Spirited debate is not unhealthy. If the thread jumps over 5 lanes then so be it, as long as nobody has a problem with how people conduct themselves then it's cool. I had a problem with the way VFX expressed himself or herself, which I think would likely have been different had they not been posting from an anonymous vantage point (to me this person is anonymous), and so I replied in kind. Things were said, I said what I thought of his post, he said what he thought of my post, and hopefully both of us have moved on from that particular incident. It really doesn't matter to me beyond this context. In another thread I might be so inclined to congratulate him or her on a nice photo or something, or sympathize about a car engine being wrecked because someone didn't tighten a lug nut or something. It really doesn't matter to me, I always react within the specific context of the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ephraim
(Post 352586)
A lot of reefers do not feel the need to shamelessly self promote thier tank on online forums. Because they do not participate on a forum does not mean they don't fully understand thier system and how a reef works. Also, if they pay someone to look after the tank does not mean they don't fully understand thier system and how a reef works. Fact is, most people that have 800 gallon tanks in Calgary, don't have the time to look after them themselves, that's how they could afford them in the first place.
The vast majority of aquarists choose only to impress themselves and do not feel the need to show off on the internet.
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And I would argue that not everyone who comes to an internet forum is here to shamelessly self-promote or show off. Perhaps it is true for some. Perhaps it is not true for others.
It was NOT my intent to imply that the owner of the tank is in any category. Although I realize NOW that in my haste to post, I could have worded things better, but my point was intended to be that there are more tanks out there that are large, and spectacular, and intensely private.
It is not my intent to judge, only to state an observation. Everytime I visit Mitch, I see many spectacular tanks being built. And Mitch is but ONE builder - so to extrapolate what I see there onto other builders - the result is that there are lots of big, big tanks out there, and only a privileged few get to know anything about them. The only real "shame" here is that there is likely a wealth of information learned because of these tanks that doesn't get shared in some form.
For the record I apologize for the implication that all big tank owners are those who do not care for the tanks themselves. I also apologize for the implication that this big tank in question falls into that category. I know nothing about the tank or the person and the comments weren't intended to be an assumption about this person. But also for the record, some people ARE in that category. I'm simply stating observation, not passing judgment. If life lets you be in that position then hey, good for you man, you're living the dream. It's not wrong, it's not right, it's just phenomenon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ephraim
(Post 352592)
i would not say that we are lucky to have this "wealth of information" for someone that is new to this, the incorrect information on most aquarium forums is more prevalent that it is in the worst of LFS. A good fish shopkeep can give you more useful information than the best web forum, because it is A) filtered and B) they have to answer for the incorrect info.
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One key difference that you're missing is that forums do allow for a form of peer review. Granted, it's not guaranteed - you yourself have implied as has another posted in this thread that you have seen wrong information posted and not intervened yourself to post a differing point of view. So, the model is indeed far from perfect. On the flip side, and you said yourself by prefacing "good" before "fish shopkeep", again, the potential is there for it to be a good model, but is hardly guaranteed. Personally, I have had good advice and bad advice from forums, I have had good advice and bad advice from shopkeeps - although some of the WORST advice I was ever given, did come from shopkeeps who were motivated by increasing sales. Heck, I've been outright lied to by people in the industry. .. I think of the case of the "benign dictatorship" model being an effective method to run a country - the downside is that there don't tend to be many (or any) "benign" dictators in the world. Without checks and balances, things get out of hand. So to bring this back to context, what is a person to do to gather information. The best choice, I think, is to inform yourself from as many sources as possible, and in the case that disparate viewpoints are encountered, question and challenge the assumptions.
Not really sure how this veered into "LFS versus internet" territory but there are my thoughts on that. No LFS is perfect, no internet forum is perfect. I can only speak from my own perspective - I don't lie when giving advice. I have no motivation to increase sales so I wouldn't tell someone "Yes go ahead and buy that blue ribbon eel - everything will be great!!" for example. But I don't run a shop nor work in one, so ordinarily nobody would ask me anyhow. But I AM on here, and if I see something that I can offer some advice on, I'll do my best. Anyhow, that's my reason I'm here. :)
cheers
