Correct.

Ok lol haha . :redface: Am I correct that there was a time when the new posts would appear under active threads ? Or did you always have to hit the new post Tab ?

I don't recall ever changing anything, pretty sure it's always been this way. I could be wrong, but I don't remember us changing it.

It's not the same, it requires an extra click which sometimes isn't worth the extra effort.


I gave up reefing a while ago, maybe for good or maybe not. At any rate I stick around because I like the community and I myself owe a lot to it as I've grown a tremendous amount since I first joined being that I'm only a partial ignorant douche now. At any rate I can occasionally still offer good advice and enjoy a good build thread. That said I'm visiting less and less and I agree with what has already been said. To add to it, a lot of what feeds this forum are the build threads and the sense of importance each author achieves. Most threads these days are essentially a repeat with original builds being much harder to achieve, this drives down viewer interest and respective comments which drives interest down in general. Low comments = low updates = low bumps = low activity. This causes tank owners to use other sources to show off their work and get that attention they crave. This craving for importance is what drives a lot people after all and it is what fuels social media, not just in this hobby but most aspects of life. As said time is a changing, move on or be left behind.

Biological science is pretty widespread. Understanding the evolution and development of a vertebrate embryo translates across a pretty wide range of fields :)

There is a lot of chemistry on keeping a reef healthy. Do you need to have a Ph. D. in organic chem to understand it all? Nope. I personally feel a moderate knowledge of life sciences can allow anyone to grasp everything you need to know about keeping a tank healthy and flourishing.

Now the practice of doing such is completely different. Many people can understand something but cannot capitalize on that knowledge.

And I wish I would have been at the Smithsonian in Washington to see the Coelacanth :) An old invertebrate palaeontology professor of mine works there now and could have had a pretty sweet tour!

:clap2:

I think that pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I just wanted to talk about lights....

I think it's time......it's like stale bread, cardboard cookies, or soggy chips... It's time :sad:

You'll keep suffering with the rest of us. Suck it up.

Maybe a poll would help cheer me up.

There's a new one now. I picked Richmond at 5

Ya I was Vancouver but changed to Surrey.... Greg says I cant go. :sad:

Greg's not the boss of us..

He's kinda bossy, rude, crude, with a complete dearth of sensitivity to other people's feelings..... It's a cruel world, don't make it worse Gregory...

meh, just knock him through a window.

Once poll two and three are complete, spread sheets drawn up, analyzed,publicly posted and scrutinized. I may have a locale to attempt said action.....

It'll change last minute :)

Good thing there's a poll...:lol:

I thought you were kidding about #2 and 3. lol.

No sir.....kinda thinking there should be some government funds funnelling into a project this size.....It's serious business.

As someone who is just back after stepping way from the forums and hobby for a few years I am surprised at the change in the feel here on Canreef. This forum spurred me to go from 1 29 gallon biocube to around 500 gallons of multiple tank syndrome! Now I have the same cube running and am debating if I really want to put that fish room in the new house into action!

I know what you mean. I don't even want the tank I have anymore!!

doldrums

a spell of listlessness or despondency

This is funny I just got finished reading about the same exact thing on Reef Central about where the community is and what has happened

I believe it is a combination of several things with social media, local community forums and long time members being less active leading the charge to quieter forums

Social media- in the last 8 years this has grown by leaps and bounds and with the sheer volume of information available on the 'net even with a basic search can turn up a massive amount of information. The downside to this media is as we all know the Internet never lies so people just getting into the hobby get led astray by false information because they don't have reliable sources like canreef, reef central and other forum sites to fall back on because they either don't know about the forum or listen to bad advice on the net and easily become frustrated and overwhelmed with information overload.

Local community- this particular form of media has been a recent addition to the world of the reef hobby. While local community forums and groups have been around for a long time it has only recently taken off in part due to social media. It is easier to connect for many people to a local reefer than someone from another city because in part they can meet these people face to face and get the info they need from the local reef experts per se.

The long time reefers/contributors- this is the hardest one as the backbone of many forums are built on the dedication of those who first started in the hobby and everything was new. This forum has been around for 14 years now I believe and many of the people who were around when it started up have moved on, dropped out of the hobby or just lurk now because they have seen it all, hashed it out before and get annoyed by the same question asked 40 times a day (for example how many posts have there been about bristle worms). I have been in the hobby for three years now and I started on 7 forums now I am down to 3 Canreef, RC and Reef to Reef. Canreef is the only one I visit daily now and visit the other 2 mostly for Shiits and giggles.

The End result is how to keep people interested and how to keep the site current and engage new people to the hobby and more important how to engage the long time members to keep them interested in the site. This is something that every forum struggles with and luckily I believe Canreef has kept up with the curve because if it hadn't the forum would of shut down long ago.

The trick is to evolve and embrace all three of the above mentioned in new avenues keep pace with social media.

that's my ramble for today:lol::lol::lol:

Uniquely appropriate username within this context.

Yup the significance of the title wasn't lost on me 😎

All good points, and things we've been looking at. The new staff have been working on new ideas to liven things up and so far doing a good job. We've added auctions, the newsletter which turned out great (you got the vendor coupon codes I hope!) and we expect to see more features going forward.

While I'm stepping back here shortly, I have committed to manage the FB page and try to keep things active there, as we have a lot of people there that don't even come to the board. The "dearth of discussion" there is even a bit more lively and permissive, and I hope we can grow that aspect of Canreef more next year.

All forums suffer the same fate with the introduction of social media, and we are trying to remain engaging to compete with that. Feature tanks, threads, etc, things that aren't as easy to run on FB.

As for the board itself, yes, we have to contain some of the chatter, as it has gotten out of hand at times. We have a few members that are vocal in complaining when things get suppressed, but we also get lots of PMs thanking us for making it a friendlier and more welcoming environment. We have to remember that there is a lowest common denominator in pleasing as many members as we can. We have men women and kids coming here, and some topics/discussions just can't be here. Overall I think our membership is one of the best I've seen on a public forum, and almost without exception, the members conduct themselves well. Sure, we have to monitor and shut some things down, and yes, we may go too far in the other direction sometimes, but we really do try to provide balance to appeal to the most people we can.

Even within the staff team, we often disagree with where a line gets drawn, so we usually have to reach a compromise, again showing you can't make everyone completely happy all the time. We can and do try to make as many as possible as reasonably happy as we can, without chasing others away. It's never perfect, but it's the best we an do with what we have.

In the end, we all, on the team, try to make this about you guys, and while we don't always get it right, we do try and correct errors we make and find balance. It's a work in progress :)

Brad,

Please don't go. But if you do, know that all your time and effort here on Canreef is deeply appreciated by the membership. Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas.

Anthony

Anthony, I'll still be here, but as just a regular guy. I'll mostly stay out of the moderating stuff unless something goes horribly wrong. I'll manage the FB page, and still post my annoying funny sarcasm, just trying to let the younger, more enthusiastic team take the reins. Honestly, they're doing great, and Canreef will be better for it.

In other words your old and grumpy need more naps.....

If you want to use less words, ya, that.

:lol: Now you know why Im not a regular staff member anymore......:lol:

More fiber Doug, that'll make you regular..

I also heard that eating smaller and more meals per day will make you regularly visit as well😎😎

doubt that. :) I hear lots of things that aren't true lol

But I got it off the internet it must be true.......😈😈😈