Month actually becomes a Tank of the Month. Ha. That would be awesome.

Not sure of how to handle the logistics or shippping cost issues.

Meh. Just a crazy idea is all.

I really love the idea and the thoughtfulness of this. I have no idea about the logistics, but in theory it is inspiring

 

[tharbin]

Actually, I really like the idea as well. Not sure how it could be done but it would give a lot of support to a new reefer and help them get going. Kind of like a pay-it-forward for reef forums. The only downside I see is they may get overwhelmed with good intentions while they are still trying to discern the basics.

 

[Karen00]

I don't even think frags have to be donated if the logistics are too much. Just having this as a monthly thing would be nice (coming from a noob). LOL. Having said that I'm sure a lot of people live local to other reefers for donations so shipping doesn't become a hassle. I think there are already too many deaths due to problems with the couriers but like I said, frags don't have to be part of it. It could be called NTotM (Noob Tank of the Month if that wasn't obvious).

 

[JPM San Diego]

Shipping may hinder this idea. However, if we took a city by city approach we could focus on local pick ups. This would be more practical. The last thing a Noob needs is hundreds of frags being sent to them. I live in San Diego. My tank is finally going well enough that I am generating a steady stream of frags. I am too busy (being retired and loving it!!) to get into coral production. I am happy to sell my frags at a nominal cost; basically to cover the purchase of more real reef frag rocks. I would be happy to share frags with local Noobs at no cost. As well as giving me "warm fuzzies" it would give me a back up plan. If my tank ever crashed and I lost one of my favorite corals I could ask for a frag back.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

rookie of the month or "up and coming reefer"

 

[ReeferSamster]

I think whats lac

As well as giving me "warm fuzzies" it would give me a back up plan. If my tank ever crashed and I lost one of my favorite corals I could ask for a frag back.

I think this world has been lacking in warm fuzzies lately, especially with all this covid crap, economic crap, political crap and Putin threatening nuclear war (Did you guys hear his public announcement? Insane) I feel like I need to DO something related to warm fuzzies.

 

[KrisReef]

It is a crazy idea, but I am willing to help with folks who want to ship me something for safe keeping. I can't promise it will live but it would make me very happy!

 

[muzikalmatt]

I definitely like the idea but slightly disagree on the "noob" term. Coming from a gaming background being called a "noob" never bothered me but it might to others. Maybe calling it "New Reefer of the Month" would have a slightly less negative connotation for those that may take offense to that term? (Again, it doesn't bother me though.)

Regardless, this is a very cool idea! As others have pointed out, doing local pickup of frags would be easier logistically, but I'm sure other ideas could be fleshed out like maybe having the recipient pay for shipping if they're able.